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.

At least 5 dead in Turkey military chopper crash: PM

PTI Automatic

Americans have for the first time streamed more music on audio services such as Spotify than through videos, in a welcome shift for the industry, a study said today.
	Streaming has been rapidly growing and offering a new source of revenue for the long-beleaguered music business, which has tried to steer fans to subscription audio sites and away from video behemoth YouTube.
	Analytical firm BuzzAngle Music, in a mid-year report, reported 114 billion audio streams on sites such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Rhapsody in the first six months of the year.
	The number topped the 95 billion video streams on YouTube, Dailymotion and other sites, marking the first period in which audio dominated, it said.
	Audio streams soared in the first six months of 2016, more than doubling from the same period last year, while video streams grew by a more modest 23 percent.
	Streaming overall expanded by 58 percent in the United States, the world's largest music market, keeping up a breakneck rate of 

As streaming booms, audio overtakes video in US

French celebrity magazine Voici was ordered today to pay symbolic damages to President Francois Hollande's alleged girlfriend, actress Julie Gayet, for publishing pictures of the couple inside the presidential palace.
	Gayet, 44, pressed charges against the magazine after the grainy images of the couple on a terrace inside Hollande's official residence were published in 2014 under the tagline: "Since the start of their affair we have never seen them together."
	The images sparked concerns over security surrounding Hollande, 61, and after investigations showed the pictures were taken from within his residence, five members of his private security detail were transferred to other posts.
	The magazine was ordered to pay a 1,500 euro (USD 1,664) fine to the state, while Gayet was awarded symbolic damages of one euro.
	A lawyer for the magazine told AFP they planned to appeal. If the sentence is upheld Voici will have to publish a legal statement on its front page.
	Gayet's lawyer, Jean ...

French magazine fined over snaps of Hollande, girlfriend

The Afghan Taliban today condemned a deadly suicide bombing at Islam's second holiest site in the Saudi city of Medina, describing it as "an act of enmity and hatred".
	Four people were killed in the bombing outside the Prophet's Mosque yesterday, the same day as an attack outside a minority shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia, and another near the US consulate in the western city of Jeddah.
	"The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) - which has been shocked by this gruesome act - condemns this incident in the strongest of terms and considers it an act of enmity and hatred towards Islamic rituals," the militant group said in an emailed statement.
	 There were no claims of responsibility for the bombings, but the Islamic State group had urged its supporters to carry out attacks during Ramadan.
	 The Taliban, who were ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001, have themselves been repeatedly blamed by the UN for deliberately targeting civilians in the war-torn country.
	 As many as 600 

Afghan Taliban condemns attack at Saudi holy site

A Turkish military helicopter with 14 people onboard, including a brigadier general, crashed today in the northeastern province of Giresun, CNN-Turk television reported.
	The Sikorsky S-70 crashed in bad weather in a mountainous area of Giresun, which lies on the Black Sea, the channel said, adding that the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
	The passengers included several other officers as well as civilians and children -- relatives of soldiers, the channel said, without confirming any casualties.

'Military helicopter crashes in Turkey with 14 onboard'

French Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls today bypassed parliament to force through labour reforms that have sparked four months of strikes and street protests.
	"This country is too used to mass unemployment," Valls told parliament as many members booed and several walked out of the chamber.
	He said a "coalition of immobility" had stymied the reforms, which aim at reducing unemployment by freeing up the job market -- notably by making it easier for employers to hire and fire staff.
	It was the second time the embattled government used the so-called 49-3 provision for this package of reforms, as it could not count on the votes of legislators on the Socialist Party's left flank.
	It used the same measure to force a package of economic reforms through parliament last year, also to prevent the rebel left flank of the party from sinking it.
	The labour bill now continues on its bicameral shuttle.
	It returns to the Senate before its definitive adoption by the lower house on July 22 ..

