Oil scored a second straight day of solid gains today as US crude inventories fell much more than expected and Brexit fears receded.
	Oil prices advanced on easing worries about Britain's vote to leave the European Union and its impact on the global economy.
	The gains accelerated after the US Department of Energy reported the country's commercial crude inventories fell by 4.1 million barrels to 526.6 million barrels in the week ending June 24.
	The drop was about twice as large as expected.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery jumped USD 2.03 to USD 49.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
	In London, Brent crude for delivery in August, the global benchmark, finished at USD 50.61 a barrel, also a gain of USD 2.03 from yesterday's settlement.
	It was the sixth straight week of falling crude stockpiles in the United States, the world's largest consumer of crude, a jolt of good news amid worries about abundant global supplies.
	"That's bullish on its ...

Oil jumps as US crude inventories fall

PTI Automatic

The leaders of the United States and Mexico warned against isolationism at a summit in Ottawa today, making a pitch for unity as Donald Trump calls into question the free trade agreement that has bound them together with Canada for two decades.
	"All too often we're hearing rhetoric that ignores the enormous contributions that have been made by Mexican Americans and the enormous strengths we draw from the relationship," Obama said, without naming the Republican billionaire who hopes to succeed him as president.
	At the start of the so-called "Three Amigos" summit hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto offered a clear warning: "Isolationism is not a road towards progress," he said.
	"We are neighbors, we are friends," he added, announcing that he would soon visit the White House. "This friendship is based on strong cooperation and teamwork."
	Yesterday, Trudeau urged people to resist the temptation of "turning inward," warning of the high 

Obama, Pena Nieto unite against anti-trade rhetoric

A Tunisian killed in the Istanbul airport attack blamed on the Islamic State group was in Turkey to secure the release of his son detained for joining the jihadists, diplomats said today.
	Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim quickly pointed the finger at IS, although there has been no claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attack which killed at least 41 people and wounded 239.
	One of them was a Tunisian identified as Fathi Bayoudh, a doctor who had reportedly been in Turkey for several weeks in an attempt to repatriate his son with the help of diplomats.
	Bayoudh's son was accused of having joined IS in Syria, a foreign ministry source was quoted as saying by Tunisia's private Mosaique FM radio station.
	A defence ministry source in Tunis said Bayoudh was at Ataturk Airport to meet his wife when the triple suicide attack struck.
	Contacted by AFP, the head of consular affairs at Tunis' foreign ministry, Faycal Ben Mustapha, confirmed the Tunisian consulate in Istanbul had been in .

'Tunisian slain at airport in Turkey for IS-linked son'

The suicide assault on Istanbul's Ataturk airport bears the "hallmark" of an Islamic State attack, CIA Director John Brennan said today.
	"The despicable attacks in Istanbul International Airport yesterday that killed dozens and injured many more certainly bears the hallmark of ISIL's depravity," Brennan said, using an acronym for the IS group.

Istanbul attack bears 'hallmark' of IS: CIA director

Britain got its first taste today of a future outside the EU as Europe's leaders met without premier David Cameron and warned London it must accept EU migrants to win access to the bloc's free trade zone.
	The heads of government, meeting without a British representative for the first time in 40 years, said in a statement that Britain would be treated as a "third country" with both "rights and obligations".
	Continued access for to the huge EU single market of 500 million people "requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including freedom of movement," EU president Donald Tusk told a news conference.
	This is a blow to "Brexit" campaigners, who promised to restrict large-scale EU migration to Britain while assuring British companies would still be able to easily sell goods and services to the continent.
	German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also warned that London cannot not "cherry-pick" the terms of the exit negotiations.
	There are also concerns that with euroscepticism growing in ..

EU warns Britain on life after Brexit

A vote on whether to remove Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff from office will be postponed until after the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a report said today.
	The impeachment trial in the Senate is already underway but the final ruling on Rousseff's fate will take place on August 26 at the earliest, the daily O Globo reported, quoting unidentified aides to the Supreme Court justice presiding over the trial, Ricardo Lewandowski.
	Originally a date of August 16 had been considered, but that was in the middle of the August 5-21 Olympics, the first ever held in South America.
	The date was moved to August 22, although that would still risk heightened political tensions in the closing days of the Games.
	Spokesmen for the Supreme Court and the Senate would not confirm or deny the report to AFP.
	Rousseff was suspended on May 12 in a Senate vote, which followed a similar vote in the lower house. The Senate must next vote by a two thirds majority for her to be stripped ...

