Hostage-takers were from Bangladesh militant group, not

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Tears rolled down the cheeks of Gianluigi Buffon but the legendary Italy 'keeper said there were "no regrets" despite the Azzurri missing a golden chance to beat Germany to a Euro 2016 semi-final spot.
     "The tears are for my disappointment. It was a magical experience that revived something in all of us and our fans, but it's come to an end," an emotional Buffon told media after Germany's 6-5 penalty shoot-out win in Bordeaux.
     After their quarter-final finished 1-1 in regulation time and neither team scored in extra-time, Italy's bid to put two forgettable World Cup campaigns behind only unravelled at a dramatic penalty shootout.
     Italy spurned the chance to clinch their last four spot when Graziano Pelle hit a pitiful effort wide of the post as the Germans misfired.
     That, and other misses, proved costly for Italy later on, as the penalty shootout went to a total of 18 kicks.
     After Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian saw his shot saved by Manuel Neuer, ...

No regrets for teary Buffon as Italy exit Euros

Germany moved into the semi-finals of Euro 2016 but their un-German-like inefficiency in a penalty shootout with Italy almost cost them dear before Jonas Hector kept his head.
     Germany missed three penalties before triumphing 6-5 in a rollercoaster 18-penalty shootout as Hector slotted home his kick under the diving Gianluigi Buffon and raced into his teammates' arms.
     They will face the winners of Sunday's match between host nation France and surprise package Iceland in a semi-final on Thursday.
     "It's hard to put it into words, but I am overjoyed that it went in," Hector said.
     "There weren't many people left. I knew I had to take one at some point and I had my heart in my mouth."
     Germany also shook off the hoodoo against old foes Italy, winning for the first time in nine attempts.
     "Si, si, si, the curse against Italy is broken," Bild newspaper said.
     The Germans maintained a remarkable record of shootout successes -- you have to go back to 1976 for the 

Germany win on penalties to reach Euro 2016 semi-finals

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has sparked outrage after calling rival Democrat Hillary Clinton corrupt in a tweet featuring the Jewish Star of David symbol.
	The six-pointed star was superimposed on a pile of USD 100 bills with the message "most corrupt candidate ever!" -- which many took as a potent anti-Semitic reference to stereotypes about Jews and money yesterday.
	"When I see Trump's anti-Muslim scare tactics or anti-Jewish optics, it's all evil and needs to be named," responded one Twitter user.
	Trump later deleted the tweet and replaced it with a new image that used a circle instead of a star. The original tweet is still posted on various media outlets.
	The tweet is Trump's latest remark to prompt accusations of bigotry, having previously called for banning Muslims from entering the United States, and describing Mexicans as rapists and criminals.

Trump draws ire for anti-Clinton tweet with Star of David

The lead singer of a Mexican folk band famous for its "narco ballads" about drug trafficking was shot in an upscale Mexico City neighbourhood, the city prosecutor's office said.
	Alan Ramirez is the latest "narcocorrido" artist to be attacked or killed in recent years, but the first victim of such violence in the swanky neighbourhood of Polanco.
	"Our dear companion is recovering," tweeted his band, Banda MS, which gave concerts on Thursday and Friday at the National Auditorium in Polanco, the capital's top venue that holds 10,000 people.
	The "narcocorrido" genre, created in the northwest Mexican state of Sinaloa -- home of kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman -- draws inspiration from the exploits of drug traffickers. It has gained increasing popularity in the southwest United States and northern Mexico.
	Mexico City's attorney general has opened an investigation into the attack on Ramirez, the frontman of Banda MS.
	The shooting occurred early yesterday morning outside a Polanco ...

'Narcocorrido' singer shot in Mexico City

A tiger attacked and killed a zookeeper in its cage at a Spanish animal park, the local Red Cross service said.
	The grim discovery of the keeper's body was made at around 5:00 pm (local time) yesterday at the Terra Natura park in the southeastern coastal resort town of Benidorm.
	"The tiger was still in the cage with the 37-year-old keeper," a Red Cross spokesman told AFP.
	Zoo staff put the animal to sleep with sedative darts after which the emergency workers were able to get in and pronounce the woman dead.
	There was no word on the incident from the local police.
	The Terra Natura in Benidorm, which is in Spain's Alicante province, presents itself on its website as "a new generation" animal park, with a habitat area created for each of 200 species of animals.

Tiger kills keeper at Spain zoo: Red Cross

A bomb ripped through a busy shopping district in central Baghdad early today, killing at least six people and setting stores ablaze, officials said.
	The blast in the Karrada area, where many people go to shop ahead of the holiday marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, also wounded at least 20 people, the officials said.
	Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan said the attack was a car bomb near a restaurant, and that it burned shops in the area.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State jihadist group carries out frequent bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and elsewhere.
	IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces, most recently in Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad that was recaptured a week ago.