French PM forces through contested labour law

US oil giant Chevron announced today a $36.8 billion expansion project in Kazakhstan, the first major investment in petroleum production to be greenlighted since the oil-price rout.
	The expansion of the massive Tengiz project will increase production by about 260,000 barrels a day of oil-equivalent to reach about one million barrels a day, said Chevron, which holds 50 percent of Tengizchevroil company.
	It is one of the largest investments to develop new oil production capacity since the crash in crude prices from two years ago forced oil companies to slash spending.
	The project will extend and expand development of a landmark oil field first opened up to Chevron soon after Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations emerged as independent countries after the fall of the Soviet Union.
	The Tengizchevroil began in 1993, with ExxonMobil holding 25 percent, state-controlled KazMunayGas 20 percent, LukArco, a subsidiary of Russia's Lukoil, five percent.
	"This project builds on the ...

Chevron announces $36.8 bn Kazakh oil expansion

Five-time champion and nostalgic favourite Venus Williams today reached her first Wimbledon semi-final in seven years, setting up a clash with Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
     Venus, 36, is the oldest women's semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994 as she also moved a step closer to a final showdown with her sister and defending champion Serena Williams.
     The American veteran, seeded eight, enjoyed a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan's world number 96 Yaroslava Shvedova.
     German fourth seed Kerber, meanwhile, reached her second Wimbledon semi-final with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) win over Simona Halep, the fifth seed from Romania.
     Tuesday's other quarter-finals see six-time champion Serena face Russian 21st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
     Slovak 19th seed Dominika Cibulkova, who is due to get married on Saturday, meets unseeded Elena Vesnina of Russia.
     Venus, who won the last of her seven Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2008, is back in the ...

Venus, Kerber set-up Wimbledon semi-final clash

A Belgian court today jailed four leaders of a terror cell broken up in a deadly raid in 2015, which had alleged links to the jihadists who carried out attacks in Paris and Brussels.
	The men received jail terms of between eight and 16 years for their role in leading an Islamic State group in the eastern town of Verviers that was allegedly planning to kill police officers.
	Marouane El Bali, Souhaib El Abdi et Mohamed Arshad were jailed for 16 years each while Omar Damache was jailed for eight years by the court in Brussels.
	Two suspected members of the group were killed on the January 2015 raid on the house in Verviers, located 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Brussels near the German border.
	Prosecutors described the cell as the "rough draft" of the terror cell that attacked Paris on November 13 2015.
	They described the group as being under the orders of Paris ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
	Main suspect El Bali was charged with attempted murder for firing at police during the ..

Belgian court jails leaders of terror cell

Nearly 30,000 "foreign terrorist fighters" are currently in Syria and Iraq, a high-ranking UN official said today, warning that the risk of attacks in their home countries was growing.
	"The number of foreign terrorist fighters is very high" in war-ravaged Syria and neighbouring Iraq, said Jean-Paul Laborde, UN assistant secretary general and head of its Counter-Terrorism Committee.
	"There are nearly 30,000, and now that the territory held by Daech (the Islamic State group) is shrinking in Iraq, we are seeing them return, not only to Europe but to all of their countries of origin, like Tunisia, Morocco," he told reporters in Geneva.
	"The terrorist attacks in those countries of origin risk getting bigger and bigger to counter-balance the pressure on them" on the ground in Syria and Iraq, he said.
	Laborde urged countries to put in place a "filter system to distinguish between the large majority of (returning) foreign fighters, who are not dangerous... And those who are."
	The former .

Nearly 30,000 'foreign terrorists' in Syria, Iraq: UN

It will be "impossible" for the European Union and the United States to conclude negotiations on a trade deal by the end of 2016, France's junior minister for trade and commerce said today.
	"I think a deal in 2016 is impossible and everyone knows it, including those who say otherwise," said the minister, Matthias Fekl in a statement highly critical of the deal.
	"We are waiting for so many serious offers from the United States that there is absolutely no chance of things happening before the end of the (President Barack) Obama administration."
	EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said last week that all EU members were onboard with the process to create the world's largest free trade and investment area, under the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
	However, just days earlier French Prime Minister Manuel Valls had said the deal which has faced mounting criticism in Europe, especially in France and Germany, would serve as "a breeding ground for ...

