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 

New Chinese islands don't settle sea disputes: Japan

PTI Automatic

Sergio Aguero reignited Argentina's Copa America challenge here, scoring the only goal as the favourites defeated historic rivals Uruguay 1-0 in a hard-fought first round clash.
     English Premier League star Aguero headed home a cross from Manchester City team-mate Pablo Zabaleta in the 56th minute to settle a gritty encounter that leaves the Argentines on pole to win Group B.
     Uruguay's defeat means the 2011 champions must now beat Paraguay in their final group game to be certain of clinching a place in the last eight, although they could still reach the knockout rounds as one of the best third placed teams.
	Yesterday's match between the 1930 World Cup finalists was the 199th encounter between the two South American rivals.
     A tense first half had seen Argentina, surprisingly held to a 2-2 draw by Paraguay in their opening game, dominate possession and territory but fail to break down a resolute Uruguayan defence.
    	The two best chances of the opening period both fell .

Argentina back on track as Aguero sinks Uruguay

Surprise African newcomers Cameroon joined champions Japan in the last 16 of the Women's World Cup after beating Switzerland 2-1 in their final Group C game.
     Japan beat Ecuador 1-0 to finish top of Group C with nine points, with Cameroon taking the second automatic spot for the knockout round with six yesterday.
     Switzerland have three points with Ecuador having none.
	Yuki Ogimi scored after just five minutes in Winnipeg as the Japanese, who were already through after their second group match, closed down the game early.
	Japan next meet the third-place finisher from Group A, B or F in Vancouver next Tuesday.
	Cameroon came from behind to beat Switzerland, who had taken the lead when Ana Maria Crnogorcevic scored after 24 minutes.
	Goals from Gabrielle Onguene two minutes after the break, and Madeleine Ngono Mani on 62 minutes sealed all three points for the 53rd-ranked side.
	It is only the second time that an African side have made it out of the group stage after Nigeria ..

Cameroon join Japan in last 16 of Women's World Cup

Chad's President Idriss Deby vowed today there would be no impunity for those who masterminded twin suicide bombings that killed 24 people and wounded more than 100  day earlier.
	The bombings, the first such attacks in the capital N'Djamena, have been blamed on Boko Haram jihadists who have previously attacked villages along Chad's border with Nigeria.
	"Whoever is responsible (for the attacks), ... Will answer for their action. And I promise that this action will not stay unpunished," said Deby, who had just returned from an African Union summit in Johannesburg.
	"This invisible hand and its co-sponsors have hit a peaceful people who were only seeking peace for themselves and for Africa and for the world," he added.
	Deby said he was "not surprised" by the attack given Chad's lead role in a regional offensive against Boko Haram fighters operating out of northeastern Nigeria.
	Security was stepped up in N'Djamena Tuesday, with scores of police and soldiers patrolling the streets and .

Chad's president vows no impunity for those behind twin attack

A US war veteran who climbed over the White House fence and made it into the presidential mansion armed with a knife was sentenced Tuesday to 17 months in prison and three years' probation.
	Omar Gonzalez, who has had psychiatric problems since fighting in Iraq, got credit for time already spent in jail so he will only have to serve eight more months.
	His intrusion came in September 2014 and he has been in custody ever since.
	"Good luck," Judge Rosemary Collyer said as she sentenced Gonzalez and expressed hope he will get his life together.
	Gonzalez will be able to seek transfer to California, where his father lives. The judge recommended that 43-year-old Gonzalez serve the remainder of his term there and get follow-up treatment for mental problems.
	Gonzalez apologized to the court and said he never meant to harm anyone.
	On the evening of September 19, 2014 Gonzalez clambered over the north fence of the White House compound while carrying a pocket knife.
	He ran 60 meters and ...