Brazil delays impeachment until after Olympics: report

The European Court of Human Rights today opened hearings into the cases of two former Guantanamo Bay inmates, who claim to have been held by the CIA in secret prisons in Romania and Lithuania before being transferred to the notorious US prison in Cuba.
	The pair remain incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, among the last 79 prisoners still held there.
	Amnesty International called the hearings "an important step" in determining Romania and Lithuania's role in the so-called US rendition process.
	The two countries "have never been held accountable for their direct involvement in CIA rendition and secret detention," Julia Hall, the rights group's expert on counter-terrorism and human rights in Europe, said in a statement.
	"Today's hearing is a chance for the victims' lawyers to set the facts out before the European Court in the hope that it will help break the conspiracy of silence," she added.
	The cases being heard by the European court based in Strasbourg, France, are being brought by ...

Rights court mulls claim CIA secretly held suspects in Europe

Completed first innings scoreboard in the fourth one-day international between England and Sri Lanka at The Oval:
	   Sri Lanka
	   K. Perera run out (Bairstow)                  1
	   D. Gunathilaka c Ali b Rashid                62
	   K. Mendis c Plunkett b Rashid                77
	   D Chandimal b Willey                         63
	   A Matthews not out                           67
	   S Prasanna b Willey                           9
	   D Shanaka not out                            19
	   Extras (2lb  5w )
	   Total (305-5 wkts, 42 overs)
	   Did not bat: U. Tharanga, N Pradeep, F Maharoof, R Lakmal.
	   Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Perera), 2-136 (Mendis), 3-158 (Gunathilaka), 4-245 (Chandimal), 5-259 (Prasanna),
	   Bowling: Willey 8-0-58-2; Woakes 9-65-0; Plunkett 8-0-65-0; Rashid 9-0-57-2; Ali 8-0-58-0
	   England
	   J. Roy
	   A. Hales
	   J Root
	   E Morgan
	   J Bairstow
	   J Buttler
	   M Ali
	   A Rashid
	   C Woakes
	   D Willey
	   L Plunkett
	   *England revised victory ...

England v Sri Lanka fourth ODI scoreboard

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was "heartened" by her talks with EU officials today but said there was no "automatic easy path" to protecting her country's status in the EU after Brexit.
	"I don't underestimate the challenge but I have been heartened today that I've found a willingness to listen," she said in Brussels six days after Britain -- but not Scotland -- voted to leave the EU.
	She said after meeting European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and MEPs that she had met "a lot of people expressing support for Scotland's position and wishing good luck in its attempts to protect its position with the EU".
	She added though that this "of course doesn't translate into an automatic easy path for Scotland through the situation we find ourselves in which I stress is not a situation of our making.
	"But I leave Brussels tonight in good heart and optimistic," she told a news conference.
	While Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, Scotland ...

Sturgeon says no 'easy path' for Scotland after Brexit

Two whistleblowers in the "LuxLeaks" tax scandal were given suspended jail sentences today for leaking thousands of documents that exposed Luxembourg's huge tax breaks for major international companies.
	The LuxLeaks scandal sparked a major global push against the generous deals handed to multinationals that grew even further after the Panama Papers revelations earlier this year.
	Former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet received 12-month and nine-month sentences respectively while journalist Edouard Perrin was acquitted of all charges.
	In his ruling, Judge Marc Thill recognised the defendants' status as whistleblowers and their "undeniable contribution... To greater transparency" on tax matters.
	The documents revealed the huge tax breaks that tiny EU nation Luxembourg offered international firms including Apple, IKEA and Pepsi, at a time when Jean-Claude Juncker, now head of the European Commission, was prime minister.
	The revelations ended up ...

