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, ...

'Bang! and down': Afghan 'superhero' inspires awe and disdain

PTI Automatic

A deputy head of China's sports administration has been put under investigation, the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption agency said, the highest-ranking official to fall in the notoriously graft-prone sector.
	Xiao Tian, deputy director of the General Administration of Sport (GAS) and a vice chairman of China's national Olympic committee, is being probed for suspected "serious violation of disciplines and laws" -- an often-used euphemism for corruption, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement.
	Formerly a successful fencer, the statement yesterday said Xiao had been in his current position since 2005.
	Xiao's wife Tian Hua, who like him is an official at the administration, was also being investigated, the state-run China News Service said today.
	Xiao is the most senior sport official snared so far in President Xi Jinping's much-publicised drive against corruption that vows to target both high-level "tigers" and low-ranking "flies".
	Earlier .

China probes high-ranking sports official for corruption

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Greece today to accept an "extraordinarily generous" offer from its EU-IMF creditors, which includes at least 12 billion euros (USD 13.4 billion) in further rescue cash over the next five months.
	Merkel and French President Francois Hollande asked Greek premier Alexis Tsipras to "accept the extraordinarily generous offer from the institutions," the chancellor said at a news briefing after the three leaders held a short meeting on the sidelines of an EU summit.
	Greece's creditors proposed a five-month, 12-billion-euro (USD 13.4-billion) bailout extension if Athens agrees to reforms in a key debt deal, a negotiating document seen by AFP said yesterday.
	The offer "goes beyond the conditions of the second rescue programme," said the chancellor, whose views are seen as decisive in negotiations with Greece over its bailout, the second since 2010.
	The proposal "is based as always on the same principal: solidarity on one hand, efforts by those ...

Merkel urges Greece to accept 'extraordinarily generous' offer

A suicide bomber blew himself up during Friday prayers at a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital, killing 25 people and wounding over 200 others, in an unprecedented attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
	The blast hit Al-Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, killing 25 people, the interior ministry said in a brief statement.
	IS claimed what was the first-ever bombing of a Shiite mosque in Kuwait and the first terror attack in the Gulf state since January 2006.
	The IS-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia, calling itself Najd Province, said militant Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid carried out the attack on the mosque, which it claimed was spreading Shiite teachings among Sunni Muslims.
	IS, a radical Sunni Muslim group, considers Shiites to be heretics. Najd Province claimed similar bombings at Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
	In the statement on the official KUNA news agency, the interior ministry said that 202 people were wounded in the unprecedented attack.
	A witness ...

ISIS suicide bombing at Kuwait Shiite mosque kills 25

The Islamic State group killed 146 civilians in its offensive on the Kurdish town of Kobane, in what a monitor today said was 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 assault began yesterday when three IS suicide bombers blew up vehicles at the entrances to the town, which has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance.
	Women and children were among civilians whose bodies were found in their homes and in the streets, the Observatory said.
	"According to medical sources and Kobane residents, 120 civilians were executed by IS in their homes or killed by the group's rockets or snipers," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told ...

IS kills 146 civilians in assault on Syria's Kobane

A 35-year-old man arrested in connection with the attack today on a French gas factory was investigated nine years ago for radicalisation and has links to the Salafist movement, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
	"He was investigated in 2006 for radicalisation, but (the probe) was not renewed in 2008. He had no criminal record," Cazeneuve said.
	He identified the suspect as Yacine Salhi, 35, who was known to have lived around Lyon, France's second largest city, near the site of the attack.
	"This individual has links with the Salafist movement, but had not been identified as having participated in activities of a terrorist nature," added the minister who rushed to the scene in eastern France.
	Salhi had remained on intelligence authorities' radar, Cazeneuve said.
	Salafism is an extremist, puritanical form of the majority Sunni branch of Islam.
	One person was killed and two injured during the attack in the small town of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, around 40 kilometres from Lyon. 

French attack suspect had 'link' to Salafist movement

The toll from an Islamic State group bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital today has risen to 25 dead, the interior ministry said.
	In a statement on the official KUNA news agency, the ministry said that 202 people were wounded in the unprecedented attack.
	The IS-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia, calling itself Najd Province, said militant Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid carried out the attack on the mosque, which it claimed was spreading Shiite teachings among Sunni Muslims.
	The blast hit Al-Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, the interior ministry said in a brief statement without providing details.
	Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, immediately visited the site, and footage on state-run Kuwait Television showed him visibly moved by the scenes of carnage.
	The television showed footage of massive destruction caused by the blast, and people posted online horrific pictures of the dead and wounded.
	The Kuwaiti cabinet went into an emergency meeting to ..

Kuwait mosque bomb toll rises to 25 dead: ministry

Nine people have been sentenced to death in northern Nigeria after being found guilty of blasphemy, a court clerk and the head of the religious police said today.
	The Upper Sharia Court in the city of Kano handed down death sentences yesterday to a Sufi Muslim cleric and eight of his followers for  blasphemy last month.
	The comments, made during a religious ceremony, sparked anger and violence in the city.
	Court clerk Alhaji Nasuru said the nine, including one woman, were "sentenced to death in accordance with sections 110 and 302 of the Sharia penal code."
	Four other followers of the cleric, Aminu Abdul Nyass, were acquitted, he added.
	The defendants were arrested when violence broke out in the Makwarari district of Kano as they marked the birthday of the former leader of the Tijaniyya Sufi order, Ibrahim Nyass.
	An angry crowd attacked the ceremony and later burnt down Abdul Nyass' home, police said at the time.
	Abdul Nyass belongs to a separate branch of Tijaniyya, some of ...