White House intruder gets 17-month jail term

At least 16 people, among them 13 children, were killed in Syrian government air strikes on a town in southern Daraa province today, a monitor said.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit a centre for study of the Koran in the town of Eastern Ghariyah.
	The Britain-based monitor accused Syria's government of a "massacre," saying a woman was also among those killed in the strikes.
	The group said the toll in the strikes, which hit on Tuesday afternoon, was expected to rise further because a number of those injured were in serious condition.
	Eastern Ghariyah lies near the eastern edge of Daraa province, not far from the 52nd Brigade base that a rebel alliance seized from the regime a week ago.
	The Southern Front alliance seized the base in a surprise attack, before pushing across the provincial border into Sweida and briefly overrunning the Al-Thalaa air base.
	Regime forces expelled the rebels from Al-Thalaa on Friday, but fighting has continued in the ...

13 children among 16 killed in Syria regime raid: monitor

Iran-backed Yemeni rebels today accused Saudi Arabia of trying to sabotage peace talks in Geneva and accused the exiled government of trying to impose its own agenda on the UN.
	The rebels arrived a day late in Geneva on Tuesday for the UN-backed talks after being stranded in Djibouti -- a fact they blamed on Riyadh.
	Rebel negotiating team member Mohammed Zubairi defiantly told reporters: "We refuse any dialogue with those who have no legitimacy," referring to the internationally recognised exiled government.
	He said they instead wanted talks with Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an aerial campaign against the Huthi rebels since March 26, "to stop the aggression".
	The United Nations is desperately trying to get the rebels, who control a large swath of terrain including the capital Sanaa, and the exiled government to agree to a badly-needed humanitarian truce.
	But any hope of a thaw appeared bleak with exiled president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi repeating Tuesday that his side was .

Yemen rebels snub government and demand talks with Saudis

A reporter with a top Moscow opposition paper, that has won numerous awards in the West, was detained today in separatist eastern Ukraine and is likely to be expelled to Russia, his colleagues said.
	Novaya Gazeta has been one of the only Russian media sources to investigate Western and Kiev accusations that the Kremlin has been both orchestrating and supporting the 14-month uprising in the industrial heartland of its ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine.
	The paper's editor and several reporters said journalist Pavel Kanygin was detained in a rebel-run part of the Ukrainian war zone and taken to a separatist-controlled village on the border with Russia.
	"It seems like he was detained by the (rebels') state security ministry," separatist military commander Eduard Basurin told AFP by telephone.
	A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said Moscow was aware of the reporter's detention and was seeking his immediate release.
	"All the necessary measures will be taken to defend Russian ...

Russian pro-opposition journalist held in rebel Ukraine

Nintendo played to "Super Mario" fans today while talking transformation as the Japanese video game giant strived to regain momentum.
	"If there is a secret to the longevity of Nintendo franchises, it is transformation," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said during a presentation streamed online before the show floor opened at an Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game extravaganza here.
	"We never let them stand still."
	While console rivals Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were stars of theatrical E3 media events in Los Angeles a day earlier, Nintendo opted to go digital for the second year.
	Xbox and PlayStation consoles from Microsoft and Sony, respectively, are known for immersive, action-packed games nearing film quality while Nintendo has built a devoted following for closely-protected franchises such as Mario and Legend of Zelda.
	But the one-time industry titan has long been criticized for its refusal to license some of its iconic brands for use on mobile ...

Nintendo sees transformation, but won't forget 'Mario'

Six Irish nationals died in the early hours today when an apartment balcony collapsed in the California university town of Berkeley, authorities said.
	At least seven people were injured, with some in critical condition, local media reported.
	The fourth-floor balcony collapse occurred during a birthday celebration at a building located two blocks from the University of California, Berkeley campus, local NBC affiliate KNTV reported.
	The cause of the incident was not immediately known and an investigation was under way.
	The Alameda County coroner's office confirmed that a total of six people had died.
	Most of those involved in the accident were apparently Irish students on the J1 work-study visa program, which allows them to teach, study, conduct research and work legally during their stay in the United States.
	"My heart breaks for the parents who have lost children," Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny told parliament.
	He said 13 people had been on the balcony at the time, citing ...

