South Korea today announced its 20th death from the MERS virus as criticism grew of efforts to contain the outbreak, with alarming reports of new cases slipping through a quarantine that already affects thousands.
	A 54-year-old woman died of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome today morning after being diagnosed on June 5, the health ministry said.
	It also reported eight new patients including four who had been infected at Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul, considered the epicentre of the outbreak.
	This took the total number of infections including those who have died to 162, the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.
	Seventeen patients are in critical condition, the ministry said, adding 19 had recovered and been released from hospital.
	The number of new infections had fallen for three days in a row from 12 on Friday to four on Tuesday, when the ministry said it was cautiously optimistic the worst was over.
	But the latest number dashed such hopes, as a health official raised ...

South Korea reports 20th MERS death

PTI Automatic

The alliance controlling Libya's capital Tripoli said today it welcomed a draft UN agreement aimed at lifting the country out of months of chaos by forming a national unity government.
	UN envoy Bernardino Leon's fourth version of a proposed pact between the Fajr Libya Islamist militia-led alliance and Libya's internationally recognised government contained "positive proposals that could lead to a political solution", the Tripoli administration said in a statement.
	However, it added that "modifications" needed to be made before it would sign a final version of the deal.
	The UN has tried for months to broker a compromise between warring factions in Libya, which descended into lawlessness after the NATO-backed overthrow of veteran autocrat Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
	The oil-rich nation has rival governments and parliaments, and jihadist groups and militants have seized on the chaos to make strategic gains.
	The conflict has also prompted a huge rise in the number of migrants trying to ..

Libya's Tripoli govt welcomes latest UN peace draft

About 70 people have died in Nigeria's oil-rich south after consuming home-brewed gin that was found to contain large amounts of methanol, senior health officials said today.
	Somiari Harry, permanent secretary of the health ministry in Rivers state, said deaths from drinking the gin -- known locally as "ogogoro" -- were recorded in five local government areas.
	"The death toll so far recorded from the consumption of ogogoro is about 70," Harry told AFP.
	Ogogoro is a west African alcoholic drink usually brewed locally and popular in Nigeria, where it is made from the juice of raffia palm trees and sold cheaply.
	Alcohol content can range from 30 to 60 per cent.
	The deaths, which first came to light earlier this month, have led to Rivers imposing a total, state-wide ban on the manufacture, sale and distribution of the drink.
	Health ministry officials have been deployed to enforce the ruling.
	The director of the centre for disease control in Rivers state, Nnanna Onyekwere, confirmed 

Local gin kills 70 in Nigeria: health officials

Chinese authorities today deported a British investigator and his wife linked to a corruption case involving pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), after releasing them from jail over a week ago, family sources said.
	British national Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng, a naturalised US citizen, had departed on a flight to London from Shanghai, their son and a family friend said. The couple had served time for illegally obtaining the personal information of Chinese citizens.
	"Peter and Ying are on the Virgin flight to London," said the friend, who declined to be named.
	The Shanghai office of Virgin Atlantic Airways said the flight to London had a scheduled departure of around 1140 am (0340 GMT) local time.
	"I am extremely glad that this ordeal will be over by this afternoon," their son, Harvey Humphrey, said in a statement provided to AFP.
	The couple ran an investigative firm, ChinaWhys, which was hired by GSK to probe a sex tape of the company's then China boss and ...

China deports British investigator, wife in GSK case

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said today he would ask Russia to use its veto to prevent the adoption of a UN resolution on the Srebrenica genocide which is being drafted by Britain.
	"I will certainly demand (Russia use its right of veto) and explain that it is a hot issue for us (ethnic Serbs)," Dodik told Bosnian Serb RTRS television.
	Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, the entity which along with the Muslim-Croat Federation has made up Bosnia since its 1990s war, spoke before leaving for Russia where he will attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum from tomorrow.
	He said he expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the forum.
	Britain has said it is drafting a UN Security Council resolution to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in July, and reflect on the UN's failure to prevent genocide.
	About 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered by ethnic Serb forces in July 1995 in what was the ...

