German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned today a Greek bailout deal would not come "at any price" as she arrived for a eurozone summit aimed at bridging gaps on how to keep Greece in the single currency.
	"There will be no agreement at any price," Merkel told reporters in Brussels as she joined leaders from the 19-country eurozone.
	Merkel pointed to the question of trust in the hard-left government in Athens, which she called "the most important currency", and warned of "tough negotiations" ahead.
	The chancellor said the eurozone finance ministers' meeting ahead of the summit had not yet agreed on a document for formally launching negotiations for a bailout.
	European sources said the meeting of finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, was still continuing as leaders arrived for the summit.
	Sources said the ministers want Greece to endorse further economic reforms in return for a third bailout estimated at more than 80 billion euros.
	They said a draft document included a German ...

Greece deal will not be 'at any price': Merkel

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Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has hailed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the only leader who can "save" Egypt, after a deadly car bomb attack on Rome's consulate in Cairo.
	He also vowed that Italy would not be "intimidated" after Saturday's attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed one civilian and injured nine more people.
	"I think al-Sisi is a great leader," Renzi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television broadcast Sunday.
	"Let me be very frank. In this moment Egypt will be saved only with the leadership of al-Sisi," Renzi said in English.
	"This is my personal position and I am proud of my friendship with him and I will support him in the direction of peace because the Mediterranean without Egypt will be absolutely a place without peace."
	Speaking to Sisi yesterday after the consulate bombing, Renzi said the two countries will stand together "in the fight against terrorism and fanaticism".
	The attack was the first on a foreign mission in ...

After bombing, Italy PM hails Egypt's Sisi as 'great leader'

Close friends and family paid respects today to cinema legend Omar Sharif, who will forever be remembered as the eponymous "Doctor Zhivago", at a solemn funeral in his native Egypt.
	Sharif, 83, died on Friday of a heart attack in an upmarket Cairo clinic after a struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
	The funeral was held at the grand mosque of Mushir Tantawi in an eastern neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital, where key religious ceremonies are often held.
	Sharif's remains will be buried later at El Sayeda Nafisa cemetery in the city's south.
	The service was attended by a group of Sharif's relatives, friends and Egyptian actors, an AFP correspondent reported.
	His body was draped in the Egyptian flag and a black shroud.
	Journalists outnumbered mourners, and there was no sign of any top government officials or Hollywood stars at the memorial service.
	"Omar Sharif represented Egypt to the world in the best possible way," said Hussein Fahmy, a popular Egyptian actor who attended the ...

Film legend Omar Sharif gets solemn sendoff in Egypt

Two soldiers have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine, a Kiev military spokesman said today, reporting heavy shelling by separatist forces despite a four-month truce.
	"We have lost two soldiers in fighting and acts of provocation, five have been wounded," Ukraine army spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters.
	He accused rebels of using "on 10 occasions artillery over 100 mm calibre." Such heavy weaponry was to have been withdrawn from the front line under the terms of a peace deal signed in Minsk.
	The military spokesman said firing came from the area around Donetsk airport, controlled by rebels since January but still a flash point, as well as close to the village of Trokhizbenka in the rebels' self-proclaimed people's republic of Lugansk.
	In a report published late yesterday, the OSCE, which has a monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine, said it had observed "617 ceasefire violations at and around the Donetsk airport."
	The separatists on their part accused the Ukrainian army 

Two soldiers killed in Ukraine clashes

A Kurdish militant group today threatened to target dams harnessing hydroelectric power in southeastern Turkey, accusing the government of violating a fragile ceasefire.
	The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) said in a statement quoted by the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency that the building of the dams was aimed at displacing people and to help the Turkish military rather than creating energy.
	Turkish forces and the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have largely observed a ceasefire since 2013 but tensions have flared again in the last months as the parties remain short of a final deal.
	The KCK - considered the urban wing of the PKK - said it would use all means, including guerrilla attacks, to prevent the construction of dams.
	"From now on, all the dams and vehicles used in the construction will be targeted by our guerrilla forces," the KCK said, urging contractors involved in new projects to leave the areas.
	The public "should know that our guerrilla forces will use their ...