Six Irish killed in California balcony collapse

At least 18 people were killed and 98 injured today when a train hit a lorry and derailed at a level crossing in one of Tunisia's worst railway disasters, officials said.
	Most of the dead were passengers on the morning rush hour train which hit the lorry in the village of Tabika, around 60 kilometres south of Tunis, the transport ministry said.
	"We received the bodies of 17 people," said Riadh Khlifi, director of El Fahes hospital a few kilometres from the accident scene, "and another dead person was sent to Zaghouan hospital".
	He added that among the 98 hurt, three were in a critical condition and had been sent to the capital for treatment.
	The interior ministry said the train had been en route to Tunis from Gaafour, 120 kilometres to the southwest.
	The collision happened at around 6:30 am (0530 GMT).
	Transport Minister Mahmoud Ben Romdhane said the accident happened because there was no barrier at the crossing, but this was disputed by the Tunisian National Railway Co ...

18 dead, 98 hurt in Tunisia train collision with lorry

Pakistan pledged to crack down on religious seminaries suspected of fostering extremism following a Taliban school massacre in December that left more than 130 children dead, but the move faces stiff resistance from conservatives.
	Amid a wave of outrage after the attack at the school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, the government announced a "National Action Plan" to fight back against the militants.
	A six-year moratorium on the death penalty was lifted and the constitution was amended to allow military courts to try those accused of carrying out attacks "in the name of religion or a sect".
	The plan also included proposals to keep a closer watch on the country's 13,000 Islamic seminaries, or madrassas, 97 percent of which are privately run.
	With little oversight of what was being taught to the 1.8 children enrolled in them, fears grew after Peshawar that some were breeding grounds for intolerance -- or even extremism.
	Every evening the leafy streets of one of Islamabad's ...

Pakistan's struggle to rein in rogue seminaries

An Ankara court today handed down a 21-month suspended jail sentence to an editor of a leading English-language Turkish daily newspaper after convicting him of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	The Ankara penal court said that Today's Zaman editor-in-chief Bulent Kenes was guilty of insulting Erdogan in a tweet implying his late mother would have been ashamed of him had she lived to see what he was doing to Turkey.
	Erdogan's mother Tenzile died in 2011, with the Turkish strongman grieving publicly for his loss.
	The tweet was posted in July 2014 when Erdogan was serving his last months as premier just before he won presidential elections in August.
	The case came amid growing concern over the spiralling numbers of journalists, bloggers and ordinary people who are being taken to court on charges of insulting Erdogan and other top officials.
	In another case that has garnered huge attention, model and former Miss Turkey beauty queen Merve Buyuksarac went on trial in May on ...

Turkish editor gets 21 month suspended sentence for 'insulting

Israel announced today it was relaxing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians to and from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
	A spokeswoman for COGAT, the defence ministry unit which manages civilian affairs in the West Bank, said that for the first time, Palestinians will be able to travel by bus directly from West Bank cities to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem.
	Men aged over 40 and women of all ages from the West Bank will be able to pray at the Israeli-controlled holy site, and 800 people from the Gaza Strip will be allowed to attend Friday prayers.
	In addition, 200 Gaza residents will be allowed to visit relatives in the West Bank during Ramadan, which is to begin on Wednesday or Thursday, and 500 people from the West Bank will be authorised to enter Gaza, COGAT said.
	Israel would also allow 300 Palestinians living abroad to visit relatives in Gaza, and 500 West Bank Palestinians would be permitted to travel from ...

Israel eases restrictions on Palestinians for Ramadan

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani received a fresh challenge to his authority today when 60 lawmakers filed impeachment papers seeking to sack his education minister.
	The motion, which accuses Ali Asghar Fani of being incapable of performing his duties, faces a vote in the conservative-dominated parliament on June 24, the official IRNA news agency reported.
	As in past impeachment actions, the effort to dismiss Fani may lead Rouhani to parliament to argue in his minister's defence. A "yes" vote requires a simple majority of the chamber's 290 MPs.
	In early March, several hundred teachers demonstrated in Tehran and other cities to demand increased wages. Fani, a reformist, was approved by parliament in October 2013 after Rouhani's first choice for the post was rejected.
	If the impeachment motion is passed, Fani would be the second of Rouhani's ministers to be dismissed by MPs. Reza Faraji Dana, the minister for science, research and technology, was ousted last year.
	Rouhani, who is ...