Bosnian to seek Russia's veto of UN Srebrenica resolution

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Saudi Arabia's defence minister this week in a meeting aimed at boosting bilateral ties after years of tensions over Syria, his aide said today.
	Putin will meet Prince Mohammed bin Salman, believed to be a favoured son of King Salman, on Thursday on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Kremlin's top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said.
	Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed, aged 29 according to the website of the Saudi embassy in the US, was elevated to the post of defence minister the day Salman acceded to the throne in January.
	Ushakov said Putin and the Saudi prince would discuss a range of international issues including the Syria crisis and the fight against Islamic State radicals as well as ramping up economic ties.
	"Undoubtedly the (meeting) is very important and speaks of the interest of both sides -- Russian and Saudi -- in ramping up ties to a wholly new level," Ushakov said.
	He said he was not aware .

Putin to meet Saudi prince amid Syria tensions: aide

Swiss prosecutors are investigating 53 cases of possible money laundering as they look into FIFA's handling of bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, officials said today.
     Attorney general Michael Lauber said the "suspicious" cases had been reported by banks and that a "huge and complex" inquiry into football's world body could take months if not years.
     Officials said the 53 are individuals and companies and that each case could involve many more transactions.
     "We note positively that banks in Switzerland did fulfil their duties to file suspicious activity reports," he told a press conference.
     "Partly in addition to the 104 banking relations already known to the authorities, banks announced 53 suspicious banking relations via the Anti-Money-Laundering-Framework of Switzerland," he added.
     Swiss authorities have set up a special task force to look into the World Cup bids -- which went to Russia for 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
     It is one of two major fraud ...

Swiss prosecutors probe 53 'suspicious' FIFA cases

Five-time champions Brazil trounced Senegal 5-0 today to set up a FIFA Under-20 World Cup final against Serbia, who edged past Mali 2-1 with a late winner.
     Brazil outclassed Mali to reach the decider of the tournament in Auckland on Saturday, giving them the chance to equal arch-rival Argentina's record of six youth trophies.
     Serbia have not reached the final since 1987, when they played under the name Yugoslavia, and had to battle past Mali team in a fast-paced match.
     It was an emphatic return to form for Brazil, whose coach Rogerio Micale admitted they were lucky to stay in the tournament after advancing on penalties following 0-0 draws in their previous two matches.
     Micale said the performance against a well-drilled Senegal was a huge confidence boost for his players going into the final.
     "Our team has reinvented themselves in this match," he said. "Both our defence and offence have been amazing."
     The Samba Kings turned on the style with four ...

Five-star Brazil face U-20 final with Serbia

At least 33 people were killed in the Damascus region as the army bombarded a rebel-held town and the rebels fired rockets into the capital, a monitoring group said today.
	At least 24 people, including five children, were killed by government air strikes and rocket fire on Douma, a rebel-held suburb some 10 kilometres northeast of the centre of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	An AFP photographer saw wounded children being brought into a makeshift medical centre in the town after the yesterday afternoon bombardment.
	A man tried to comfort a weeping boy lying on a stretcher with gauze on his head, while nearby a small girl cried as she waited for treatment, her face spattered with blood.
	Later, the rebels fired rockets into the heart of the capital, striking Arnus Garden, a popular evening retreat.
	A witness told AFP that two rockets struck the garden between 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) and 11:00 pm, and that he saw dead and wounded people.
	The Observatory said ...

33 dead as Syria army, rebels trade fire around Damascus

Pope Francis said today that those who "close the door" to refugees seeking a safe haven in Europe should ask God's forgiveness, as tensions rose in the EU over the migrant crisis.
	A day after European interior ministers failed to agree on how to stem the flow of boat migrants across the Mediterranean or house the thousands of new arrivals, Francis demanded greater respect for "our brothers and sisters who seek refuge far from their own lands".
	"I encourage those who bring them aid and hope that the international community will act in a united and efficient fashion to prevent the causes of forced migration," he said.
	"And I invite everyone to ask God's pardon for those people and institutions who close the door to those who are seeking a family, who are seeking to be protected," he said.
	Italy has threatened a backlash if other EU states refuse to share the burden of asylum seekers, but even so ministers took no decision to carry out proposals by the European Commission for quotas 

Pope slams nations which 'close the door' to migrants

Turkey's former president and prime minister Suleyman Demirel, a political giant for over half a century who survived two military coups and a ban on holding office, died today. He was 90.
	His heyday was during one of the most chaotic periods of modern Turkish history when governments changed sometimes annually under the shadow of the powerful military, and the country was beset by daily street violence and an economic slump.
	He died of heart failure resulting from a severe respiratory tract infection, the state Anatolia news agency said, quoting the private Ankara hospital where he was treated.
	Demirel served as prime minister on repeated occasions in the 1960s and 1970s and then again one final time in the 1990s before serving as head of state from 1993 to 2000.
	In all, he was prime minister of seven different governments, serving five separate stints in the post.
	President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement that Demirel had left "deep marks on Turkish political history" .

