Brazilian-based striker Paolo Guerrero scored a hat trick as Peru swept aside Bolivia 3-1 to set up a Copa America semi-final showdown with fierce rivals Chile today.
     Flamengo forward Guerrero, who has spent the past three years in Brazil after spells in Germany with Bayern Munich and Hamburg, pounced in the 20th and 23rd minutes to snuff out Bolivia's campaign.
     The 31-year-old completed his hat trick in the 74th minute, strolling clear of the Bolivian defense to finish nonchalantly. Marcelo Martins scored a late consolation from the penalty spot for Bolivia.
     The result sets up the mouthwatering prospect of a semi-final next Monday between tournament hosts Chile and Peru, the latest installment of a ferocious footballing rivalry which began in 1935.
     Matches between the two neighbors are known as the "Clasico del Pacifico," laced with a historical enmity that dates back to the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific.
     Chile and Peru also fought a long-running legal battle .

Peru beats Bolivia 3-1 to reach Copa America semi-finals

PTI Automatic

British Prime Minister David Cameron found his reform agenda sidelined at a tense EU summit as leaders warned he faces tough negotiations ahead of a referendum on whether to leave the bloc.
	As he walked into the Brussels summit dominated by Greece and migration, Cameron said it marked a "significant milestone" in Britain's bid to renegotiate ties with the European Union before a referendum due by the end of 2017.
	European leaders discussed his proposals for just a few minutes at dinner between fraught discussions on migration before agreeing to move to the next stage in the process.
	This involves detailed technical talks after the broad discussions which Cameron has so far had on the issue with his fellow 27 EU leaders.
	It is thought the issue will get only a short mention in today's final communique.
	EU leaders are focused on trying to keep Greece in the eurozone and halting an influx of migrants from Middle East and African trouble spots, meaning substantive talks on Britain's .

EU leaders warn Cameron as reform plan moves forward

A 15-minute, on-the-spot blood test for Ebola was as accurate in a patient trial as the most widely-used laboratory-based test, its US-based developers said today.
	An affordable, rapid diagnostic test would be an invaluable tool for health workers on the ground, allowing them to quickly identify and isolate infected individuals and curtail the spread of the deadly haemorrhagic virus.
	Dubbed ReEBOV, the kit manufactured by Colorado-based Corgenix, works with a drop of blood from a finger prick and a test strip that changes colour in five to 15 minutes.
	It requires very little training to use, but one potential drawback is that it needs refrigeration.
	The standard test in use today, RealStar RT-PCR, requires analysis of much larger blood samples at a laboratory with a high biosafety level and trained staff -- facilities often not within easy reach of outbreak zones.
	Manufactured by German company altona Diagnostics, RealStar also poses risks to those who collect, transport and test 

Patient trial validates Ebola rapid test

Greece and its EU-IMF creditors once more failed to break the deadlock in emergency bailout deal talks, sending the crisis hurtling towards a critical weekend meeting in a bid to avoid a default by Athens.
	Eurozone finance minister talks which were meant to pave the way for EU leaders to endorse an accord on releasing vital aid at a summit in Brussels broke up abruptly with no agreement on a Greek financial reform plan.
	They will now meet again tomorrow, just three days before Greece is at risk of missing a 1.5 billion euro (USD 1.7 billion) International Monetary Fund payment that could trigger its exit from the single currency and even the EU.
	"We have not made the necessary progress. In some areas one even gets the impression that we have moved backwards," Germany's hardline Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters as she arrived for the Brussels summit.
	The 28 EU leaders at the summit held an unscheduled two-hour discussion on the Greece crisis where they and leftist Greek ...

Greek crisis stretches into weekend as deadline looms

High-stakes talks to nail down a historic deal with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme may "slip" past a June 30 deadline, a top US official has admitted ahead of crunch weekend negotiations in Vienna.
	"We may not make June 30, but we will be close," the senior official told reporters as top US diplomat John Kerry prepared to head today for what could be the last talks between Iran and global powers on the deal.
	The official said the target date to finalise the historic deal -- the main outlines were agreed in April in Lausanne, Switzerland -- would only "slip" by a few days.
	"The intent of everybody here -- the P5+1, the European Union, Iran -- is to stay until we get this done, or find out we can't. And our intent is to get it done," the official told reporters, asking not to be named.
	Others, including Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is due in Vienna tomorrow, have said the deadline may be missed by a few days but until now Washington had insisted it still 

US says Iran nuclear deal deadline may 'slip'