EU-US trade deal 'impossible' in 2016: French minister

Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban today announced that he had submitted his resignation to the prime minister following a bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 200 people.
	"I placed my resignation before the prime minister," Ghabban told a news conference.
	He said the car bomb that ripped through a crowded shopping area in Baghdad early on Sunday came from Diyala province north of the capital, and likely successfully navigated a security checkpoint on the way in.
	Ghabban also said that checkpoints littered throughout the capital, a pillar of government efforts to secure the city, "are absolutely useless".
	The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack -- one of the deadliest ever in Iraq -- and said an Iraqi suicide bomber carried it out.
	The attack has sparked widespread anger among Iraqis, who accuse the government of not doing enough to protect them.
	Apparently seeking to shore up its image, Baghdad on Monday announced the execution of ..

Iraq interior minister submits resignation after deadly blast

Russia's athletics federation today published a list of the 68 athletes who have formally requested to be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics following a decision to suspend the track and field team.
     The athletes have "met the criteria" to participate and were approved by Russian coaches, said the federation (ARAF), which last month had its suspension over allegations of institutionalised and pervasive doping upheld by athletics' ruling body the IAAF.
     "Every athlete has sent in an individual request to participate in the Olympic Games, for confirmation by the IAAF," ARAF said.
     The list includes track and field stars like world champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, long-jumper Darya Klishina, and pole vault tsarina Yelena Isinbayeva.
     The IAAF's ruling on June 17 said that Russia's athletics federation was up to two years away from returning to operational compliance with anti-doping requirements.
     But it left the door ajar to some competitors not tainted by ...

Russia says 68 athletes asked to compete in Rio

Israel and Kenya should work hand-in-hand against terrorism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Nairobi today during the second leg of a four-nation Africa tour.
	   Saying Kenya and Israel "face the same challenges" of terrorism, Netanyahu cited the 2013 attack on the Israeli-owned Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in which at least 67 people were killed by four jihadist gunmen.
	   "We have also experienced similar attacks in our country," Netanyahu said. "Working together will help us defeat the scourge of this terror even faster."
	   On Monday the prime minister visited Uganda to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Israeli raid on Entebbe airport in which his brother Yonatan was killed rescuing hostages held by German and Palestinian hijackers.
	   Despite his personal loss, Netanyahu said the raid was, "a devastating blow to international terrorism."
	   In Nairobi the Israeli leader promised to share intelligence and provide "direct assistance" aimed at saving lives. 

Netanyahu says Israel, Kenya share terrorist threat

Myanmar police have detained five villagers for burning down a mosque last week, an officer said today, as authorities look to contain religious violence in the Buddhist-majority nation.
	Anti-Muslim sentiment has fomented across Myanmar in recent years, sporadically erupting into bloodshed and threatening to damage democratic gains in the former junta-run country.
	In the past two weeks, Buddhist mobs have ransacked two mosques in separate towns, sending Muslim residents fleeing to other villages for safety.
	Myanmar's state security forces, which are overwhelmingly Buddhist, have faced criticism for slow or incomplete investigations into previous acts of religious violence.
	But today they said they had arrested five people linked to the attack on a mosque in northern Kachin State last Friday.
	"We have arrested four men and a woman. They (were part of the group) who destroyed the mosque," Moe Lwin, a police officer from Lone Khin, the affected village, told AFP.
	The group ...

Five arrested over Myanmar mosque burning

Austrians will again vote in a presidential election on October 2 after the far-right managed to get its narrow defeat from May declared null and void, the government said today.
	The election gives Norbert Hofer, 45, of the opposition Freedom Party (FPOe) another shot at becoming the European Union's first far-right anti-immigration president.
	Hofer lost out to Alexander Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old Greens-backed independent, by just 31,000 votes in May.
	The FPOe launched a legal challenge on June 8 alleging "terrifying" irregularities, and on July 1 Austria's highest court upheld its challenge, ruling that Austrians must vote again.
	The Constitutional Court found that procedural errors took place with almost 80,000 votes, meaning that they potentially could have been tampered with.
	Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said afterwards he was "ashamed" by the scale of the "sloppiness" uncovered. Tabloid newspapers likened Austria to a "banana republic".
	Traditionally the ...