Nigerian court sentences nine to death for blasphemy

A Swiss court said today it had rejected an appeal filed by one of seven football officials arrested in Zurich last month demanding that he be released from custody pending extradition proceedings.
     The appeals chamber of Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court said it had struck down the FIFA official's appeal because it deemed "there was a risk that the appellant would abscond if released."
     The court did not identify which of the football executives had filed the rejected appeal.
     But a source close to the case said it was 83-year-old Uruguayan Eugenio Figueredo, a FIFA vice president and former head of the South American football association CONMEBOL and of the Uruguay football association.
     "The arguments put forward in support of his release, such as his advanced age and poor state of health, were not regarded as sufficient to counter the risk of absconding," the court said.
     "The court took into account that appellant has no close ties to Switzerland and is ...

FIFA official to remain in custody pending extradition: court

Sepp Blatter has claimed that he "did not resign" as FIFA president, according to a report by the Swiss newspaper Blick.
     "I did not resign. I put myself and my office in the hands of the FIFA congress," Blick reported Blatter as saying during a visit to the site of the future FIFA museum in the Swiss city of Zurich.
     The 79-year-old Blatter announced on June 2 that he would step down from the FIFA presidency at an extraordinary congress to be held between December this year and March 2016.
     That decision followed the crisis that engulfed FIFA with 18 people indicted in the United States on football-related corruption charges.
     Since then, sources close to Blatter have been reported as saying he was not ruling out the prospect of going back on his decision to resign after receiving messages of support from Asian and African federations.
     On Friday, FIFA confirmed Blatter's comments but said that they were "nothing new. They are exactly the words he used in his ...

Blatter 'did not resign' - report

At least one suspected Islamist today launched a daylight raid on an industrial gas factory in France and pinned a severed head to the gates, in what President Francois Hollande called a "terrorist" attack.
	"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," said Francois Hollande in Brussels, cutting short an EU summit to chair emergency meetings in the French capital.
	Hollande said a vehicle driven at high speed by "one person, maybe accompanied by another" smashed into the factory, about 40 kilometres from Lyon.
	"At the time I am speaking, there is one dead and two injured," said a grim-faced Hollande, calling for "solidarity" for the victim, who was found with Arabic inscriptions on him.
	The bloody discovery of the decapitated head is thought to be the first instance in France of a beheading during an attack -- which has become a trademark of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
	And the gruesome killing came nearly six months after the ...

One decapitated in 'terrorist' attack on France gas factory

Beijing today denounced as "absurd logic" accusations by the head of US intelligence that China was the main suspect in a massive hack of government data files in Washington.
	James Clapper, US director of national intelligence, said China was "the leading suspect" behind the breach affecting personal data of millions of US government employees, which was revealed earlier this month.
	Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang responded: "We have noticed that the US is still investigating, but feels that China is responsible. This is absurd logic.
	"We understand this as showing the US has adopted the presumption of guilt rather than the presumption of innocence," he added at a regular briefing.
	The US has in recent years blamed several hacks on Beijing, including some it says were carried out by members of the Chinese military.
	Cybersecurity specialists said the breach of data on at least four million current and former federal employees appeared to be part of an effort to build a .

China denounces US hacking accusation as 'absurd'

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah claimed five for 95 as Pakistan halted Sri Lanka's march towards a big first innings lead in the second Test at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo

Five-wicket Yasir battles for depleted Pakistan

Thai police today arrested 14 anti-coup student activists, a lawyer said, a day after they staged a rare rally in defiance of the ruling junta's sweeping curbs on civil liberties.
	The pro-democracy campaigners from universities in Bangkok and the country's northeast are among the few public faces of dissent in Thailand since the military seized power last year.
	Their arrests come after a peaceful protest at the capital's Democracy Monument yesterday when the students made impassioned speeches and sang songs urging an end to junta rule, cheered on by dozens of supporters.
	Police unusually held back from the rally, which also drew dozens of journalists, but arrested the students today afternoon hours after they encircled a house where they had been seeking refuge from arrest.
	Political protests are banned under the regime alongside any criticism of the junta.
	"Fourteen students have been arrested on charges of illegal assembly and are now at the police station where they will be ...

Thai police arrest 14 anti-junta student activists

Greece's international creditors today offered Athens a five-month, 12-billion-euro (USD 13.4-billion) extension of its bailout programme but said it must seal a deal this weekend to avoid an IMF default next week.
	Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande discussed financing plans with leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the eve of a "decisive" meeting of eurozone finance ministers aimed at finding a deal to end the crisis.
	The offer came after intensive talks in Brussels this week to end the standoff between Tsipras's anti-austerity government, which has balked at further reforms-for-cash after five years of bailout-imposed economic hardship.
	Creditors are ready to quickly disburse 1.8 billion euros in financial aid to help Athens meet a 1.5 billion euro IMF debt repayment on June 30 as long as the Greek parliament approves disputed reforms, according to proposals seen by AFP.
	German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the chances for a bailout deal stand at about ...

