Couples bent on getting cozy in their car mustn't forget to put the handbrake on, Swedish police warned today after one passionate pair's van crashed after rolling down a hill.
	To hammer home the point, officers in Stockholm's Sodermalm district published pictures of the silver minivan at the bottom of a steep hill.
	"On Tanto Mount, the handbrake was left off when the couple's desire for each other got too much. Safety first. On all levels," the police wrote on Twitter.
	The department's officers are known for their humorous social media posts, attracting more than 65,000 subscribers on Twitter.
	In May, Sodermalm's police contingent mocked a youngster who was caught with a fake driving licence.
	"It's not good to try to deceive someone with a fake licence. It's downright stupid if the licence also says that you're born on February 30," they wrote earlier this month.

Copulating in a car? Don't forget the handbrake: Sweden police

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With the theme tune to World War II classic "The Great Escape" blaring from his open-top bus, UKIP leader Nigel Farage rode into multi-ethnic Birmingham today promising to deliver freedom from the EU.
	"Vote Brexit, vote to get our country back!" declared the head of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), standing on the top deck of the purple bus, to a crowd of placard-waving supporters and bemused shoppers in Britain's second largest city.
	Farage has been relentlessly touring the country on his "battle bus" ahead of Britain's referendum on European Union membership on June 23, urging a "Leave" vote to end uncontrolled migration from other parts of the 28-nation bloc.
	In Birmingham, one of Britain's most ethnically diverse cities, he received a warm welcome as he toured the market in the city centre.
	"The whole face of Birmingham has changed in the last five years. We have trouble serving people because nobody speaks English," said Lynn Everett, 62, who runs a stall selling ...

Farage builds on immigration fears in Brexit battle

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte today said that corrupt journalists were legitimate targets of assassination, as he amped up his controversial anti-crime crusade with offers of rewards for killing drug traffickers.
	Duterte won this month's elections by a landslide largely due to an explosive law-and-order platform in which he pledged to end crime within six months by killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals.
	The foul-mouthed politician has launched a series of post-election tirades against criminals and repeated his vows to kill them -- particularly drug traffickers, rapists and murderers.
	In a press conference called today to announce his cabinet in his southern hometown of Davao, Duterte said journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities also deserved to die.
	"Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination...," Duterte said when asked how he would address the problem of media killings in the Philippines after a ...

Philippines' Duterte endorses killing corrupt journalists

A Spanish woman whose husband died in France last year won the right today to use his frozen sperm and continue the in vitro treatment the couple had started before he died.
	A French court ruled in favour of Mariana Gonzalez-Gomez-Turri, arguing that applying the law that prohibits post-mortem insemination in France would have "disproportionate consequences".
	France's refusal to transport the sperm to Spain, where Gomez-Turri now lives, is an "excessive abuse" of her rights, France's top administrative court said.
	Its decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
	In its ruling, the court ordered that "all necessary measures" be taken to export the sperm to Spain, where post-mortem insemination is allowed up to a year following death.
	The woman's husband Nicolas Turri, an Italian, died of cancer in July 2015 in Paris where the couple lived at the time, making the case subject to French law.
	When he got sick, Turri decided to freeze his sperm in Paris due to the risk of infertility .

Woman can use dead husband's sperm: French court

Bahraini authorities today released on "humanitarian" grounds opposition activist Zainab al-Khawaja, who had been imprisoned with her toddler son since March, a public prosecution official said.
	The Bahraini Shiite mother, who also holds Danish nationality, had been convicted of insulting King Hamad by ripping up a picture of him, and had chosen to keep her 17-month-old son with her in jail.
	Judicial authorities ordered "the suspension of the sentence" for Khawaja and another defendant identified as Irena Bogotova who had been jailed with her four-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Sayed said in a statement.
	They were released "considering their humanitarian situation and in the interests of their children," he said.
	Bogotova is reportedly Russian, but no details have been given about her case.
	Zainab al-Khawaja is the daughter of prominent rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to overthrow the Sunni regime.
	The Gulf Centre for Human Rights .