Turkey ex-leader who survived two coups dies aged 90

A Bangladeshi border guard was wounded and another is being held by Myanmar after troops from the two countries exchanged fire today, paramilitary officers and witnesses said.
	The local director of operations for Border Guard Bangladesh, Ekram Khan, said the shoot-out was "the outcome of a total misunderstanding" - an assessment that chimed with witness reports.
	Local fishermen said a Bangladeshi patrol boat on the Naf river which divides the two countries came under fire from Myanmar border guards, who had apparently mistaken them for smugglers.
	The area where the shoot-out 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.
	One sustained multiple bullet wounds during the clash in Bangladesh's south-eastern district of Cox's Bazar.
	"Our soldiers started firing in retaliation and private Biplob Kumar sustained injuries to his head and right ...

Bangladesh and Myanmar border guards exchange fire

The Palestinian unity government was said to be on the brink of resigning today in a deepening rift with Gaza as its de facto rulers Hamas hold separate, indirect talks with Israel.
	A Palestine Liberation Organisation official said the government of technocrats formed last year to replace rival administrations in Gaza and the West Bank would be dissolved sometime today.
	He said it would likely be replaced with a government of politicians.
	Officials have said the move had been under discussion for several months because of the cabinet's inability to operate in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip.
	But Hamas rejected any unilateral dissolution of the unity government.
	Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was quoted as telling members of his Fatah movement on Monday that it would go ahead within 24 hours.
	"It will be sometime today," the PLO official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
	"The government will continue to function until we have a new one ... I think what's coming now is the ..

Palestinian split widens with government set to quit

Experts at a top fertility conference are dismayed at the case of a German woman who after having 13 children has had IVF quadruplets at the age of 65.
	The episode damages the reputation of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), which has enabled millions to know the joy of parenthood, they said.
	"It's the kind of tale which makes headlines around the world and skews the image of our field," said Francoise Shenfield, a specialist in reproductive medicine and bioethics at University College London.
	The controversy swirls around Annegret Raunigk, a Berlin teacher near retirement age who is the oldest woman to have given birth to quadruplets.
	After going to Ukraine for IVF treatment from anonymous donors, Raunigk gave birth last month to three boys and a girl, delivered by Caesarean about 15 weeks early.
	The babies weighed between 655 and 960 grams (1.4 to 2.1 pounds) at birth, have since gained between 30 and 50 per cent in weight "and are developing well", Berlin's Charite Hospital said ...

IVF doctors aghast at 65-year-old mum of quadruplets

A lion that escaped from a zoo in the Georgian capital during freak floods at the weekend killed a man in the city centre today, an interior ministry spokeswoman said.
	"A lion from the Tbilisi zoo killed a man" near the capital's central square, the spokeswoman told AFP. "Police special forces were deployed and are hunting down the animal."
	Georgian media said the lion had been hiding in a warehouse and escaped the citywide police search for the escaped animals, many of which were shot dead.
	Floods hit Tbilisi on Sunday, killing at least 17 people and ravaging the city's central districts including the zoo, where hundreds of animals - including lions, tigers, wolves and a hippo escaped.
	Over half of the animals - some 300 species - either drowned in the muddy waters or were killed by police.

Escaped lion from flooded Georgia zoo kills man

Dancing after midnight in Tokyo will no longer be illegal - as long as it's not too dark - after Japan's parliament today voted to relax laws that banned boogying in one of the world's clubbing capitals.
	Under current rules dance clubs across the country are supposed to stop people from shaking their stuff once the clock ticks over to 12 am.
	The law, which dates from 1948, during the US occupation, was put in place amid concerns that the relatively liberal social attitudes of the Americans were corrupting Japan's youth.
	It was also an attempt to curb prostitution, which was rife in the poverty of post-World War II Japan.
	The Law on Control and Improvement of Amusement Business was so wide-ranging that even some dance classes - including ballroom - fell foul of it because they involved people dancing in pairs.
	Enforcement was considerably relaxed as Japan boomed in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, allowing clubland to thrive in the big cities.
	But after decades of turning a blind eye to ..