LuxLeaks whistleblowers get suspended jail sentences

Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilake, Dinesh Chandimal and captain Angelo Matthews all smashed half centuries as Sri Lanka made 305-5 in a rain-hit fourth one-day international at The Oval today.
	England's victory target was revised to 308 off 42 overs due to the weather having seen the tourists show real guile and style in their innings.
	Mendis smashed 77 from 62 balls with 13 boundaries in an entertaining innings while Gunathilake hit 62 with seven fours.
	Chandimal weighed in with a rapid 63 from 51 balls including three sixes while Matthews made Mendis and Gunathilake put on 128 from 111 deliveries.
	Adil Rashid (2-57) and David Willey (2-58) were England's most successful bowlers.
	Sri Lanka's batsmen burst out of the blocks, batting with confidence and a real positive attitude.
	Kusal Perera was superbly run out by a direct hit from Jonny Bairstow's throw.Mendis picked up from his half century in Bristol to go on the attack and struck seven boundaries in 11 fours to stun the the 

Sri Lanka spree after Morgan puts them in

At least 348 people died in extrajudicial killings in crisis-hit Burundi over the year from April 2015, the UN said today.
	The killings were largely blamed on police, intelligence agents, anti-riot officers and militias linked to the ruling party, according to a report issued by UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.
	The report "details the tragic and comprehensive deterioration in the human rights of the people of Burundi", Zeid told a session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
	Aside from violence blamed on the security services, the UN rights office documented over the same period 134 murders committed by armed men, likely those opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza's government.
	Their victims primarily included police officers, soldiers and pro-government militia members, Zeid's report said.
	Burundi has been plunged into a deep crisis since Nkurunziza announced in April 2015 that he was running for a third term. He was re-elected last July.
	The violence has forced more ..

In Burundi, UN says 348 'extrajudicial' killings in a year

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power after a bloody crackdown on political Islamists, called today for religious reforms to counter extremists in a speech to Muslim clerics.
	Sisi has often warned that Islamist extremism presents a vital threat to the region, which he suggested lags in development and women's rights.
	Not enough work, he added, has been done to confront the ideology of extremists who have roiled the region and are waging a bloody insurgency in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
	"We are on a mission, during one of the most difficult periods not only for Egypt, but for Egypt and all Arab and Muslim states," Sisi said in the televised speech.
	"Are we the most knowledgeable of nations?" he asked, referring to Muslim countries. "Are we the most tolerant nation? Are we the nation that most respects women?"
	"If you found that the flaw was only in Egypt, we'd say OK. But I wonder, in how many of these 50 (Muslim) countries is this situation present?" he ...

Egypt president calls for reforms to counter extremists

Russia's defence minister today rebuked NATO for bolstering its military presence in eastern Europe and vowed Moscow will take countermeasures.
	"The US and other NATO members continue to build their military potential, first and foremost in countries neighbouring Russia," defence minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
	"Such actions by our Western colleagues will undermine Europe's stability and force us to take countermeasures, first of all, in the western strategic direction."
	Shoigu said that "more than 2,000 units of new and modernised equipment" would be deployed in Russia's western military district this year.
	This latest warning comes nearly two months after Shoigu said Moscow was poised to set up three new military divisions in the west and south of the country to counter NATO forces close to its border.
	Relations between NATO and Russia have soured over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and eastern European countries worried that ...

Russia vows to counter NATO build-up

Facebook said today it would give friends and family more prominence on user feeds, a move that may hurt media outlets that rely on the social network to draw readers.
	Facebook said in a statement that the goal of the "news feed," which appears when users log in, "is to show people the stories that are most relevant to them" and that its update "helps you see more posts from your friends and family."
	The move comes after Facebook came under scrutiny from allegations by a former contractor that it was suppressing some political viewpoints in its "trending topics."
	Facebook said its review found no bias, but that it would take steps to reassure users about the neutrality of the platform.
	Facebook vice president Adam Mosseri said in a blog post that an updated algorithm that determines what users see would help people find information that matters to them.
	"We are not in the business of picking which issues the world should read about," he wrote.
	"We are in the business of ...

Facebook to put friends and family first, not media

A popular musician in northeast Nigeria who was kidnapped days after releasing a scathing anti-graft song was freed today.
	Ado Dahiru Daukaka went missing in the Adamawa state capital of Yola after he left his house early Friday to offer dawn prayers at a mosque.
	Daukaka was discovered weak and famished early on Wednesday some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from his house in Lamurde village.
	The singer said he believed his abduction was in connection with his new song that accuses politicians from President Muhammadu Buhari's ruling party of corruption and predicts that they will be voted out of power in the 2019 election.
	The song "Gyara Kayanka", or "Put your house in order" in the local Hausa language, accuses local lawmakers of being selfish and corrupt.
	"They asked me why I sniff around other people's affairs which clearly shows that my kidnap had to do with my work as a singer," Daukaka said to AFP, speaking from a hospital in Lamurde.
	"I was never physically harmed by my ...