Four Tunisian police who harassed coffee shop owners who stay open during daylight hours in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan have been sacked, officials said today.
	The interior ministry said in a statement that the district chief for Monastir in central Tunisia and three policemen from Marsa, a northern suburb of Tunis, were sacked for "abuse of power".
	Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said their sacking was linked to "cases of coffee shops that stayed open during the time of fasting".
	He declined to give further details.
	During the holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, believers must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk.
	Mustapha Fares, a cafe owner in Monastir contacted by AFP, said that the district police chief stormed his establishment and then "insulted clients and brutalised them."
	"He also grabbed a chair and chased a waitress who ran outside the shop and struck her with it," said Fares, adding that he had lodged a ...

Tunis sacks 4 policemen over Ramadan 'abuse'

Police were investigating today after the mayor of a city in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec received death threats for seeking to ban English at council meetings.
	The threats against Longueuil Mayor Caroline St-Hilaire were posted on social media after she claimed to be "irritated" with a colleague who insisted on speaking both of Canada's official languages at the meetings, saying it was a huge waste of time.
	Police have stepped up the mayor's security.
	According to the last census, in 2011, French is the mother tongue of seven million Canadians while 19 million responded that they primarily speak English.
	But in Longueuil, 96 percent of the 230,000 residents speak French.
	"We're in Quebec and city council deliberations must be in French. This is not a bilingual administration, and that's final," St-Hilaire had said on her Facebook page, provoking the angry reactions.
	It comes after two other Quebec political leaders were also targeted in recent years ...

Quebec mayor threatened over English 'ban'

The Dalai Lama will address revellers at the Glastonbury music festival in Britain on Sunday with a message of "compassion, non-violence and the oneness of humanity", his office said today.
	"We're honoured to welcome the Dalai Lama to Glastonbury 2015," Emily Eavis, the festival's organiser, said in a statement.
	"He will be talking in the Green Fields and exploring the farm this Sunday as part of his trip to the UK. What a special moment for the festival!" she said.
	Around 135,000 paying ticket holders are expected to attend the five-day Glastonbury gathering, one of the world's biggest music festivals which began in 1970.
	"The key themes throughout this visit will be the promotion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message of compassion, non-violence and the oneness of humanity," the organisers of the trip said.
	The Tibetan spiritual leader will also speak to supporters in the British army base town of Aldershot, which is also in southern England, at the invitation of the Buddhist 

Dalai Lama to speak at British rock festival

Switzerland today authorised the extradition of former Bosnian Muslim commander Naser Oric to Bosnia rather than Serbia, which had issued the war crimes warrant for his arrest.
	Oric, who led Muslim forces in Bosnia's east during its 1992-1995 civil war, was arrested on June 10 in Geneva, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity against ethnic Serbs during the conflict.
	His arrest sparked outrage in Bosnia and threatened relations with Belgrade -- but Switzerland has decided to send Oric to his home country, where he also faces war crimes allegations.
	"The Federal Office of Justice today approved the extradition of Naser Oric to Bosnia and Herzegovina," the Swiss government said in a statement, adding that the date of his handover would not be made public for security and privacy reasons.
	Serbia accused Oric and four other people of committing war crimes in July 1992 in Zalazje near Sarajevo, where nine ethnic Serbs were killed.
	He had opposed extradition to Serbia, ...

Switzerland to extradite Bosnian Muslim war crimes suspect

A joint Israeli-Palestinian poll published today shows dwindling support on both sides for a Palestinian state alongside Israel as a solution to the conflict.
	The survey, by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, shows 51 percent of Israeli respondents in favour of what is known as the two-state solution, down from 62 percent last June.
	Support among Palestinians was also 51 percent, down from 54 percent a year ago.
	Shortly after the previous survey, Israel fought a war in the Gaza Strip that killed some 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
	And in March 2015 Israel voted into power a government consisting largely of nationalist patrons of West Bank Jewish settlement, the ultra-Orthodox and opponents of Palestinian statehood.
	"After forming a right wing government in Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu, we asked both sides about their expectations for the future," a Hebrew ...

