Carlos Tevez fired Argentina into the semi-finals of the Copa America, scoring the decisive spot-kick as the tournament favourites defeated Colombia 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out.
     Tevez, who missed the crucial penalty when Argentina went out in a shoot-out at the 2011 tournament, rammed homed the winning spot-kick after Colombia's Jeison Murillo had blazed over the bar.
     The 31-year-old, who came on as a second half substitute, provided the dramatic final twist to a shoot-out which saw Lucas Biglia and Marcos Rojo both miss kicks for Argentina that would have sealed victory after regulation time finished locked at 0-0.
     Argentina's win puts them into a semi-final against the winner of Saturday's quarter-final between Brazil and Paraguay.
     Tevez admitted his contribution to victory -- four years after his nightmare miss sealed Argentina's elimination from the 2011 tournament on home soil -- was sweet.
     "In soccer there's always a second chance," said Tevez, who ...

Redemption for Tevez as Argentina down Colombia

PTI Automatic

England captain Alastair Cook believes winning this summer's Ashes series would be his "best achievement".
     Cook has endured some torrid days since leading England to a 3-0 series win at home to Australia in his first Ashes as captain in 2013.
     In the return contest that followed soon afterwards in Australia, England were whitewashed 5-0.
     Andy Flower stepped down as England coach following the team's return and star batsman Kevin Pietersen was sent into an ongoing international exile.
     England then lost a two-Test series at home to Sri Lanka, with opening batsman Cook contemplating resigning as captain after the tourists clinched victory at Headingley.
     As if all that were not enough, Cook was stripped of England's one-day captaincy in December, just months before this year's World Cup where the team suffered an embarrassing first-round exit in his absence.
     Meanwhile the normally reliable Cook, 30, endured a prolonged slump with the bat before scoring his ...

2015 Ashes triumph would be pinnacle for Cook

A convicted killer who broke out of a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago was shot dead by a law enforcement officer, police has said, as they continued to hunt for his fellow escapee.
	Richard Matt, 49, was killed yesterday in the upstate town of Malone, less than 16 kilometers from the Canada border, New York state police said.
	Officers were still hunting for 35-year-old David Sweat, Matt's accomplice in the spectacular, Hollywood-style prison break from Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6, about 40 miles from Malone.
	"A member of law enforcement shot and killed a man believed to be Clinton Correctional Facility escapee Richard Matt," New York state police said.
	"Law enforcement are still searching for escapee David Sweat."
	One of New York's two senators, Democrat Chuck Schumer, told the local CBS affiliate that Matt had been shot and killed by a federal border patrol agent.
	The inmates used power tools to cut their way out of their prison cells before dawn on .

New York escaped convict shot dead by police

A man pulled a gun hidden inside a beach umbrella and opened fire at a packed holiday resort, massacring 39 people in Tunisia's worst attack in recent history.
	Yesterday's carnage at the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui came the same day a suicide bomber killed 27 people at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait and a suspected Islamist attacked a factory in France.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Tunisia attack, but the Islamic State group, which Monday marks the first anniversary of its "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria, said it bombed the Kuwait mosque.
	Witnesses described scenes of panic after the shooting at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel on the outskirts of Sousse, about 140 kilometres south of Tunis.
	The death toll rose to 39 late yesterday, the Health ministry said.
	British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in London five Britons had been killed and warned that the toll could rise.
	"Because of the nature of the composition of ..

Tunisia beach resort massacre kills 39

A 19-year-old Al-Jazeera cameraman was killed while covering fighting in the Syrian province of Daraa, the Qatar-based news channel said in a statement.
	Mohammed al-Asfer "was martyred after being wounded as he was covering the battles in Manshiya" village between the opposition and regime forces, said the statement emailed to AFP yesterday.
	The cameraman was an activist in Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime first erupted in 2011.
	Asfer's father was killed in the early days of the uprising and his brother was later killed in regime air strikes on Daraa, Al-Jazeera said.
	Asfer was himself wounded early in the uprising while covering clashes as a stringer for Al-Jazeera before officially joining the pan-Arab news channel.
	"This is a sad day in the history of Al-Jazeera. We have lost a young man full of life and hope," said Al-Jazeera General Manager Yasser Abu Hilala.
	Asfer represented "a complete generation of Syrians who dream of freedom and ...