Japan overturns midnight dancing ban

An elephant killed a 28-year-old Thai man and injured his colleague as they were eating dinner at a beachside restaurant in eastern Thailand, police said today.
	The local telecoms employee died in hospital after the elephant gored his chest with its tusk as he ate hotpot with a fellow worker in the coastal city of Rayong late Monday.
	"They were talking to the mahout (elephant keeper) about buying food for the elephant when it suddenly stabbed one man in the chest with its tusk and kicked the other," local police Lieutenant Thawat Nongsingha told AFP.
	The mahout has been charged with offences including violating animal welfare legislation and negligence causing death, Thawat said.
	He added the mahout had been released from custody while the elephant was still under the mahout's care.
	The maximum penalty for negligence causing death is 10 years in jail and a fine of 20,000 baht ($600).
	Thailand's roughly 4,000 domesticated elephants outnumber an estimated 2,500 remaining in the ...

Elephant kills Thai man at beachside restaurant

The World Health Organization said today that the MERS outbreak in South Korea was a "wakeup call" and urged all countries to be more vigilant.
	The warning came as South Korea reported its 20th death from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus.
	"The outbreak really should serve as a wakeup call for countries," WHO assistant director general Keiji Fukuda said after an emergency committee meeting.
	"All countries should always be prepared for the unanticipated possibility of outbreaks like this and other serious infectious diseases," a WHO statement said.
	However, the UN health body said that "conditions for a public health emergency of international concern have not been met".
	The virus appeared in South Korea on May 20 when a 68-year-old man was diagnosed after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia.
	Since then it has spread at an unusually rapid pace, sparking widespread alarm.
	There is no vaccine for MERS which has a mortality rate of 35 percent, according to the WHO.

WHO says MERS outbreak in S Korea a 'wakeup call'

Four children were among seven civilians killed in renewed rebel rocket fire on government-held areas of Syria's second city Aleppo, a monitoring group said today.
	Yesterday's fire came despite UN condemnation of a massive barrage the previous day that killed at least 36 civilians, 14 of them children.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were also "many" wounded but did not immediately give a figure.
	Control of Aleppo is divided between rebels in the east, and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in the west.
	Both sides frequently bombard each other but Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that Monday's deaths marked "one of the highest tolls in opposition attacks in Aleppo city".
	Damascus called on the UN Security Council to condemn the rocket fire and address the problem of "terrorist groups."
	In the south, government aircraft pounded the rebel-held town of Eastern Ghariyah in Daraa province late on Tuesday, killing 18 people, 14 of them ...

Rebel rocket fire kills 7 in Syria's Aleppo: monitor

The first Syrian refugees returned to the border town of Tal Abyad from Turkey Wednesday after it was liberated from the Islamic State (IS) group.
	Kurdish forces took the strategic town yesterday after several days of intense fighting, which sparked an exodus of more than 23,000 refugees into neighbouring Turkey.
	Some 200 men, women and children carrying their meagre possessions crossed back into Syria through the Turkish border post of Akcakale.
	The Kurds and their Syrian rebel allies launched a two-pronged attack on Tal Abyad on June 11, backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.
	The new Kurdish victory, coming months after Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) drove the militants from Kobane, has alarmed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who warned Sunday of the "creation of a structure that threatens our borders".
	Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also accused YPG fighters of "ethnic cleansing" in northern Syria as they drove IS ...

First Syrian refugees 'return to Tal Abyad' after IS defeat

Japan warned China today that its extensive land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea does not make ownership "a done deal", after Beijing announced it had almost finished its controversial island-building.
	The rebuke came after Washington urged China against militarisation of the area, saying that risked escalating tensions, even as satellite pictures have shown a runway long enough to let even the biggest aircraft land.
	It also came as details emerged of a joint exercise between Japan and the Philippines, as the relationship blossoms between the two regional powers most prepared to push back against Beijing's perceived rising aggression.
	"We hold serious and significant concerns about the unilateral actions aimed at changing the status quo, which are bound to increase tension," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
	"With the completion of the reclamation, we must not accept the land reclamation as a done deal. We demand (China) not take unilateral 

AFP

AFP

Page 2261 - Afp