Kurdish militants threaten to attack Turkey dams

Malala Yousafzai told world leaders they were failing Syria's children, as the Nobel Peace Prize winner spent her 18th birthday today on the Syrian border.
	As she became an adult, the teenager, who was shot by militants in her native Pakistan for campaigning for girls' rights, opened a school for more than 200 Syrian girls living in refugee camps in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
	The Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School will offer education and skills training to girls aged 14 to 18.
	"I am honoured to mark my 18th birthday with the brave and inspiring girls of Syria," Yousafzai said in a statement received in London.
	"I am here on behalf of the 28 million children who are kept from the classroom because of armed conflict.
	"Their courage and dedication to continue their schooling in difficult conditions inspires people around the world and it is our duty to stand by them.
	"On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the world: you are failing the Syrian ..

Malala turns 18, says world failing Syrian children

Nasir Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman claimed three wickets each as Bangladesh dismissed South Africa cheaply for 162 runs in the second one day international in Dhaka today.
     Seeking to stay alive in the three-match series after going down by eight wickets in Friday's opening match, a spirited Bangladesh made regular breakthroughs to keep the visitors in check.
     Nasir finished with a career best 3-26 while Mustafizur grabbed 3-38 as South Africa were bowled out to their lowest score against Bangladesh on a slow pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
     Left-arm pacer Mustafizur struck first in the fifth over when he forced a leading edge from opener Quinton de Kock as Sabbir Rahman took a simple catch at backward point.
     Rubel Hossain, who returned to the starting lineup for leg-spinner Jubair Hossain in Bangladesh's only change from the opening match, made an instant impact by knocking the off stump off Hashim Amla (22).
     South Africa began to feel pressure ...

Spirited Bangladesh dismiss Proteas for 162

Explosives were found at a church in the central Nigerian city of Jos today, police and the Red Cross told AFP, adding that the device went off but there were no casualties.
	"It was averted because the bomb was detected by the church's security personnel. There were no casualties," said Emmanuel Abuh, spokesman for the state police in Plateau, of which Jos is the capital.
	The Nigerian Red Cross said the explosion happened at the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) premises in the Tudun Wada area of the city, near the building's toilet.
	"There was no one there and so no injured and no dead," spokesman Nwakpa Okorie Nwakpa said in a text message.
	The incident in the north of the city came a week after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a church in the northeastern city of Potiskum, killing the pastor and four other worshippers.
	Jos was also targeted last Sunday by Boko Haram militants who fired on a mosque, including with a rocket-propelled grenade. They also hit a restaurant ...

Explosives found at church in Jos, central Nigeria: police

Russia is considering direct deliveries of fuel to Greece to help prop up its economy, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said today, quoted by Russian news agencies.
	"Russia intends to support the revival of Greece's economy by broadening cooperation in the energy sector," Novak told journalists, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.
	"Accordingly we are studying the possibility of organising direct deliveries of energy resources to Greece, starting shortly."
	Novak said that the energy ministry expected "to come to an agreement within a few weeks," but did not specify what type of fuel Russia would supply.
	Greece's left-wing leadership has made a show of drawing closer to Moscow in recent months as the spat with its international creditors has grown more ugly.
	In June, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a visit to Russia sealed a preliminary agreement for Russia to build a 2-billion-euro (USD 2.2 billion) gas pipeline through Greece, extending the TurkStream project, which is ..

Russia considering direct fuel deliveries to Greece: minister

England today named an unchanged 13-man squad for the second Ashes Test against Australia which starts at Lord's on Thursday.
     Stuart Broad led England to a 169-run victory in the first Test as Australia collapsed either side of lunch on the fourth day at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens on Saturday.
     England's successful XI will be joined again by Steven Finn and Adil Rashid as extra bowling options for the second match of five.
     Australia, well-placed at 97 for one in Cardiff on Saturday, slumped to 106 for five as four wickets fell for just nine runs in 36 balls.
     Chasing a record-breaking 412 for victory, the Ashes-holders were dismissed for 242 after tea.
     Fast-medium bowler Broad took three for 39 in 14 overs as England enjoyed an emphatic win in their first match under new Australian coach Trevor Bayliss.
     Joe Root, named man-of-the-match for his first innings 134 after coming in with England struggling at 43 for three, had the last word in the game by catching .