Al-Jazeera says cameraman killed in Syria

The Islamic State group killed 164 civilians in its offensive on the Kurdish town of Kobane, in what a monitor has called one of the jihadists' "worst massacres" in Syria.
	The killing spree, which took place mostly inside Kobane itself, was widely seen as vengeance for a series of defeats inflicted on the jihadists by Kurdish militia in recent weeks.
	At least 120 civilians were killed in a 24-hour rampage on Kobane, and another 26 were executed in a nearby village, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	The bullet-riddled bodies of 18 people -- including children -- were found yesterday in the streets of Kobane, the Britain-based Observatory said, adding that they had been shot "at close range".
	"The body of one child bore the impact of five bullets," it said.
	The assault - in which 42 IS fighters and 10 Kurds also died - began on Thursday when three IS suicide bombers blew up vehicles at the entrances to Kobane, a symbol of Kurdish resistance.
	Women were among civilians .

IS kills 164 civilians in assault on Syria's Kobane

An Islamic State suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital during Friday prayers, killing 27 people as the Gulf state declared an "all-out confrontation" with terrorism.
	Health Minister Ali al-Obaidi told Kuwait Television the number of dead had risen to 27 in addition to 227 wounded in the first ever suicide attack on Shiite mosques in the oil-rich emirate.
	The toll in the attack, carried out in the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, is one of the largest in Kuwait's history.
	The interior ministry said an unspecified number of suspects were held for questioning in connection with the attack that shocked the society of this small oil-rich Gulf state. No details were provided.
	The funerals of those killed in the attack will take place on Wednesday.
	The cabinet announced after an emergency meeting that all security agencies and police have been placed on alert to confront what it called "black terror".
	"The cabinet stresses that it will take whatever measures 

Kuwait arrests suspects as IS bombing hits Shiite mosque

Burundi's ambassador to the United Nations has told the Security Council that elections will go ahead as planned on Monday despite a call from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for a postponement.
	"The government simply cannot accept to tumble head-first into an institutional vacuum, into a chasm," Ambassador Albert Shingiro yesterday told the 15-member council.
	"That is why we're going to move forward to elections on Monday."
	Parliamentary elections are set to be held on Monday and a presidential vote follows on July 15 despite months of turmoil over the president's bid for a third term in office.
	Earlier yesterday, Ban Ki-moon called for a postponement after the opposition announced a boycott, saying in a statement that the delay was needed to create "a conducive environment for inclusive, peaceful and transparent elections."
	Speaking to an emergency session of the council, the ambassador defended the move to hold elections and accused the opposition of acting "like spoiled brats" .

Burundi rejects UN call for election delay

An Islamic State suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital during Friday prayers today, killing 27 people as the Gulf state declared an "all-out confrontation" with terrorism.
	   Health Minister Ali al-Obaidi told the state-run Kuwait Television the number of dead had risen to 27 in addition to 222 wounded in the first ever suicide attack on Shiite mosques in the oil-rich emirate.
	   The toll in the attack, carried out in the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, is one of the largest in Kuwait's history.
	   The cabinet announced after an emergency meeting that all security agencies and police have been placed on alert to confront what it called "black terror".
	   "The cabinet stresses that it will take whatever measures necessary to root out this scourge, and declares a relentless all-out confrontation with these terrorists," said a statement after the meeting.
	   It also declared Saturday a day of mourning.
	   The IS-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia, calling 

IS suicide bomber kills 27 at Kuwait Shiite mosque

Thousands of mourners gathered today in Charleston to honor a pastor who was among nine black people gunned down last week in his church by a white alleged supremacist in an attack that shocked America.
	President Barack Obama was to give the eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, who was also a state senator in South Carolina, in a speech to be watched closely in a nation still reeling from a violent act meant to tear open its racial divide.
	The city of Charleston has tried to come together after the killings, and 6,000 people gathered for the ceremony at a university arena a short distance from the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the scene of the crime.
	The young man charged with the murders, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, published a white supremacist manifesto before the attack, including pictures of him with the controversial Confederate flag, seen by many as a symbol of hate.
	"He wanted to start a race war but he came to the wrong place," church Bishop John Richard Bryant told ..

