A senior ethnic Uighur official in China's violence-racked Xinjiang is being investigated for corruption, a government notice said today, as central authorities widen a highly publicised anti-graft probe.
	Alimjan Maimaitiming, secretary general of the local government of the far-western region, is being probed for suspected "serious disciplinary violations", the Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said, using a common term for corruption.
	The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) gave no further details of the charges in the brief statement posted on its website.
	Violent attacks and unrest have been on the rise in recent years both across China and in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.
	Beijing has blamed what it describes as "terrorist" incidents on violent separatists from the vast, resource-rich region, where information is often difficult to verify independently.
	Last October, the Uighur mayor of the oasis town of Hotan, in Xinjiang's ...

Xinjiang Uighur official investigated for graft: China

PTI Automatic

Tunisia weighed new security measures today as it scrambled to secure its vital tourism sector after 38 people were killed at a seaside resort in the worst jihadist attack in its history.
	The country's National Security Council was to meet later today after authorities vowed to ramp up security following Friday's attack targeting tourists, which saw at least 15 Britons killed.
	After an emergency meeting late yesterday, Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli promised new steps to ensure the "protection of Tunisia's tourist sites and beaches by armed police units".
	"We can no longer refrain from taking difficult measures," Gharsalli said in a statement carried by Mosaique FM radio, adding that at least 1,000 members of security forces would be involved in securing tourist sites.
	Authorities had earlier announced plans to deploy armed security officers along the coast and inside hotels from July 1 and to shut down 80 mosques accused of inciting extremism.
	The attack saw a Tunisian ...

Tunisia to ramp up security after beach attack

Kuwait today identified the suicide bomber behind an attack on a Shiite mosque as a Saudi national, after a series of arrests in connection with the blast that left 26 dead.
	Friday's attack also wounded 227 worshippers in the first bombing of a mosque in the tiny Gulf state, and Kuwait's security services have vowed to catch and punish those responsible.
	The Islamic State group's Saudi affiliate, the so-called Najd Province, claimed the bombing and identified the assailant as Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid.
	Kuwait's interior ministry gave the real name of the attacker as Fahd Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Qaba'a, in a statement carried by the official KUNA news agency.
	It said that he entered the country through Kuwait Airport at dawn on Friday, the same day of the bombing.
	A handout photograph of Qaba'a showed a young bearded man wearing a traditional Saudi headdress.
	Earlier today, the ministry said that security services arrested the driver of the car that transported the bomber to the ..

Kuwait Shiite mosque bomber was Saudi national

Peru has announced that the logistics chief of the Shining Path rebel group had been captured and that the government is lifting a three-decade-long state of emergency in a coca-growing region.
	The Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla army that fought successive governments starting in 1980, was for the most part dismantled in the mid-1990s but its remnants remain active in coca-growing areas.
	Yesterday, President Ollanta Humala announced that a 30-year state of emergency in the Alto Huallaga jungle area known for illegal coca cultivation and Shining Path rebels, was being lifted.
	His statement came just hours after officials reported that Shining Path logistics man Neymer Keni Maldonado had been arrested.
	Maldonado was found with weapons and ammunition in the San Martin region of northern Peru, part of which forms a portion of the Alto Huallaga jungle area.
	He is a confidant of a leader captured in 2012 and has a knowledge of rebel assets that police have seized, said the head of ...

Peru nabs Shining Path logistics boss, ends state of emergency

At least three people were killed in Burundi, witnesses said, as tension rises a day before key polls in the central African nation that the UN warns should be postponed.
	One was shot while another was killed in a grenade blast yesterday, according to witnesses. A soldier was killed by accident by a comrade during a raid on a house, adding to the more than 70 killed in weeks of violence and a failed coup sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to stay in power for a third term.
	Parliamentary and local elections are set to be held tomorrow, and a presidential vote on July 15.
	The opposition on Friday said it was boycotting the polls, claiming it is not possible to hold a fair vote, with over 127,000 people having fled into neighbouring countries, fearing further violence.
	UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called for the elections to be delayed after the opposition said they would not take part, as Burundi faces its worst crisis since its civil war ended nine years ...