Greece creditors offer five-month bailout extension

US Secretary of State John Kerry, still on crutches after breaking his leg, headed to Vienna today looking to seal a legacy-making nuclear deal with Iran.
	The indefatigable 71-year-old boarded his Boeing 757 for the first time since he fell off his bike in late May and broke his right femur while cycling in the French Alps. That required an operation and kept Kerry in the hospital for almost two weeks.
	Kerry left for the last leg of marathon talks aimed at hammering out an unprecedented accord with Iran to curb its nuclear program, and put a bomb out of its reach.
	Iran and six global powers leading the negotiations - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US - have given themselves until Wednesday to reach a final comprehensive accord.
	Under such an agreement Iran would scale back its nuclear activities in return for an easing of sanctions.
	A senior US official admitted for the first time yesterday however, that the talks could slip beyond the June 30 deadline, insisting 

Kerry leaves for Iran talks as deadline for deal nears

Clashes between the Islamic State jihadist group and government troops in the northeast Syrian city of Hasakeh have displaced an estimated 60,000 people, a UN agency has said.
	The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said at least 50,000 people had been displaced within Hasakeh while another 10,000 had fled north towards the town of Amuda.
	A Syrian OCHA official told AFP that the displaced included ethnic Arabs and Kurds.
	IS jihadists captured two southern neighbourhoods in Hasakeh, the capital of the province by the same name, yesterday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
	OCHA, which quotes reports from local partners, added that "2,000 civilians remain trapped in the concerned neighbourhoods."
	"Should the security situation continue to deteriorate, it is estimated that up to 200,000 people may try to flee Hasakeh city in the coming hours and days, most likely towards Amuda and Qamishli" to the northeast, OCHA ...

Clashes in Syria's Hasakeh displace 60,000: UN

Beijing today hit out at the organisers of Britain's Glastonbury music festival for inviting the Dalai Lama, saying they were offering him a platform for what China calls his "separatist activities".
	The Tibetan spiritual leader will address revellers at the festival with a message of "compassion, non-violence and the oneness of humanity", his office said yesterday.
	Emily Eavis, organiser of the five-day gathering, said in a statement: "We're honoured to welcome the Dalai Lama to Glastonbury 2015."
	China, which accuses the Tibetan spiritual leader and non-violence advocate of using "spiritual terrorism" to seek independence for the territory, denounced the invitation.
	"We oppose any organisation using any means to offer a platform for the Dalai Lama to conduct anti-China separatist activities," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said when asked about the festival invitation at a regular briefing.
	Around 135,000 paying ticketholders are expected to attend the five-day Glastonbury .

China hits out at Dalai Lama's Glastonbury appearance

A gunman opened fire at tourists at a beach resort in Tunisia today, leaving at least 27 people dead, including foreigners, in what the authorities branded a "terrorist attack".
	Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion after the shooting at a hotel in the district of Sousse, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) south of Tunis.
	The toll from the attack is "27 dead including tourists," Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said without giving their nationalities.
	"It was a terrorist attack" against the Marhaba hotel, he said. "The assailant was killed."
	The shooting comes just months after a March attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman.
	In October 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself in a botched attack on a beach in Sousse while security forces foiled another planned attack nearby.

27 dead in Tunisia tourist resort attack

Russia's former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, famed for turning around his US-bound plane over the Atlantic upon learning of NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999, has died aged 85, the Kremlin said today.
	"Vladimir Putin expressed deep condolences to the family and relatives of Yevgeny Primakov over his death," the Kremlin said in a statement.
	"He was a statesman, scientist, politician, he has left behind a great legacy," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
	A veteran of Soviet and Russian politics, Primakov served as premier under president Boris Yeltsin in 1998-1999.
	He was installed in the top government job amid political and economic turmoil after Russia defaulted on August 17, 1998.
	Primakov also served as foreign minister between 1996 and 1998 and headed the country's external intelligence agency SVR between 1991 and 1996.
	Considered one of the country's foremost experts on the Middle East, he was also a member of the Kremlin's security council until ...

Russian former PM Yevgeny Primakov dies aged 85

Israel voiced dismay today at the Vatican's first accord with Palestine and warned the move would harm efforts to renew peace talks.
	The foreign ministry expressed its "regret regarding the Vatican decision to officially recognise the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a state, in the agreement signed today," spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.
	"This hasty step damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement, and harms the international effort to convince the PA to return to direct negotiations with Israel," he said.
	The accord, a treaty covering the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, was the first since the Vatican recognised the Palestinian state in February 2013.
	The treaty, which took 15 years of negotiations to complete, was agreed in principle last month and bitterly condemned by Israel as a setback for the peace process.
	The Vatican's recognition of the state of Palestine followed a November 12 vote in favour of recognition by the UN General ...

AFP

AFP

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