Israeli, Palestinian support for two states slipping: poll

China is to abolish a limit on the amount of loans banks can grant, a liberalising step for the heavily-regulated banking sector which could make stimulus measures more effective.
	Banks will no longer be required to cap the amount of loans they make at 75 per cent of the deposits they keep, known as the loan-to-deposit (LDR) ratio, according to a statement released on the website of the State Council, China's cabinet, after a regular meeting yesterday chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.
	The proposal is expected to be approved by the standing committee of the country's rubber-stamp legislature.
	Regulators will still "monitor" the ratio but it will no longer be mandatory, according to the statement.
	The requirement, first imposed on state-owned commercial banks in 1998, is outdated as banks can now raise funds in several ways other than deposits, the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece, said today.
	Analysts said the move will allow lenders, particularly smaller ...

China to scrap constraint on bank lending

Myanmar released today a Bangladeshi border guard detained eight days ago during a rare exchange of gunfire between troops from the two countries, a Bangladeshi paramilitary officer said.
	Abdur Razzak was handed over during a "flag meeting" of troops from the nations in the Myanmar border township of Maungdaw, a Bangladesh Border Guard spokesman said.
	"Razzak was handed over to our representative team this afternoon. His belongings (including) uniform, submachine gun, ammunition etc have also been returned," Major Abu Russell Siddiki told AFP.
	BGB officials have said the Myanmar Border Guard Police held Razzak during the shoot-out on June 17 on the Naf river, which divides the two countries.
	The area where the firing occurred is notorious for people smuggling between the two countries, which have come under the spotlight over a migrant crisis in recent weeks. But clashes between border forces are rare.
	A Bangladeshi border guard was also wounded during the firing which a BGB ...

Myanmar frees Bangladesh border guard: official

Couples who buy abducted children in China will face criminal punishment under proposed laws that would remove their exemption from prosecution, reports said today, as authorities clamp down on the flourishing child trafficking industry.
	More than 13,000 children were rescued by police in China last year, the China Daily said, with demand for stolen youngsters fuelled by a traditional preference for sons and a one-child limit for some couples.
	Current law imposes harsh sentences for child trafficking, including the death penalty in certain cases.
	Buyers of kidnapped children can be sentenced to up to three years in jail, but are exempt from criminal proceedings if they have not abused the children or obstructed efforts to rescue them.
	The revised criminal law will "increase penalties for those who buy children", the state-run newspaper, without specifying potential sentences.
	"Buyers would receive a less severe penalty if they did not abuse the child or attempt to hinder rescue ..

China couples who buy children to face prosecution: report

Israel today released a prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank, the Islamist group said, a year after his arrest along with hundreds of others following the killing of three Israeli teenagers.
	Hamas says Hassan Yusef, who has spent years in Israeli jails and was elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006 while in Israeli custody, has worked entirely in the political wing of the movement.
	He is also known for having disowned his son after he worked as an informant for Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency under the codename "The Green Prince".
	"Occupation forces (Israel) today released Hassan Yusef after he was in administrative detention for an entire year," Hamas said in a news report on its website, Hamas.Ps.
	Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
	The army arrested Yusef, who was born in 1954, in June 2014 as part of a round-up of hundreds of members of the group in the occupied West Bank, Hamas said.
	The arrests followed the ...

Israel releases prominent Hamas official year after arrest

British Prime Minister David Cameron found his reform agenda sidelined at a tense EU summit today as leaders warned he faces a tough negotiation ahead of a referendum on whether to leave the bloc.
	As he walked into the summit dominated by Greece and migration, Cameron said it marked a "significant milestone" in Britain's bid to renegotiate ties with the European Union before a referendum due by the end of 2017.
	Sources expect European leaders to discuss his proposals only briefly today night before agreeing to move to the next stage in the process -- technical talks. The issue is thought likely to be mentioned briefly in the final summit communique.
	Other European leaders at the summit are focused on trying to keep Greece in the eurozone and grappling with an influx of migrants from Middle East and African trouble spots, meaning substantial talks on reform will have to wait.
	Few leaders commented on Britain's prospects for securing change as they arrived for the high-stakes ...

EU leaders warn Cameron on reform drive

Suspected Boko Haram militants killed five people and injured four others in an attack in southeast Niger Tuesday night, state radio announced today.
	Three of the victims in the attack on a village near the town of Bosso, on the border with Nigeria, were shot dead while the two others were burned to death, the radio reported, blaming Nigeria-based Boko Haram jihadists.
	The militants burned more than 100 homes and 100 motorcycles, as well as the central market, the report added.
	Anfani private radio also carried reports of the attack and said the insurgents "came on horseback".
	The attack is the second of its kind in a week along Niger's south-east border with Nigeria, where troops from Niger and neighbouring Chad have been battling the Islamists for months.
	On June 18, Boko Haram killed 38 people, mostly women and children, in an attack on two villages in the same area.
	Niger announced yesterday that its forces had killed 15 militants in ground and aerial operations between June 