Three killed in Burundi clashes ahead of polls: witnesses

Witnesses described the scene at a Taiwan water park as "hell" after a ball of fire ripped through a crowd, with authorities putting the injured at more than 500 today, almost 200 of them seriously hurt.
	The injury toll in the blast late yesterday, which came as coloured powder being sprayed on the partygoers ignited, more than doubled as officials began to track down victims who had taken themselves to hospital or been ferried there by others.
	Horrifying amateur video footage showed crowds of young revellers dancing in front of a stage and cheering as clouds of green and yellow powder covered them at the "colour party".
	But their joy turned to terror when the powder suddenly erupted into flames engulfing them in an inferno as they ran screaming for their lives.
	Some were dressed only in swimwear and images from the scene show many with severe burns being tended by those who escaped.
	One male student who sustained minor injuries described the scene as "hell".
	"There was blood ...

Witnesses describe 'hell' of Taiwan water park blast

Seamer Dhammika Prasad skittled Pakistan with a four-wicket haul to put Sri Lanka on top in the second Test in Colombo on Sunday despite a defiant century from Azhar Ali.
     Pakistan, who trailed by 177 runs in the first innings, were bowled out for 329 in their second knock by tea on the fourth day to leave the hosts a target of 153 runs to level the three-match series.
     Pakistan won the first Test in Galle by 10 wickets.
     Azhar anchored the Pakistan innings with a defiant 117, his ninth Test innings, but found little support at the other end as the last six wickets tumbled for 55 runs.
     Wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal pouched five catches and also effected a stumping, while debutant fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera claimed three wickets in an impressive Sri Lankan display at the P. Sara Oval.
     Azhar was reprieved twice during his marathon vigil that lasted eight hours and 33 minutes, in which he faced 308 deliveries and hit just six boundaries.
     Azhar had added ..

Prasad gives Sri Lanka 153-run target

Vietnam said today it will end restrictions limiting the stake foreigners can own in some locally listed companies, the latest move by the communist country to open up to overseas investments.
	In a decree posted on the government's website, Hanoi said it planned to scrap rules currently forbidding foreigners from owning more than 49 per cent of a company.
	"For (some) public companies... The percentage of foreign ownership is unrestricted, unless the company's charter stipulates otherwise," the decree said.
	Vietnam's economy grew by 6.28 per cent in the first half of this year, racing along at its fastest rate since 2008, official figures released last week showed.
	But it remains dominated by huge and often sclerotic state-owned enterprises.
	Hanoi is currently in the process of easing business regulations and a long-running privatisation drive, which the government hopes will keep supporting economic growth.
	The decree does not clearly state when the restrictions will be lifted, .

Vietnam to end foreign investment limits for some companies

A suicide bomber who carried out a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State group on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait was a Saudi national

Kuwait Shiite mosque bomber was Saudi national, says ministry

Press Trust of India

French authorities were transferring the man suspected of beheading his boss in an alleged jihadist attack to Paris today, as it emerged he sent a macabre "selfie" of the decapitation.
	Anti-terror police will grill the suspect, Yassin Salhi, a 35-year-old father-of-three, as they search for clues and a motive for Friday's attack on a gas warehouse near France's second city of Lyon.
	After several hours of silence, Salhi has begun to open up to investigators about the assault, which came six months after 17 were killed in Islamist attacks in Paris that began with the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
	And Canadian authorities are trying to help France solve the case after it emerged Salhi sent a gruesome selfie photo of himself and the severed head to a WhatsApp number in Canada.
	Investigators have warned however that it could be a relay number and the intended recipient could be anywhere in the world.
	The probe is naturally focusing on Syria, where hundreds of French people have gone to wage 

French attack suspect begins to talk as 'selfie' emerges

One man died and eight other people were rescued after their boat went over a dam in the state of Maryland, US media reported.
	The incident on Lake Linganore left four people desperately hanging onto the dam for their lives, NBC news said, citing Frederick County Fire and Rescue Services Division Captain Kevin Fox.
	The four were rescued, along with three more who were pulled from the dam's spillway by helicopter and another who was pulled out by boat.
	Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police said the 62-year-old victim's body had been recovered after becoming trapped underwater by the force of the dam, according to NBC.
	Fox told ABC News that residents heard people calling for help and reported the incident around 6:30 pm (2230 GMT).
	The cause of the accident was unknown but occurred amid heavy flooding.
	Lake Linganore is located around 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of Washington.