Bahrain frees female activist and toddler son

- Denmark will punish preachers who give their approval to criminal acts such as violence and bigamy, and will ban foreign "hate preachers" from entering the country, the government said today.
	"For several years it has been discussed whether we can do anything about certain religious preachers undermining democracy, basic freedoms and human rights, and integration," Denmark's Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, Bertel Haarder, said in a statement.
	"We have now shown that we can," he added.
	The new rules will make it a criminal offence for preachers to give their "explicit approval" to criminal acts -- such as killings, rape and bigamy -- as part of religious education, which will be punishable with a fine or up to three years in prison.
	Denmark will also establish a public list of preachers "with views and values contrary to fundamental Danish values" who will be banned from entering the country.
	If they are EU citizens, who enjoy freedom of movement within the bloc, they will .

Denmark moves to rein in 'hate preachers'

An Israeli court awarded a former employee at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence $30,000 in damages today after finding his wife guilty of abusive treatment, in her latest legal setback.
	The Jerusalem Labour Court awarded the amount to Guy Eliyahu, a former maintenance worker who alleged he was subjected to humiliating treatment by Sara Netanyahu.
	   His claims included being asked to bring her food she requested, then being told he was making her gain weight.
	She was also said to have called him back to the residence after midnight so he could heat a bowl of soup, as well as another night because he had not properly said goodnight.
	Sara Netanyahu's lawyers denied all of the accusations and planned to appeal.
	The government and the private company that employed Eliyahu are to pay the fine.
	Separately this week, Israeli police completed a probe into allegations Netanyahu and his wife used public funds for their private villa.
	Police publicly gave no indication of the .

Court rules Netanyahu's wife harassed ex-worker

A British goldfish named Nemo is recovering well after the beloved pet's owners paid USD 200 (261 euros, USD 291) for a rare operation to remove a tumour at a hospital 200 kilometres from their home.
	Sonya Miles, the veterinary surgeon who operated on him, told AFP today that the five-year-old fish first had to be put to sleep and taken out of the water to remove a tumour that had grown as big as him.
	"There was one hairy moment when its heart stopped but it started again thanks to the exotics nurse," she said, referring to her colleague at a veterinary hospital in Bristol.
	The operation, which took place earlier this month, lasted 45 minutes. Nemo was subsequently returned to the water where he began swimming normally.
	Nemo's owners, a couple, also have three cats, two dogs, a hedgehog and a parrot, British media reported.
	   The case made national headlines today and there were strong reactions on news websites.
	"I would have done the same and am very glad to hear that there ..

Nemo the goldfish recovering after rare tumour op

The mayor of Paris said today she wanted to create a refugee camp in the French capital to replace makeshift camps that are swiftly closed down for health reasons.
	City authorities are "assessing different sites" for their suitability to host a camp "as soon as possible", Mayor Anne Hidalgo told a press conference.
	She said the current situation was no longer "tenable", pointing to the example of a makeshift camp that had sprung up in the north of Paris in the past few days where 800 people are living.
	She said the Paris camp would be inspired by the one created at Grande-Synthe in northern France, which was built to take in refugees from the notorious Jungle camp in the northern port city of Calais.

Paris mayor says wants to create refugee camp

An Argentine tango dancer who made headlines for a sultry dance with US President Barack Obama has set a Guinness world record for tangoing on a platform suspended 60 meters (200 feet) in the air.
	Perched at eye level with the downtown Buenos Aires skyline, Mora Godoy took a whirl on a platform hanging mid-air beside the Argentine capital's famed Obelisk monument, setting a new record for tango dancing at height.
	Attached by harnesses, Godoy and a partner spun around the small square platform to the beats of a contemporary electronic tango number Monday night as Guinness Book of World Records representatives looked on.
	Godoy shot to fame when she asked Obama to dance during The video of the US president strutting his stuff with her at a state dinner made world news and went viral online.
	Godoy, who called Obama a "very good dancer," undertook her latest stunt for the season premiere of the television variety program Showmatch.
	No record for tango dancing at height previously ...

Obama's tango partner dances to lofty record

Iraqi forces faced tough resistance from the Islamic State group today as they attempted to enter the centre of Fallujah, where there were mounting fears for thousands of trapped civilians.
	A day after announcing a push into the jihadist bastion, forces led by Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service had some way to go before retaking the city.
	After thrusting toward Fallujah from three directions yesterday, their biggest advance was from the south, where they pushed into the suburb of Naimiyah.
	Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the overall commander of the Fallujah operation, said IS fighters mounted a fierce counter-attack on the area early on today.
	"There were around 100 fighters involved, they came at us heavily armed but did not use car bombs or suicide bombers," he told AFP.
	Saadi said Iraqi forces in the area, which also include police and army units, were eventually able to repel the attack, killing 75 jihadists.
	He did not give a figure for losses on the ...