England unchanged for second Ashes Test

Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has escaped from a maximum-security prison for the second time in 14 years, sparking a massive manhunt today and dealing an embarrassing blow to the government.
	The kingpin was last spotted by security cameras entering the shower area of the Altiplano prison, 90 kilometres west of Mexico City, on Saturday night before disappearing, the National Security Commission said.
	An alarm was issued after "he was not visible" for a while and his cell was empty, the commission said in a statement in the early hours of today.
	"An operation to locate him was deployed in the area and on roads of neighbouring states," it said, adding that flights were suspended at the nearby Toluca airport.
	Soldiers manned checkpoints at a toll booth of the Mexico City-Toluca highway, using flashlights to look at the faces of car passengers and searching car trunks and the backs of trucks.
	The Altiplano prison in central Mexico State houses the country's most ...

Mexico drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman escapes prison

Australia are optimistic fast bowler Mitchell Starc will be fit to face England in the second Ashes Test at Lord's starting on Thursday.
     The left-arm paceman suffered a right ankle injury during the series opener in Cardiff and needed pain-killing injections to finish the game, which England won by 169 runs with more than a day to spare yesterday to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
     With just four days until the second Test gets underway, concerns had been voiced as to whether Starc, who was Australia's leading bowler at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens with seven wickets in 40.1 overs, would have sufficient time in which to recover.
     Australia do have experienced paceman Peter Siddle, who didn't play in the first Test in a squad which lost fellow right-arm quick Ryan Harris on the eve of the Ashes wen the veteran bowler announced his retirement from all cricket because of a knee injury.
     But team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris tried to allay fears over Starc's fitness by 

Australia 'hopeful' over Starc fitness

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has said the tourists are prepared to make changes for the second Ashes Test, amid speculation all-rounder Shane Watson is set to be dropped.
     England won the series opener by a crushing 169 runs with more than a day to spare in Cardiff yesterday.
     The match saw Watson twice out in familiar fashion, lbw in both innings for modest scores of 30 and 19, while Australia captain Michael Clarke only utilised his medium-paced bowling for 13 overs in the match.
     Watson has now fallen lbw 39 times during the course of a 59-match Test career repeatedly blighted by injuries, and has only passed 50 twice in his last 16 innings
     With fellow seam-bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, 11 years Watson's junior, waiting in the wings Australia do have a ready-made alternative and Lehmann indicated it was one the tourists were considering deploying at Lord's, where the second Test starts on Thursday.
     "At the end of day you don't want to be getting out ...

Lehmann hints at Australia changes

Iran has changed a law to make divorce by mutual consent invalid unless couples have first undergone state-run counselling, the country's latest move to tackle a rise in broken marriages.
	The measures, reported by media at the weekend, are contained in a new family law that a top official said would be implemented by Iran's judiciary.
	"A decree of divorce by mutual consent, without counselling, is forbidden," Parnian Ghavam, head of the judiciary's social work and counselling office, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
	All Iranians filing for divorce would be obliged to go to a counsellor, she said. "From now on, without this it will not be possible to register divorces of mutual consent."
	Iran's average divorce rate peaked at 21 per cent last year, with big cities showing far higher rates.
	One in three marriages fails in Tehran. In its northern quarter, home to the more affluent Western-leaning metropolitan elite, the figure is more than 40 per cent. And most divorces ...

Iran changes law to make divorce harder

The EU cancelled a full 28-nation summit today to decide whether Greece stays in the European single currency as a divided eurozone struggled to reach a reform-for-bailout deal.
	The summit had been billed as a last chance to stop Greece crashing out, but was scrapped as eurozone finance ministers returned today to marathon talks after failing overnight to overcome distrust with Greece's leftist government.
	With Greece facing growing misery from capital controls and fears its banks could collapse within days, a meeting of the leaders of the 19 countries that use the euro was still due to go ahead in Brussels on Sunday.
	"I have cancelled EUCO (the European Union summit) today," European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted. "Eurosummit to start at 1600 (1400 GMT) and last until we conclude talks on Greece."
	The talks yesterday ended with deep divisions about whether to trust Greece's radical Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with a third bailout worth more than 80 billion euros (USD 89 

EU scraps Greece summit with bailout deal on knife-edge

The EU cancelled a full 28-nation summit today to decide Greece's fate in the single European currency, although a meeting of leaders from the 19 countries in the eurozone will go ahead as planned.
	The announcement by European Council President Donald Tusk came as eurozone finance ministers met for a second day to continue "difficult" Greek bailout talks, with the aim of reaching a deal that eurozone leaders can sign off on.
	"I have cancelled EUCO (the European Union summit) today," European Council President Donald Tusk said in a tweet.
	The summit of 19 eurozone leaders will still be held at 1930 IST and "last until we conclude talks on Greece", Tusk said.
	The EU also said it was "relatively unlikely" it would get the green light today to start talks for a new bailout for cash-strapped Greece.
	"I think it's relatively unlikely that the European Commission will get a mandate to start formal negotiations" on a new bailout, EU Commissioner for the euro Valdis Dombrovskis told ...