One dead, eight rescued after boat goes over US dam: media

Azhar Ali kept Pakistan afloat with a fighting unbeaten 85 as Sri Lanka tightened their grip on the second Test at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo today.
     Pakistan, who trailed by 177 runs after the first innings, lost two important second innings wickets in the morning session as they took their overnight score of 171-2 to 244-4 by lunch on the fourth day.
     Azhar closed in on his ninth Test century, helping Pakistan to wipe off the deficit and gain a lead of 67 runs with six wickets in hand.
     Asad Shafiq was the other batsman at the crease on 10 with the tourists needing to build on the total to deny Sri Lanka a series-levelling win.
     Pakistan won the first Test in Galle by 10 wickets to take the lead in the three-match series.
     Azhar added four runs to his overnight score of 64 when he was dropped by a diving Kumar Sangakkara at first slip off seamer Dhammika Prasad, a catch that wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal could have attempted.
     But Sri Lanka secured a crucial 

Azhar stands in way as Sri Lanka dent Pakistan

Canberra was today attempting to verify whether an Australian Islamic State group fighter, notorious for being photographed with severed heads, had survived a drone attack after a report said he was still alive.
	Australian media last week reported that two of the country's most wanted IS jihadists, Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, were believed killed in a drone strike in Syria.
	But highly classified photographs of the Predator strike have only confirmed the death of Elomar, with no indications that Sharrouf also perished, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
	"He's got nine lives," an unnamed source told the newspaper. "It was a split-second thing."
	Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously said his government had a "high degree of confidence" that Elomar had been killed in a coalition air strike but could not say the same for Sharrouf.
	The Telegraph said the classified photos showed Elomar standing next to a vehicle which was part of a convoy of IS fighters in Syria.
	Another image 

Australian IS fighter 'still alive' after drone strike: report

A Saudi soldier was killed in a rocket attack on the kingdom's border with Yemen, where Riyadh is leading an air war against Iran-backed rebels, the interior ministry said.
	The rocket fire in the southern city of Jazan killed Faisal Mohammed Belqasem Maqaadi and wounded another soldier, an interior ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency yesterday.
	It did not specify the source of the fire but cross-border shelling by Yemeni rebels has become common since Riyadh launched an air campaign against them in late March.
	At least 44 people, civilians and troops, have now lost their lives in shelling and skirmishes along the Saudi side of the border since the campaign began.
	Last week, three Saudi soldiers and an Emirati were killed in the border area.

Rockets from Yemen kill Saudi border guard

Brazil's penalty shoot-out jinx struck again as Paraguay sent them crashing out of the Copa America in a stunning repeat of their 2011 upset of the five-time world champions.
     Striker Derlis Gonzalez was the hero for Paraguay, slotting a second-half penalty to level the match at 1-1 before then stepping up to rifle home the decisive spotkick to clinch a 4-3 win in the shoot-out yesterday.
     It marked another bitter defeat for Brazil, who went out to Paraguay at the same stage of the competition four years ago, when they also lost on penalties.
     Brazil's hopes of avenging that loss soon unraveled in the shoot-out, when terrible misses by Everton Ribeiro and Douglas Costa handed the initiative to the Paraguayans.
     Paraguay skipper Roque Santa Cruz gave his team nervous moments when he squandered the opportunity to clinch victory with his side's fourth spot-kick, blazing high over the bar.
     But Gonzalez, 21, who had buried an emphatic 72nd-minute penalty to level the ..

Paraguay stun Brazil to reach Copa semis

Canadian authorities are working with French police to help find the recipient of a gruesome selfie purportedly taken by an Islamist suspected of decapitating his boss in France, officials said.
	Sources close to the investigation into Friday's attack near Lyon say Yassin Salhi, a 35-year-old married father-of-three, sent a picture of himself with the severed head via the WhatsApp messaging service to a Canadian number.
	"Though I can't comment on operational aspects of national security, I can say that we are helping French authorities in their investigation," said Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, spokesman for Canadian public safety minister Steven Blaney.
	The message was sent to a Canadian number, but investigators said they were still working to determine the final recipient, as the number used could be a relay to another phone in another location.
	Authorities are questioning Salhi about Friday's attack, during which he also drove his van into a warehouse packed with dangerous gases ..