Iraq forces face tough IS resistance on fringes of Fallujah

French firm Technip has signed a preliminary contract worth more than USD 500 million (557 million euros) to rebuild a major oil drilling platform off the coast of Libya, officials said today.
	Technip signed the letter of intention in Paris with Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between Libya's National Oil Corporation and Italy's Eni.
	The drilling platform lies in the offshore Bahr Essalam oil field, 100 kilometres from the capital Tripoli.
	"The project demonstrates the desire of French companies to contribute to the petroleum sector, the backbone of the Libyan economy," France's foreign ministry said in a statement.
	Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, estimated at 48 billion barrels, and rebuilding the energy sector is a top priority for the new UN-backed unity government.
	Since the 2011 civil war that brought down long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi, production has fallen from around 1.5 million barrels per day to 300,000.

French firm in USD 500m Libya oil contract

The European Union lost nearly 900 million euros last year to fraud, the bloc's anti-graft watchdog said today.
	In its annual report, the EU's anti-fraud agency OLAF said it had detected an estimated 888 million euros (USD 991 million) in EU funds that were lost to fraudulent claims in 2015, a slight drop from 901 million euros the year before.
	It said false claims in 2014 and in 2015 had, in each year, amounted to more than double the figure for 2013.
	Total EU spending last year amounted to 141.28 billion euros.
	Some of the cases it dealt with had implications outside the bloc, including a fraud investigation into an ecological project in Africa and work with Japan and Malaysia on a case of evading anti-dumping duties.
	In another case, OLAF looked into how 1.3 million euros was spent on modernising a plant to refrigerate fruit and vegetables in Bulgaria. It found an Italian citizen owned both the machinery supplier and the beneficiary plant, with the equipment sold at a ...

EU lost nearly 900 mn euros to fraud in 2015: study

Chinese conglomerate Wanda today defended the appearance of Disney characters in a newly-opened complex containing a theme park which its owner bills as a rival to Disneyland.
	Pictures showing Snow White and Captain America characters within "Wanda City", in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, embarrassed the firm after its founder Wang Jianlin boldly declared that the craze for Disney characters was over.
	After the images emerged, Disney told the China Daily newspaper that the "illegal and substandard imitations unfortunately disappoint all who expect more" and vowed action to protect its intellectual property.
	Wanda's park opened just weeks before the US entertainment giant launches its own attraction in Shanghai.
	Wanda said in a statement that Disney characters had appeared in a shopping mall which is part of "Nanchang Wanda Cultural Tourism City" but not in the theme park itself.
	"Some relevant stores within the Wanda Mall use Disney characters on some merchandise and for ..

China's Wanda defends Disney characters near theme park

Internet giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft signed up today to a new EU code of conduct against hate speech, the European Commission said.
	The US-based firms have agreed to speed up their reactions when illegal material is flagged up, with the aim of looking at all suspicious material within 24 hours.
	"The recent terror attacks have reminded us of the urgent need to address illegal online hate speech," EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in a statement, referring to attacks in Paris and Brussels claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
	"I welcome the commitment of worldwide IT companies to review the majority of valid notifications for removal of illegal hate speech in less than 24 hours and remove or disable access to such content, if necessary."
	The code of conduct also involves the Internet companies building stronger relations with civil society groups that flag up content that incites hate or violence.
	The US firms insisted that following the EU rules .

Internet giants back EU hate speech rules

A top North Korean official made a rare visit to China today in an apparent attempt by Pyongyang to mend frayed ties with its powerful neighbour.
	China is North Korea's largest trading partner and has been its key diplomatic protector for decades. But relations have soured following Pyongyang's internationally-condemned nuclear tests, with Beijing supporting UN sanctions against its isolated neighbour.
	The visit by Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of the North's ruling Workers' Party and former foreign minister, came even as South Korea said today the North had tried and failed to launch a powerful new medium-range missile.
	The attempted launch is the latest in a series of setbacks for a ballistic weapons programme that aspires to threaten the US mainland.
	UN resolutions ban North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology, although it regularly fires short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast.
	Ri Su Yong met Chinese official Song Tao, head of the international ...