Baghdad bomb kills at least six: officials

Financial movers and shakers gathered in France have urged a clear and timely political response to lift the uncertainty caused by Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union.
	A raft of top business leaders and intellectuals yesterday gathered in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence for a three-day meeting to discuss how to react to the fallout from last week's "Brexit" vote.
	Participants swiftly agreed on at least one thing -- nobody is quite sure what is going to happen next, the underlying source of their worries.
	Britain has not yet begun the process of disengaging itself from the European Union,  with arguments raging after the country was split 52 per cent to 48 per cent in the referendum.
	Renault-Nissan automaker giant head Carlos Ghosn said the loss of Britain in itself from the EU bloc was not so much the problem as that the uncertainties such a move would provoke.
	"Worried? Yes," said Ghosn. "Not because of Brexit but worried by the uncertainty that has ...

Business leaders urge swift response to Brexit worries

Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, has harshly criticised what he called a lack of police leadership in efforts to fight rampant crime a month before the city hosts the Olympic Games.
	Referring to the hijacking on Friday of a newly arrived shipment of German television equipment to be used at the Olympics, Paes said the police need to work harder.
	"I respect the police force. I think they lack leadership," he said on Globo television yesterday.
	"I think there needs to be leadership in the state, someone to say 'Come on, let's take action, let's work,'" he said.
	"People need to have security," he said. "I think it has gone beyond the limits. There's a lack of minimal leadership."
	The truckload of equipment for Germany's ARD and ZDF television was hijacked shortly after importation on Friday as the goods were being driven through the Olympic host city. The stolen goods, worth about USD 445,000, were recovered the same day.
	Rio will become the first South American city in history to host ..

Rio mayor criticises police after high-profile crime

A Saudi-funded mosque in Nice has opened its doors for the first time after a 15-year tussle with the local town hall.
	The Nicois En-nour Institute mosque received authorisation to open early yesterday from the local prefect, substituting for town mayor Philippe Pradal, who recently took over from Christian Estrosi.
	Estrosi was implacably opposed to the construction of the mosque and in April had secured the green light to sue the French state in a bid to block its opening in the southern city.
	He had accused the building's owner, Saudi Arabia's Islamic Affairs Minister Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz, of "advocating sharia" and wanting to "destroy all of the churches on the Arabian peninsula".
	Estrosi, mayor since 2008, said that the project which was initiated under his predecessor in 2002 was unauthorised.
	However the mosque's opening was described as "a real joy," by Ouassini Mebarek, lawyer and head of a local religious association.
	"But there is no smug triumphalism," he told ..

Saudi-funded mosque opens in Nice after long struggle

A Gay Pride march in Paris today has caused a row in France's hard Right National Front (FN), with some student supporters backing an event decried by a party vice-chairman.
	"More than ever necessary after the homophobic attack in Orlando, we wish a good #MarcheDesFiertes (Gay Pride) to all," tweeted the association of FN students at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
	The tweet, just as the march started in the capital, was met with consternation however from other FN supporters -- not least vice-president Louis Aliot, who took to Twitter to give an entirely different line.
	"The FN does not support the Gay Pride March, an exhibitionist and anti-FN symbol of militant communitarianism," Aliot said in a message retweeted by FN lawmaker Marion Marechal-Le Pen, niece of party FN president Marine Le Pen.
	Another party vice-president, Marie-Christine Arnautu, as well as the leader of the party's youth wing Gaetan Dussausaye, also disapproved of the pro-march message from the ...

Gay Pride march sparks French hard Right row

Nigerian security officials are questioning the driver of Sierra Leone's kidnapped deputy high commissioner, an official in Freetown said today.
	The envoy, Alfred Nelson-Williams, was snatched on Friday as he was travelling by road from the Nigerian capital of Abuja north to the city of  Kaduna.
	"We've been informed by the Nigerian authorities that the driver of the kidnapped deputy high commissioner is being questioned by security officials," Sierra Leone Deputy Information and Communication Minister Cornelius Deveaux told reporters today.
	Kidnappings are common in Nigeria, where the rich and powerful drive bulletproof cars and even hire military and police chaperones as protection from highway bandits.
	The envoy was kidnapped "on his way to Kaduna from Abuja to attend the passing out ceremony of military officers at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji outside Kaduna," Kaduna state security official Yusuf Yakubu Soja told AFP yesterday.
	Neither he nor police could 

Call for release of Sierra Leone diplomat kidnapped in Nigeria

Israeli troops locked down the occupied West Bank's most populous city Hebron and surrounding villages today after two Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks nearby.
	The crackdown comes amid a flare-up in nine months of deadly violence as the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan looms, and after key diplomatic players called for urgent steps by both sides to revive the moribund peace process.
	Troops had closed all exit roads from Hebron except for the main northern one, an AFP correspondent reported.
	Palestinian security said the army had opened entrances to the villages of Sair and Halhul, but an Israeli military spokeswoman said they had been partially open from the beginning.
	The army yesterday said it would also deploy two additional battalions to the area.
	The measures were described as the "most substantial steps on the ground" since 2014, when Israeli forces carried out a huge search operation in the southern West Bank for three young hitchhikers abducted and ...