Five people killed in 'Boko Haram' attack in southeast Niger

A drone launched from the Gaza Strip crashed inside Israel today, the Israeli military said, the third such incursion in just under a year, with previous incidents claimed by Hamas.
	"Some kind of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was spotted entering Israeli airspace from the Strip," an army spokeswoman told AFP.
	"Fragments of it were later found in Israeli territory... right next to the (border) fence," she said.
	She could not immediately say if the UAV was armed or fitted with a surveillance camera.
	Hamas's armed wing has previously displayed a drone several metres in length and with the appearance of a small plane, though it was not immediately clear if Thursday's UAV was similar.
	Last July Israel shot down a Hamas drone near the southern city of Ashkelon close to the Gaza border and in a separate incident downed another off the Mediterranean port of Ashdod, 28 kilometres north of Gaza and a similar distance south of Tel Aviv.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for ...

Drone from Gaza crashes in Israel

High-stakes talks to nail down a historic deal with Iran to curtail its nuclear program may slip past a June 30 deadline, a top US official admitted for the first time today.
	"We may not make June 30, but we will be close," a senior administration official told reporters as top US diplomat John Kerry prepared to head tomorrow for potentially the last negotiations between Iran and global powers on the deal.
	"What matters here is the substance of the deal and we have to get it right," the official said, adding that the world needed to get the right assurance that Iran's nuclear program "is entirely peaceful."
	But the official said the deadline would only "slip" by a few days.
	The plan was to stay in Vienna "until we get this done, or find out we can't. But we expect to get this done," the official said, asking not to be named.
	Kerry is to head for the Austrian capital tomorrow, with talks likely to resume on Saturday and other ministers from the so-called P5+1 group also expected ..

Iran talks may miss June 30 deadline, but will be close: US

Al-Qaeda has confirmed that a US drone strike earlier this year killed its English-language spokesman, a California native known as Azzam the American, SITE Intelligence Group reported today.
	In a special issue of Al-Qaeda English-language magazine Resurgence, editor Hassaan Yusuf wrote that Azzam, whose real name was Adam Gadahn, was killed in a strike thought to have taken place in January on an Al-Qaeda compound in Pakistan.
	Yusuf also said Ahmed Faruq, an American described as a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, and American and Italian hostages Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, were killed in another strike "a few weeks" prior.
	The White House has said neither Gadahn nor Faruq were specifically targeted in the strikes, and US President Barack Obama said in April he took "full responsibility" for the accidental killing of the hostages.
	Gadahn was a teenage death metal music fan who grew up on a California goat farm before he was drawn into radical Islam.
	He 

Qaeda confirms US strike killed American spokesman

The popular online dating app Tinder is breaking free as part of a spinoff announced today by parent company IAC/InterActive Corp.
	IAC said its board approved a plan to spin off its Match unit which includes the online services Match.Com, Tinder, Meetic, OkCupid and OurTime, and which operates in some 200 markets worldwide.
	IAC chairman Barry Diller, who created the conglomerate which includes a range of Internet firms including About.Com, The Daily Beast, Investopedia and ShoeBuy, said the time was right to break up.
	"As many know from our actions over the last 20 years, I'm not a believer in simply agglomerating assets in perpetuity," he said in a statement.
	"I've long felt that as entities grow into size and maturity it's healthy to give them separation and independence from a mother church."
	One of the key elements in the unit is Tinder, one of the popular online dating applications for mobile devices which allows users to view photos of prospective dates and swipe right to ..

Breakup for online dating app Tinder and parent

Turkey rejected as "black propaganda" claims that Islamic State (IS) militants crossed from Turkey today to carry out a deadly bombing on the Syrian town of Kobane.
	IS extremists killed 12 civilians in a suicide car bomb near the Turkish border crossing adjacent to Kobane, according to a monitoring group.
	A few hours later, two more car bombs detonated near the border, but there were no immediate details on casualties.
	Turkish officials said four victims had died in Turkish hospitals while 96 injured received treatment on the Turkish side of the border.
	Claims circulating on the Internet suggested several cars loaded with IS militants passed through the Mursitpinar border crossing in Turkey to make their way into Kobane.
	"The claim that Daesh militants passed through the Turkish border is entirely a lie and part of a black propoganda," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in a message on Twitter, using a pejorative Arabic term for IS.
	The governor's office in the border ...

AFP

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