Top N Korea official visits China in bid to mend ties

England coach Trevor Bayliss believes Alastair Cook has it in him to surpass India great Sachin Tendulkar as Test cricket's all-time leading run-scorer.
     Cook became just the 12th player in history to score 10,000 Test runs during the course of his unbeaten 47 as England beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the second Test at the Riverside in Chester-le-Street yesterday.
     The England captain was also the first Englishman to achieve the feat and, at 31 years and 157 days, the youngest to get to the landmark, breaking Tendulkar's record by more than five months.
     Cook is unlikely ever to play white ball international cricket again having been dropped from the one-day side prior to last year's 50-over World Cup.
     But even without that burden, Tendulkar's aggregate tally of 15,921 Test runs is still some way off for left-handed opener Cook, who now has 10,042 to his credit.
     However, given Cook has scored at a rate of around 1,000 runs a year for the past decade, only a ..

Bayliss backs Cook to top Tendulkar total

Renewed clashes between pro-government forces and Iran-backed rebels killed at least 38 people in Yemen during the past 24 hours, loyalist military sources said today.
	The latest fighting comes despite an ongoing ceasefire and UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait that began in April.
	Battles raged in Bayhan, on the border between Shabwa province in the south and Marib in the east.
	There was also fighting in Sarwah, an oil-rich area west of Marib, the sources said.
	At least 23 rebels and 15 soldiers were killed in both areas, the same sources said.
	Bayhan is the only part of Shabwa province still controlled by the Iran-backed rebels, who on Tuesday retook positions seized by loyalists during the past two days, the military sources said.
	Fierce fighting in Bayhan on Sunday claimed the lives of 48 fighters, a senior military officer has said.
	Meanwhile, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that "sniper fire" from the Huthi rebels killed Yemeni journalist ...

New Yemen clashes kill 38 rebels, loyalists

People who travel to Zika-hit areas should practice safe sex or have no sex at all for at least eight weeks after their return to avoid sexual transmission of the virus, WHO said today.
	That is double the one month of safe sexual practices previously recommended by the World Health Organization, which explained that new studies showed the Zika virus could survive in sperm longer than previously thought.
	The recommendation is only for men and women who present no symptoms of the virus, which experts agree is behind a surge in cases in Latin America of microcephaly -- a serious birth defect in which babies are born with unusually small heads and brains.
	If the male partner has shown symptoms of Zika, the couple should practice safe sex or abstain for six months, "to ensure that the infection has left the body and the virus will not be passed to... The partner," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.
	Women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant should avoid ...

Safe sex or no sex after visiting Zika-hit areas: WHO

At least 10 people were killed during protests by pro-Biafra campaigners as they marked the anniversary of the start of Nigeria's civil war, police said today.
	Activists wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast were commemorating the 49th anniversary of the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
	The civil war that followed lasted until January 1970 and left more than one million people dead, many of them from starvation and disease.
	Police said officers opened fire because members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement shot at security forces deployed to monitor the protests.
	But IPOB spokesman Anayo Chukwu-Okpara denied the claim and said at least 35 members of the group were killed in the commercial hub of Onitsha in Anambra state.
	An Anambra police spokesman told AFP "five corpses were recovered" in Onitsha while in the capital of neighbouring Delta state, Asaba, the police said five protesters were killed.
	"We had ..

At least 10 dead as Biafra anniversary turns bloody

At least four people were killed in central Nigeria in two days of violence over an alleged blasphemy by a Christian trader against Prophet Mohammed, residents told media today.
	Abdullahi Sallau said a Muslim mob killed one person on Sunday and three yesterday in the town of Pandogari in Niger state "following blasphemous remarks by a Christian against the Prophet".
	One of those killed was Methodus Chimaije Emmanuel, the 24-year-old who posted comments on his Facebook page, said Sallau, who lives in the town. His account was supported by another local.
	Emmanuel, whose parents were from Nigeria's mainly Christian south but who was born and raised in Pandogari, had gone into hiding following the post but was found.
	"The crowd took the law into their hands and mobbed him to death despite the revulsion expressed by his parents over the online comments," Misbahu Malami, who lives locally, told AFP.
	Soldiers and police have made arrests and imposed an overnight curfew to restore calm ..

AFP

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