Obama eulogy as thousands mourn Charleston pastor

Two dangerous convicted killers who escaped a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago may be on their way towards Canada and border guards are on alert, police said today.
	Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, used power tools to cut their way out of their cells at the Clinton Correctional Facility before dawn on June 6 in a spectacular prison break likened to a Hollywood movie.
	The audacious escape sparked a huge search involving more than 1,100 personnel backed by sniffer dogs and helicopters to find the men, who have reportedly been spotted in several locations in recent days in upstate New York.
	The hunt is now centered on the town of Belmont, about 350 miles (550 kilometers) southwest of the prison and roughly 100 miles from the state's western border with Canada.
	"We have developed evidence in our search area that the suspects may be headed towards Canada," Major Charles Guess of New York State Police told reporters.
	"We cannot get into specifics of the evidence ..

Escaped New York convicts possibly headed for Canada: police

An Israeli minister today urged French Jews to flee to the Jewish state after a suspected Islamist attacked a factory near Lyon and pinned a severed head to the gates.
	"I call on the Jews of France - come home! Anti-Semitism is rising, terror is increasing," immigration minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party said in a statement.
	"This is a national mission of the highest priority."
	At least one suspected Islamist launched a daylight raid on an industrial gas factory in France today.
	"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," said French President Francois Hollande in Brussels, cutting short an EU summit to chair emergency meetings in the French capital.
	The victim was identified as a businessman from the suburbs of Lyon.
	Netanyahu sparked controversy by encouraging French Jews to move to Israel in the wake of January's Paris attacks that left 17 dead, including four at a Jewish supermarket.

Israel urges French Jews to flee after factory attack

Muslim clerics condemned three militant attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France today that killed dozens of people including holidaymakers.
	Al-Azhar, a leading Sunni Muslim institution based in Egypt, said the "heinous" shooting at a Tunisian coastal resort which killed 28 people, mostly Europeans, was a "violation of all religious and humanitarian norms".
	In a statement, it also condemned a suicide bombing at a Kuwaiti Shiite mosque that killed at least 25 worshippers in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
	Al-Azhar, one of the oldest centres of Sunni Muslim learning, also denounced a suspected Islamist attack in France in which a man was beheaded.
	"Al-Azhar calls on the international community to defeat this terrorist group though all available means," it said in a statement referring to IS.
	The jihadist group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq and commands affiliates in several other countries, had called for attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which ...

Muslim clerics denounce attacks on Tunisia, Kuwait, France

Spain raised its terror alert level from medium to high today after deadly attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait, its Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said.
	"Considering the proximity of our country to the places where some of these attacks took place, it has been proposed to raise the anti-terrorist alert" from three out of five, or 'medium', to four or 'high', he told a news conference.
	"I have adopted that decision."
	He spoke after an urgent meeting of the government's top counter-terrorism and intelligence officials and opposition political leaders, prompted by today's attacks.
	He said the decision was also motivated by the first anniversary on June 29 of the Islamic State extremist group's declaration of a "caliphate" in territories under its control.
	"We are at war with barbarism against civilisation," the minister said.
	The Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel where a gunman killed 28 people in Tunisia's Sousse resort is run by a Spanish company.
	One person was decapitated ..

Spain raises terror alert level to high after attacks

Italy said today it had initiated international arbitration proceedings in the case of two of its marines facing trial in India for the 2012 killing of two fishermen.
	   The unilateral move by the Italian government follows the failure of direct negotiations with the Indian government aimed at resolving a case which has severely strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
	   India insists that the fate of the two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, must be resolved by its courts because its citizens were shot in its territorial waters.
	   Italy maintains that the shooting, which happened while the two marines were serving as part of an anti-piracy mission, occurred in international waters off southern India and should be dealt with under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
	   Under UNCLOS, parties to a dispute can seek arbitration through an ad hoc panel or the creation of a special tribunal.
	   .