Israel locks down flashpoint Hebron after deadly attacks

Former French Socialist prime minister Michel Rocard died today aged 85, his son told AFP.
	Rocard served as prime minister for three years from mid-1988 under Francois Mitterrand, two-term Socialist president who led the country from 1981 to 1995.
	Mitterrand appointed Rocard to succeed future centre right president Jacques Chirac after a period of unprecedented left-right "cohabitation".
	Born on August 23, 1930 in the Parisian suburb of Courbevoie, Rocard attended the elite National School of Administration ENA and carved out a high-flying political career in a revamped and modernised Socialist Party under Mitterrand.
	Rocard, noted for his pro-Europeanism, died in a Paris hospital,  his son said.
	President Francois Hollande paid tribute to a man he called "a great figure of the Republic and of the Left.

Former French PM Michel Rocard dead at 85

Guinea-Bissau has recorded three cases of Zika, becoming the second country in West Africa where the dangerous viral disease has been detected, the government said today.
	"Three cases of contamination by Zika virus have been confirmed," a statement quoted Health Minister Domingos Malu as saying.
	The cases occurred in the Bijagos archipelago, a group of 88 islands of which 23 are inhabited, Malu told a cabinet meeting yesterday.
	The communique gave no further detail about the three cases, their location or how the disease may have arrived on the Bijagos.
	A hospital source told AFP that investigations were underway but the first case may have occurred early last month on Bubaque, one of the Bijagos islands.
	A former Portuguese colony of 1.6 million people, Guinea-Bissau suffers from chronic poverty and instability.
	Previously, the only other country in West Africa where Zika had been detected was Cape Verde, an archipelago in the Atlantic, where 7,500 cases have been recorded ...

Guinea-Bissau records first three cases of Zika

Mexico's defense department says three of its personnel are dead following the crash of a military helicopter.
	The chopper crashed yesterday in a rural area southeast of Mexico City near the Popocatepetl volcano. The area is known for high mountains but not for criminal activity.
	Those killed were a captain, a lieutenant and a sergeant. The chopper left from the southern state of Oaxaca, where teachers' protests have blocked roads. It was headed to Mexico City airport.

3 soldiers dead in Mexico City helicopter crash

Seven Japanese nationals involved in a hostage attack in Bangladesh have been confirmed dead, Japan's government said late today.
	   "Embassy officials confirmed that seven Japanese were included in the bodies sent to hospital by the Bangladesh government," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference in Tokyo.

7 Japanese involved in Dhaka attack confirmed dead: govt

A Tunisian was flown home for trial today after his arrest in Turkey for allegedly joining the Islamic State group, prosecutors said, days after his father was killed in an airport attack while searching for him.
	"Anouar Bayoudh arrived in Tunis at 00:30 AM (0050 IST) with his girlfriend. They were taken to the investigation unit for terrorist crimes at the National Guard," prosecution spokesman Sofiene Sliti said.
	Bayoudh was to appear before a magistrate later today and both he and his girlfriend were to be charged with "joining a terrorist organisation and involvement in terrorist crimes", Sliti said.
	The 26-year-old has no idea that his father Fathi was buried yesterday after he was among the 44 people killed in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport earlier this week, the spokesman added.
	The military doctor had been in Turkey looking for Anouar, after he and his wife learned late last year that their son had joined IS in Iraq and then in Syria, like thousands of 

Tunisia to try son of Istanbul attack victim over joining IS

Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton was quizzed today by the FBI about her use of personal email while serving as secretary of state, a campaign spokesman said.
	"Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was secretary" of state, spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement.
	"She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out of respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview.

Clinton interviewed by FBI about State Dept emails: spokesman

Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic was sent crashing out of Wimbledon by big-serving Sam Querrey on Saturday, shattering his dreams of securing the first calendar Grand Slam in 47 years.
     The world number one, bidding for a fourth Wimbledon title and 13th major, suffered his earliest loss at a Slam since the 2009 French Open.
     The 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) third round defeat also ended Djokovic's Open era record run of 30 successive wins at the majors and his streak of having reached 28 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals.
     "Sam played a great match. His game was brutal and I was overpowered today," said Djokovic who added that he "wasn't 100% healthy".
     "But this is not the place or time to talk about it."
     It was only a second win in 10 meetings for American Querrey, the world number 41, against Djokovic and it was constructed on an epic serving performance over two days after the tie had been suspended with him two sets to the good on Friday.
     

Wimbledon sensation as Djokovic crashes out to Querrey

Immigration to Germany from other European Union countries hit a new record of over 685,000 people last year, led by Romanians, Poles and Bulgarians, Die Welt daily said today, citing official figures.
	A total of 685,485 EU citizens arrived in Germany in 2015 while 303,036 left for a net increase of 382,449, the paper reported, saying it had access to data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
	Germany's economic success and relatively low unemployment has drawn people from the EU's poorer members in search of work and better lives.
	Romanians topped the list of new arrivals in Germany last year with nearly 175,000, followed by Poles with almost 150,000 and Bulgarians with just over 70,000, Die Welt said.
	Promises to limit immigration from other EU states played a key role in the campaign for Britain's membership referendum, which delivered a shock victory last week for the "leave" camp.
	In April, Germany tabled a proposed law to drastically limit EU migrants' .

AFP

AFP

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