Nigerian anti-graft singer released after kidnapping

World number one Novak Djokovic racked up his 30th successive Grand Slam victory today as rain-lashed Wimbledon braced itself for the latest chapter in Marcus Willis' rags-to-riches blockbuster.
     Defending champion Djokovic brushed aside Adrian Mannarino, who was celebrating his 28th birthday, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the third round.
     The top seed, bidding for a third consecutive title at the All England Club and fourth in all, will face either American 28th seed Sam Querrey or Thomaz Bellucci for a place in the last 16.
     Djokovic's match was played under the roof of Centre Court as heavy rain brought chaos to the schedule.
     Only 15 minutes of play was possible on the outside courts up to the late afternoon causing 22 singles matches to be cancelled and men's doubles ties to be reduced to best-of-three setters.
     "Fortunately I was scheduled on Centre Court, that helps on days like this and when the roof is closed the atmosphere gets even more special," said ...

Djokovic hits 30 Slam wins in row

French police are probing new threats against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the target of a jihadist attack in January 2015 that left 12 dead, a legal source said today.
	The publication has received a series of threatening messages on its Facebook page since June 8, and on June 22 a hand-written letter was posted to the newsroom containing the same threats and the words "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).
	"No one has been arrested at this stage and investigations are ongoing," said the source.
	Jihadist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi gunned down eight Charlie staff as well as several others in and around the building in the attack on the magazine whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammed drew the fury of Muslims around the world.
	An accomplice, gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed a policewoman a day later and then took shoppers hostage at a Jewish supermarket, shooting dead four.
	All three jihadists were killed in police raids.
	While the staff of Charlie Hebdo moved into new ...

French police probing new Charlie Hebdo threats

Russian President Vladimir Putin today extended to the end of 2017 Moscow's embargo on food items from the West imposed in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine.
	A decree posted in the official government database states that the existing embargo on produce, dairy, meat, and most other foods will be extended to December 31, 2017.
	Russia has since August 2014 banned most foods imports from the European Union and other countries, inlcuding the United States, which imposed sanctions on Moscow over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support of east Ukraine's separatists.
	The food embargo was extended for a year in 2015 and the Russian government said in May that it had drawn up a plan to extend them again until 2018.
	EU ambassadors last week agreed to roll over their economic sanctions against Russia to January 2017 due to the lack progress on a peace process to end the fighting in east Ukraine.
	The sanctions, as well as Moscow's own embargo, have impacted the Russian economy, with ..

Putin extends Western food embargo to end of 2017

A Malaysian opposition leader and vocal critic of scandal-hit Prime Minister Najib Razak was arrested today for alleged corruption, in a move that could see the lawmaker jailed, a party official said.
	Lim Guan Eng - who has demanded Najib explain a massive financial scandal linked to state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) - is expected to be charged in court tomorrow.	The 55-year-old Lim has been chief minister of Penang state since 2008 and has led the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) since 2004 as secretary-general.
	"Lim was served with a warrant of arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) this evening on two corruption charges," Jeff Ooi, a DAP lawmaker told AFP.
	MACC officials could not be reached for comment.
	Ooi said one of the charges is related to improper change of use of public land to allow development.
	The other is tied to the purchase of a house by Lim - and which if found guilty could see the chief minister jailed, he ...

Malaysia opposition leader arrested over corruption: party

Ecuador's foreign minister voiced suspicion today that British intelligence was perpetually spying on his country's embassy in London, where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is camped out.
	"There are cameras everywhere. It is one of the most spied on embassies in the world," Ecuador's top diplomat Guillaume Long told reporters in Geneva, on the sidelines of a Human Rights Council session.
	"You are very fortunate if you can even make a phone call from inside the embassy. Internet collapses all the time. Everything is hacked. It is a pretty hostile context for Mr. Assange, every day," Long said.
	Asked if he believed British intelligence was responsible for the espionage, Long said: "I have my suspicions."
	Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in Sweden but has been inside Ecuador's UK mission for more than four years in a bid to avoid extradition.
	The anti-secrecy campaigner, who denies the allegation, walked into the embassy of his own free will on ...

AFP

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