Canada helping French police after beheading attack

More than 500 people were injured, almost 200 of them seriously, when a ball of fire ripped through a crowd at a water park outside Taiwan's capital Taipei, authorities said today.
	The number of those injured in the blast, which came as coloured powder being sprayed on the partygoers ignited late yesterday, more than doubled as authorities began to track down victims who had taken themselves to hospital or been ferried there by others.
	Footage on the Apple Daily newspaper website showed crowds dancing as music played and clouds of powder being sprayed out which suddenly turned into an inferno that tore through the spectators.
	Terrified partygoers were shown running for their lives, screaming, as they were overtaken by flames. Some were dressed only in swimwear and covered in the coloured powder.
	Ambulances had struggled to reach the scene, and the original figures had only counted those hospitalised by emergency services.
	Victims were carried away on rubber rings and inflatable ..

More than 500 injured in explosion at Taiwan water park

South Korea today reported its 32nd death from MERS as the virus's mortality rate continued to rise even as the pace of the outbreak appeared to slow.
	A 55-year-old man died yesterday of Middle East Respiratory Disease, the health ministry said, putting the latest mortality rate at 17.5 per cent.
	That is up from 15 per cent a week ago and 10 per cent two weeks ago, though still lower than World Health Organization figures which put the mortality rate for the disease at around 36 per cent.
	The man was diagnosed on June 9 after contracting the virus at Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul -- the epicentre of the outbreak where about 90 patients, visitors and medical staff had been infected.
	The total number of infections remained unchanged at 182 and fifteen patients were in critical condition, the health ministry said.
	A total of 91 patients have recovered and been released from hospital, including one yesterday, according to the ministry.
	As of today, a total of 2,562 people were ...

South Korea reports 32nd MERS death

Three Malian soldiers have died in a jihadist attack on the southwestern town of Nara, on the Mauritania border, with several Islamist fighters also killed, officials said.
	"We deplore the death of three soldiers" in the early morning attack, the Mali government yesterday said in a statement, which added that nine of the assailants were also killed as troops responded.
	A police source, as well as many local residents, blamed the attack on Islamist gunmen for the attack in the town 380 kilometres north of the capital Bamako.
	"At least four jihadists were killed by the army. They wore long beards. Drugs were found in the pocket of one of the jihadists," the source added.
	Some of the attackers managed to flee the scene.
	A local Nara official said he saw the bodies of two jihadists on the street.
	"The market and the shops are closed. Everyone is scared," he added.
	"Everyone hid in their homes. The attackers came out of the forest with many vehicles. They were heavily armed," an ...

Three Mali soldiers killed in jihadist attack

Britain said today that at least 15 of its citizens were killed in the attack on a Tunisian beach resort, its worst loss of life in a terror incident since the 2005 London bombings.
	   Announcing the toll, Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood warned the numbers killed in Friday's shooting "may well rise, as several more have been seriously injured in this horrific attack".
	   At least 38 people were killed when a Tunisian student disguised as a holidaymaker opened fire at a resort in Port el Kantaoui near Sousse, about 140 kilometres south of Tunis.
	   Another 39 people were injured, including 25 Britons, in the attack which was claimed by the Islamic State group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
	   Prime Minister David Cameron had earlier warned that Britain needed to prepare "for the fact that many of those killed in the attack were British".
	   He condemned those responsible as "evil", saying the victims were "innocent holidaymakers relaxing and enjoying time ...

At least 15 Britons killed in Tunisia attack: minister

An Argentine judge today ordered the seizure of USD 156 million and other assets from British and US oil companies looking for crude in waters off the disputed Falkland Islands.
	   Judge Lilian Herraez, based in the Tierra del Fuego region of southern Argentina, also ordered the firms to stop their exploration activities.
	   Argentina claims sovereignty over the British-controlled islands in the South Atlantic and the two countries went to war over them in 1982.
	   Animosity between Britain and Argentina over the islands has escalated sharply in recent years with the discovery of significant oil deposits offshore.
	   Herraez said the companies are operating in Argentine territorial waters, but it was not clear how Argentina would enforce the order seeking to seize the money and oil exploration equipment such as ships and a floating dike.
	   The war lasted 74 days and left nearly 1,000 people dead. It ended when a British expeditionary force sent by the government in London ...

AFP

AFP

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