Thousands of revellers wearing red and white sprayed each other with red wine in Pamplona's main square today for the start of Spain's famed San Fermin bull-running festival.
	   The nine-day fiesta got underway at midday to cries of "Viva San Fermin!" at city hall, followed seconds later by the firing of a firecracker known as the "chupinazo".
	   Masses of merrymakers, many wearing traditional white outfits trimmed with red neckerchiefs and cummerbunds, danced and sprayed each other with cheap wine as red and white confetti rained down on them.
	   The crowds passed large yellow and black inflatable balls over their heads as scores looked down from packed apartment balconies.
	   For the first time this year the person who launched the "chupinazo" and set off the bedlam was chosen by a popular vote organised by city hall from a list of six candidates.
	   The winner was 85-year-old Jesus Ilundain Zaragueta.
	   The festival in honour of the patron saint of Spain's northern Navarra ..

Pamplona bull-running festival kicks off with wine battle

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Spanish court sentences Messi to 21 months in jail for

A Japanese politician who became an internet sensation for crying like a baby when he was accused of misusing public funds was handed a suspended sentence today for corruption.
	Ryutaro Nonomura sobbed his way through a marathon three-hour press conference in 2014 at which he was confronted by journalists over allegations he claimed thousands of dollars in expenses for fictitious travel.
	Footage of the bawling middle-aged provincial assemblyman showed him crying and screaming uncontrollably while banging his fists on a desk as tears streamed down his face.
	The much-watched sob show came after a visibly nervous Nonomura asked journalists to "stay cool" when asking questions about the allegations.
	His incoherent explanations and complaints about how unfair the world was were punctuated by gasping sobs and the sharp intakes of breath required to power his next outburst.
	More irregularities followed in the course of Nonomura being tried at the Kobe District Court, flabbergasting the ..

Bawling Japanese politician sentenced for graft

Taiwanese were today told to brace for extreme winds and lashing rains as the first typhoon of the season bore down on the island.
	Typhoon Nepartak was blowing gusts of up to 245 kilometres (152 miles) an hour, some 870 kilometres southeast of Taiwan's Hualien city at 0600 GMT, the island's Central Weather Bureau said.
	The "super-typhoon" would likely make landfall early Friday morning, the bureau said.
	"As the typhoon kept gaining strength and approaching Taiwan over the past three hours, the Central Weather Bureau decided to issue a sea warning at 2:30 pm (0630 GMT)," senior forecaster Chen Yi-liang told reporters.
	"The typhoon could bring in strong winds and torrential rains...Residents must heighten their vigilance."
	The tropical storm had a radius of 200 kilometres and was moving west-northwest at a speed of 22 kilometres an hour, the bureau added.
	Super typhoon Dujuan killed three people and left more than 300 injured in Taiwan last year after it pounded the island with ...

Super typhoon barrels towards Taiwan

South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in jail today for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home three years ago.
     High Court judge Thokozile Masipa listed several mitigating factors for sentencing him to less than half the minimum 15-year term for murder, including the athlete's claim he believed he was shooting an intruder.
     "The sentence that I impose on the accused... Is six years imprisonment," she said.
     Pistorius, 29, hugged his family before being taken out of the court in Pretoria to begin serving his term.
     The double-amputee Olympic and Paralympic sprinter was freed from prison last October after serving one year of a five-year term for culpable homicide -- the equivalent of manslaughter.
     But an appeals court upgraded his conviction to murder in December.
     Pistorius shot Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of .

Pistorius jailed for six years for murdering girlfriend

Pistorius jailed for six years for murder: court. (AFP)

Hong Kong police offered protection today to a bookseller who was detained in China for eight months without access to a lawyer, as Beijing warned that he was violating his bail terms.
	Lam Wing-kee was seized after crossing the border into China and taken away blindfolded for allegedly bringing banned books into the mainland, he said last month.
	The 61-year-old is part of a group of staff from a Hong Kong firm that published salacious titles about leading Chinese politicians.
	The five mysteriously went missing late last year and later emerged in mainland China, intensifying concerns in Hong Kong about China's increasingly tight grasp on the city.
	Since returning to Hong Kong, Lam has said he fears for his personal safety while other activists have alleged that Chinese agents abducted one of the other booksellers on Hong Kong soil.
	Although the city has the status of a special administrative region of China, the two have separate legal systems, distinct police jurisdictions and ...

HK offers protection to bookseller after China warning

At least six people were killed in a double car bomb attack today targeting a military base adjoining Aden international airport in southern Yemen, according to a military source who blamed jihadists.
	The attackers detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the base, allowing a second vehicle to drive inside where it exploded, the source told AFP, with at least six dead among the military in an updated toll.
	"The attackers were jihadists," the source said.
	Clashes then broke out between troops and attackers in the base, which was sealed off by government forces sent as reinforcements, witnesses said.
	The attack came as Muslims celebrated the feast of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
	The port city of Aden is under the control of government forces who are struggling to secure it more than a year after it was taken back from Shiite Huthi rebels who have seized control of large parts of the country.
	Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has .