EU cancels summit on Greece as eurozone talks continue

Israeli police said today they have arrested several Jewish suspects over an arson attack last month at a shrine where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and fishes.
	The arson had sparked widespread condemnation and concern from Christians globally, with the site visited by some 5,000 people each day.
	"Several Jewish suspects have been arrested for the burning of the church and the Nazareth court has decided to extend their detention for the purposes of the investigation," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement of the overnight arrests.
	Police did not provide a number, but an ultra-nationalist organisation said three young Jews had been arrested.
	Another police spokesman said the arrests followed an undercover investigation also involving the Shin Bet internal security agency.
	The Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, is where many Christians believe Jesus fed the 5,000 in the miracle of the five loaves and ..

Israel arrests Jewish suspects over 'miracle' church arson

A leading US civil rights organisation has said it was ending its 15-year economic boycott of South Carolina after the controversial Confederate flag was removed from the state's legislature.
	The Civil War-era battle flag, regarded by many as a bitter symbol of racism and slavery, was taken down Friday following protests in the wake of last month's church massacre that left nine African-American worshippers dead.
	The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) ended its boycott against the state in an emergency resolution, calling the flag "a symbol of racial, ethnic and religious hatred, oppression, and murder which offends untold millions of people."
	It welcomed the move to remove it, but said there was still work to be done to address discrimination.
	"While removal of the flag was clearly a victory for the NAACP and a defeat for promoters of hate, the NAACP clearly recognises that there are still battles to be fought in other states and jurisdictions ...

US rights group ends S Carolina boycott after flag removed

The defence team for two Myanmar nationals accused of murdering a pair of British backpackers in Thailand confirmed today that they will not be able to retest crucial DNA samples taken from the victims' bodies.
	Migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun are on trial for the murder of 24-year-old David Miller and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, on Koh Tao island in September.
	If found guilty they could face the death penalty. Both have pleaded not guilty.
	Thai police and prosecutors say forensic evidence strongly points towards the two 22-year-old suspects with both men's DNA found on or inside the body of Witheridge.
	But the defence claims the men have been scapegoated by an under pressure police force who bungled their investigation and coerced confessions from the pair which they later retracted.
	They had asked trial judges on the nearby island of Koh Samui permission to independently retest all the police's DNA samples.
	On Friday the court ruled that they could do .

No DNA retest from Brit tourist bodies at Thai murder trial

Saudi-led warplanes bombarded Yemeni rebels at dawn today, witnesses said, in a new blow to a UN-proposed truce in the impoverished country where millions are threatened with famine.
	Air strikes hit the Shiite Huthi stronghold of Saada in Yemen's north, as well as other rebel positions south of the capital Sanaa and in the southern province of Lahj, residents said.
	There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
	The UN-proposed humanitarian truce technically went into effect at 2059 GMT Friday and is supposed to run until July 17, the last day of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
	But the ceasefire, much needed to rush food supplies to a population threatened by famine, has been flouted by strikes conducted by the Saudi-led coalition and fighting on the ground.
	The ceasefire was declared after UN chief Ban Ki-moon received assurances from exiled Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and the Huthis that it would be respected.
	The coalition said it has not received a ..

Saudi-led strikes hit Yemen rebels despite truce

Ash spewing from an Indonesian volcano closed Bali airport again today just a day after it reopened, causing fresh travel chaos for weary holidaymakers stranded on the holiday island.
	Mount Raung on the main island of Java has been erupting for weeks, and on Thursday a cloud of drifting ash forced the closure of Bali airport during peak holiday season, and four others.
	The airport at Bali, a top international holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, reopened yesterday as the ash drifted away, allowing some passengers to board flights home and others to arrive.
	But today morning, the transport ministry announced wind had once again pushed the cloud over the resort island and that the airport was being closed again until at least 4:00 pm (local time).
	"We will continue to monitor developments and decide if the closure will be extended later," transport ministry spokesman JA Barata told AFP.
	Another airport on Java serving domestic routes was also ..

AFP

AFP

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