Italy takes India to international arbitration over marines

The Islamic State group said it was behind the Kuwait bombing

28 dead in Tunisia tourist resort attack

Agencies

Pakistani welfare volunteers today held a mass funeral for 50 victims of Karachi's worst heatwave in decades, whose bodies had gone unclaimed.
	More than 1,000 people have died as a result of days of scorching temperatures in southern Pakistan, with the sprawling metropolis Karachi the worst-affected city.
	After peaking at around 45 degrees Celsius last weekend, the heat has subsided to the mid-30s and the city's customary cooling sea breeze has started up, bringing relief to its 20 million inhabitants.
	At times this week the city's morgues struggled to cope with the influx of the dead, many of whom were elderly, destitute or drug addicts.
	The Edhi Foundation, a welfare group based in Karachi, today buried 50 bodies that no relatives had come forward to claim.
	Abdul Sattar Edhi, the organisation's much-loved founder, was joined by dozens of volunteers and passers-by in offering prayers for the dead as they were buried in white cotton shrouds.
	"In my whole life I have not seen ...

Mass funeral for unclaimed victims of deadly Pakistan heatwave

Burundi's opposition parties announced plans today to boycott upcoming elections, saying it was not possible to hold a fair vote following weeks of violence over President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to stay in power.
	The opposition groups said they would boycott both parliamentary elections planned for Monday, and a presidential vote set for July 15.
	Civil society groups backed the move in a joint statement calling on voters to skip the "sham elections" and urging the international community "not to recognise the validity" of the polls.
	"Thousands of Burundians have fled the country, a thousand peaceful demonstrators were arrested, tortured, and are currently languishing in jail," the statement said.
	Burundi was plunged into turmoil in late April when Nkurunziza launched his drive for a third consecutive five-year term, triggering widespread protests and a failed coup.
	"All the opposition have unanimously decided to boycott the elections," said Charles Nditije, a key opposition ...

Burundi opposition confirms plans to boycott elections

Two men aged 40 and 80 have died this week after being gored during festive bull-runs in Spain, officials said today.
	The 80-year-old died on Wednesday of his injuries two days after he was gored in the stomach in the town of Ampolla de Mar in Catalonia, northeastern Spain.
	The town's mayor Francesc Arasa said the victim was a regular at bull-runs and was fit despite his age.
	The man was gored by one of three heifers that were set loose as a prelude to the main bull run.
	He was behind a barrier but failed to get out of the way when a heifer poked its horns through the bars and "gored him two or three times in the stomach", Arasa said.
	The man suffered major blood loss which damaged his liver and kidneys and he died two days later. The fiesta was halted after the incident.
	"It is the first time someone has been killed in this village in the bull-runs," Arasa said.
	In a similar incident in the western town of Coria, a 40-year old man died of a heart attack in hospital after being 

Two men killed by gorings in Spain bull-runs

Hungary became the latest country today to crack down on ride-booking app Uber, with the government confirming that only licensed taxi drivers would be able to use the service from 2018.
	The announcement comes a day after taxi drivers staged violent protests against Uber in France, where the service has been illegal since January, but continues to operate as the law has proved difficult to enforce.
	Cabbies across Europe are furious at what they see as unfair competition from Uber, which puts customers in touch with private drivers at prices lower than those of traditional taxis.
	In Budapest, several hundred drivers took to the streets last week demanding that the government regulate Uber the same way as their own services.
	In response, Hungary's government has now approved a new decree laying out technical requirements for cars and licensing rules for drivers providing "personal transport services".
	Importantly, the rules will also apply to rides ordered through mobile phones and 

Hungary becomes latest country to crack down on Uber

He is called a superhero and feted with financial rewards from Afghan politicians, but the lionisation of the soldier who singlehandedly killed six attackers in parliament belies bubbling discontent over deteriorating security.
	Essa Khan Laghmani, 28, was plucked from obscurity and catapulted to national fame this week after he shot dead the Taliban insurgents who on Monday launched a gun and grenade assault on the legislature, sending terrified lawmakers scurrying for cover.
	"Taq Chapako!" -- "Bang! and down" in Dari -- meanwhile became an Internet meme after he used the phrase in television interviews to describe how he effortlessly knocked down his targets as though they were skittles in a bowling alley.
	Laghmani's feat offered a rare glimmer of good news during the Taliban's annual summer offensive, which has sent civilian and military casualties soaring and threatened major cities for the first time in a decade.
	President Ashraf Ghani awarded him a three-bedroom apartment, ...

AFP

AFP

Page 2235 - Afp