Double car bomb attack kills six near Aden airport: military

Didier Deschamps' talented France block the path of Germany's spluttering juggernaut in tomorrow's Euro 2016 semi-final and the world champions have mounting personnel problems.
     With an element of revenge in the air, France can expect near-fanatical support from home fans in Marseille as they seek a place in Sunday's Paris final.
     The hosts are buoyed by a 5-2 quarter-final thumping of plucky minnows Iceland when Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet all netted at the Stade de France.
     Germany are also confident mood, despite missing key players with injury and suspension after their penalty shoot-out win over Italy in the last eight.
     France are unbeaten in their last nine games, while Germany have not lost in their last six.
     "For us, there is no fear. We know that France are loaded with good individual players, but they are under pressure as hosts," said Germany forward Thomas Mueller.
     "Iceland didn't look so happy with the goals they ...

France thirst for revenge against wounded Germany

Scoreboard in the lone Twenty20
international between England and Sri Lanka at Southampton.
     Sri Lanka
     K Perera c Mills b Plunkett           13
     D Gunathilaka c Jordan b Dawson       26
     K Mendis c and b Dawson               21
     A Mathews b Dawson                    11
     D Chandimal c Morgan b Jordan         23
     D Shanaka run out                      1
     R. Rambukwella run out                19
     S Prasanna c Buttler b Plunkett        1
     F Maharoof c sub b Jordan             10
     C Bandara not out                      2
     N. Pradeep b Jordan                    0
     Extras (b1, lb9, w3)                  13
     Total (all out, 20 overs)            140
     Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-58, 3-74, 4-81, 5-82, 6-106, 7-122, 8-129, 9-140, 10-140
     Bowling: Jordan 4-0-29-3; Mills 4-0-22-0; Plunkett 4-0-27-2; Dawson 4-0-27-3; Rashid 4-1-25-0
     England
     J Roy b Mathews                     0
     J Vince st Chandimal b Mathews     16
     J ...

Southampton, July 6 (AFP) Scoreboard in the lone Twenty20

Jos Buttler boosted his hopes of a Test recall for the Pakistan series as his stunning 73 not out helped England win the T20 international against Sri Lanka in Southampton.
     Buttler gave the tourists' attack the runaround with four sixes and three fours in a 49-ball innings which was his highest ever T20 score, and saw England cruise home by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare.
     Eoin Morgan also played a leading role with an unbeaten 47, the England captain shrugging off an earlier dislocated finger after Sri Lanka had been dismissed for 140 off their 20 overs.
     The defeat completed a miserable tour for Sri Lanka who failed to beat England in any of the nine international matches with the home side winning the Super Series 20-4.
     Jason Roy went for a third ball duck, bowled around his legs by Angelo Matthews, and James Vince went for 16. But then it became the Buttler and Morgan show.
     Buttler, moved up to open the batting order having been told by coach Trevor ...

Buttler on the rampage as England win T20

Disgraced Paralympian Oscar Pistorius will learn today how long he will spend in jail when a judge sentences him for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago.
	Pistorius was freed from prison in the South African capital Pretoria last October after serving one year of a five-year term for culpable homicide -- the equivalent of manslaughter.
	But an appeals court upgraded the conviction to murder, which has a mandatory sentence of 15 years.
	Due to his time already spent in jail and mitigating factors such as his disability, he could be given a lesser term.
	Pistorius, 29, shot Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, claiming he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.
	"It is very difficult to predict what sentence it is that will be imposed... This a fairly unique situation," Stephan Terblanche, a law professor at the University of South Africa, told AFP.
	Legal expert Llewellyn Curlewis, chair of the .

Pistorius to be sentenced for murder in S Africa court

Double car bomb attack kills four near Aden airport:

The United States has criticised Israel's plans to build 560 new settler homes in the West Bank, warning that they would be part of "systematic" land seizures undermining chances for peace.
	Israel's green light for the homes came days after a key report from the diplomatic Quartet -- the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia -- warned that Israel's settlement expansion and confiscation of Palestinian land were eroding the possibility of a two-state peace settlement.
	Completion of the homes would "be the latest step in what seems to be a systematic process of land seizures, settlement expansions and legalisations of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution," State Department spokesman John Kirby said yesterday.
	"We oppose steps like these, which we believe are counterproductive to the cause of peace in general," he told a briefing.
	Under new approval granted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor 

US slams Israel's planned new settler homes after attacks

Planned NATO talks with Moscow should be focussed solely on Russia's "withdrawal" from Ukrainian soil, Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz has said.
	The minister was reacting to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg's announcement Monday that the transatlantic alliance is set to hold formal talks with Russia shortly after a summit in Warsaw this week.
	"Russia is an occupying power, every day innocent people, civilians are killed by Russia soldiers who are the aggressors," Macierewicz yesterday said on Polish public television.
	"We are not going to discuss defence plans with Russia. With Russia we can only discuss when and how they are going to withdraw from the occupied territories," in Ukraine, he added.
	Russia's 2014 intervention in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea stung NATO out of its post-Cold War complacency and into a major revamp to boost its readiness and resources to meet a host of new security challenges
	NATO leaders meeting in the Polish capital on Friday and ...