Austria to hold new presidential vote on Oct 2

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker sharply criticised politicians Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson as the "sad heroes" of Brexit who backed out of leading Britain through the EU exit they had campaigned for.
	"The Brexit heroes of yesterday are now the sad heroes of today,"  Juncker told a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
	"Those who have contributed to the situation in the UK have resigned, Johnson, Farage and others. They are as it were retro-nationalists, they are not patriots," Juncker said.
	"Patriots don't resign when things get difficult, they stay," he added.
	Juncker was reporting to MEP's the results of last week's historic EU summit, in which British Prime Minister David Cameron reported to his fellow leaders the vote by Britain to leave the bloc.
	Johnson pulled out of the leadership race to succeed Cameron, who has said he will resign by October, while Farage yesterday stepped down as leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence ...

EU's Juncker criticises 'sad heroes of Brexit'

Hungary will hold a referendum on October 2 on troubled EU plans to relocate migrants among member states, a scheme fiercely opposed by right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the president said today.
	"As president of the republic I decree that the referendum will be held on October 2," Janos Ader said in a statement.
	Orban's government voted against the European Union's plan to share 160,000 migrants around the 28-nation bloc via mandatory quotas, but the scheme was approved by a majority of member states in September.
	Hungary has joined Slovakia in filing a legal challenge against the plan, which was meant to ease pressure on Greece and Italy, the main entry points into the bloc for migrants fleeing the Syrian civil war.
	Budapest said earlier this year that the issue would be put to a referendum. Orban has said that the EU has no right to "redraw Europe's cultural and religious identity".
	Voters will be asked: "Do you want the EU to prescribe the mandatory relocation of ...

Hungary to hold October referendum on EU migrant scheme

Three suicide bombings have struck across Saudi Arabia in a single day, including a shocking attack at Islam's second holiest site, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, where four security guards were killed.
	Yesterday's attacks on Islam's spiritual home came as Muslims prepare for the feast this week marking the end of the holy fasting month Ramadan.
	There were no claims of responsiblity, but the Islamic State group had urged its supporters to carry out attacks during the holy month and has claimed or been blamed for a wave of Ramadan shootings and bombings including in Orlando, Bangladesh, Istanbul and Baghdad.
	The suicide bombing in Medina came during sunset prayers at the Prophet's Mosque -- where Islam's Prophet Mohammed is buried and which attracts millions of pilgrims each year.
	The Saudi interior ministry said in a statement that security forces became suspicious of a man who was heading for the Prophet's Mosque through a parking lot.
	"As they tried to stop him, he blew ...

Suicide bombings shake Saudi Arabia, four dead at holy site

A French inquiry into the terror attacks that rocked Paris in 2015 today recommended the fusion of the country's intelligence services after the "global failure" of the country's myriad agencies.
	The parliamentary inquiry was set up in February to probe possible security failings in the run-up to two major terror attacks in Paris in 2015 that left 147 people dead.
	"The two big intelligence bosses admitted during their hearings that the 2015 attacks represent a 'global intelligence failure'," said Socialist lawmaker Sebastien Pietrasanta.
	The president of the commission of the inquiry, Georges Fenech, said that the barriers between different intelligence services led to the surveillance of Charlie Hebdo attacker Said Kouachi being lifted.
	The next time he was heard of was when he and his brother Cherif attacked the satirical weekly in Paris on January 7, killing 12 people.
	Amedy Coulibaly, an ally of the brothers who took shoppers hostage at a Jewish supermarket two days later, ...

France attacks inquiry recommends intelligence overhaul

Iceland's footballers received a heroes welcome on returning home following their astonishing run to the Euro 2016 quarter-finals in France.
     Their plane flew low over the capital Reykjavik before landing at Keflavik airport where the local fire services gave them a fire hose guard of honour with shooting water creating a rainbow.
     Striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, who scored a consolation goal in the crushing 5-2 defeat to the hosts at the Stade de France on Sunday, said he was happy to be home.
     "It was a dream come true to get that support," he said of the estimated 30,000 fans -- some 10 percent of the population -- who followed the nation in France.
     "We experienced something simply wonderful, it was a dream come true and we are proud to have brought such cheer to our country," he said, adding that the friendly behaviour of the fans had done the country proud.
     The players were then paraded through the streets of the capital on a double decker bus in the direction 

AFP

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