NATO-Russia talks must tackle Ukraine 'withdrawal': Poland

Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff said she will not appear in person at a hearing today of a commission handling impeachment proceedings against her, but will defend herself in writing.
	A Senate commission sits today to hear Rousseff's defense arguments before submitting its report to Senators at a full impeachment trial scheduled in August.
	"My defense tomorrow will be submitted in writing and read out by my lawyer," Rousseff wrote on Twitter.
	"We are considering whether I will attend a plenary session of the Senate at another time."
	Rousseff was suspended from office in May after lawmakers voted to hold an impeachment trial over allegations that she fiddled government accounts.
	The Senate is due to hear the commission's non-binding verdict and then vote on whether to impeach Rousseff between August 25 and 27.
	At that point Rousseff will again have the opportunity to appear in person to defend herself.
	Brazil hosts the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro from August 5 to 

Rousseff offers written defense at impeachment hearing

Debt-laden Greece's rejection exactly a year ago of austerity measures proposed by international lenders was a "sublime act of resistance," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has tweeted.
	Last year's referendum on the measures mooted by the lenders, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, were rejected by 62 percent of Greeks.
	"The 'No' of our people was a sublime act against the euro bigwigs promoting austerity but also against the establishment which wanted to stifle the country," Tsipras said yesterday.
	"One year on, we still have our heads high and we are fighting to put the country back on track," he said.
	One week after the referendum, Tsipras was however forced to sign a new bailout with creditors to avoid bankruptcy and had accept to continue further austerity measures.
	In May, Greek lawmakers voted in favour of more spending cuts and tax hikes. Greece urgently needs the next tranche of bailout money to repay big loans to the European Central Bank (ECB) and IMF 

Greek no to austerity a 'sublime act of resistance': PM

A senior British Conservative lawmaker was caught on camera today dishing out scorching criticism of the candidates hoping to succeed David Cameron as prime minister, following the shock Brexit vote.
	Ken Clarke, who served in Conservative governments under prime ministers from Margaret Thatcher to Cameron, gave the unguarded comments in a Sky News studio.
	He was apparently unaware the cameras were rolling as he began to chat about the contenders with fellow Conservative lawmaker Malcolm Rifkind.
	His comments came as voting began in the first round of the contest to replace Cameron, who resigned in the wake of the referendum.
	Whoever wins the contest will become the leader of the ruling Conservative party and, hence, prime minister.
	Both men laughed as they discussed the frontrunner, interior minister Theresa May.
	"Theresa's a bloody difficult woman but you and I worked with Margaret Thatcher," a rumpled and pink-faced Clarke said.
	"I get on all right with her and she is good. ..

UK Conservative caught ridiculing leadership contenders

A motorcycle bomber killed at least 16 people and wounded 40 today in a suicide attack on a Kurdish-populated district of the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh, an official said.
	A Kurdish police source confirmed the death toll to an AFP correspondent and said the assailant blew himself up in front of a bakery.
	"A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up in the Salihiah neighbourhood of Hasakeh city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that 15 of the wounded were in critical condition.

Motorbike bomber kills 16 outside bakery in Syria's Hasakeh

Saudi Arabia will hit hard those who seek to harm its young people, King Salman said today after suicide bombers struck Islam's second-holiest site and two other targets.
	In a speech marking the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, Salman, 80, also cautioned young people against "the dangers that lie in wait, notably extremism".
	He said the country "is determined to strike with an iron fist all those who want to harm the spirit and orientation of our youth".
	More than half of Saudis are under 25 and some have proclaimed allegiance to the Islamic State group of jihadists.
	The speech was given in Salman's name by the information minister and carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr tomorrow.
	The holiday is celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
	Salman was commenting the day after a suicide bomber in Medina killed four police outside the Prophet's Mosque, Islam's second-holiest site.
	The attack, ...

King warns extremists against targeting young Saudis

At least five people were killed after a Turkish military helicopter crashed today in the northeastern province of Giresun, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.
	"There have been deaths and injuries," Yildirim told journalists in the western province in Izmir, adding that 15 people had been onboard.
	"Five deaths and perhaps more."
	CNN-Turk earlier reported that the Sikorsky S-70 crashed in bad weather at around 1430 GMT in Alucra, a mountainous area of Giresun, which lies on the Black Sea.
	A brigadier general was among the passengers, the channel said, adding that the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
	It added that the passengers included several other officers as well as civilians and three children -- relatives of soldiers.

AFP

AFP

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