Iran's Rouhani challenged by motion against minister

The end of June deadline for a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is not sacred and extra time may be necessary, a top Iranian negotiator said on today.
	Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have set June 30 as the date for a comprehensive accord regarding Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
	But Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister and key member of the Iranian team, signalled that the final talks may overrun, having already said progress on drafting the deal has been very slow.
	"The date... Was selected for the end of negotiations but we will not sacrifice a good agreement for the sake of the schedule," he was quoted as saying on state television's website.
	"If we need a few extra days it's not important because there are no sacred dates," he said of the talks with the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.
	With US officials also saying in the past week that the process of concluding the agreement is proving 

Iran nuclear deadline not a 'sacred date': negotiator

- A tribal court in southern Pakistan has convicted a 10-year-old boy of having an affair with a married woman in her late 30s and ordered him to pay a fine of USD 7,000, police said today.
	The incident occurred Monday in the remote village of Bakhrani in Sindh province, 510 kilometres (320 miles) north of Karachi.
	"The 10-year-old was caught having an extramarital affair with a lady from another tribe, which created bad blood between the two tribes," a local police official requesting anonymity told AFP.
	"The incident was later taken to a jirga (tribal court) which ordered the boy's family to pay a fine of Rs700,000 to the aggrieved side.
	"The boy's family paid Rs50,000 up front and undertook to pay off the remaining amount within three months," he added.
	The chief police officer of the district, Umar Tufail, confirmed the incident but said the tribal court's decision was illegal and was under investigation.
	"It has came to our knowledge that a jirga was held to solve a dispute 

Pak tribal court fines boy, for 'affair' with married Woman

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg warned today that Russian plans to deploy 40 new nuclear ballistic missiles announced by President Vladimir Putin were part of a dangerous pattern of behaviour by Moscow.
	"This nuclear sabre-rattling by Russia is unjustified, destabilising and it is dangerous," Stoltenberg said after a meeting with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.
	"I think the statement ... Is just confirming the pattern and behaviour of Russia over quite a period of time," he added.
	Putin said earlier Tuesday at the opening of an exhibition of military hardware outside Moscow that Russia would add the new intercontinental ballistic missiles which could "overcome any, even the most technologically advanced, missile defence systems.
	It came after Russia reacted with fury to reports that the United States is planning to pre-position heavy weapons in eastern Europe, with tensions between Russia and the West at their highest since the end of the Cold War over the conflict in ...

NATO head says Russia 'nuclear sabre-rattling' is 'dangerous'

Taliban militants and an Afghan government delegation both attended a conference on conflict resolution in Norway today, but peace talks between the two camps were not officially on the agenda.
	Both sides confirmed their participation in the Oslo Forum, which aims to gather peace negotiators from around the world in an environment where they can exchange ideas away from the glare of the media.
	Their shared attendance at the conference comes after the Taliban met earlier this month in Norway with an Afghan delegation, reportedly made up of women, signalling a nascent dialogue despite an escalating militant offensive.
	But the Taliban, who were toppled from power in a 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, dismissed any speculation that the Oslo Forum was being used to bring the two sides together for peace talks.
	"Some media outlets have asserted that the delegation of Islamic Emirate will hold face-to-face talks with officials of the Kabul administration in Oslo," Taliban spokesman ..

Taliban, Afghan government attend Norway conference

A Dutch startup has unveiled plans to build the world's first 3D-printed bridge across an Amsterdam canal, a technique that could become standard on future construction sites.
	Using robotic printers "that can 'draw' steel structures in 3D, we will print a (pedestrian) bridge over water in the centre of Amsterdam," engineering startup company MX3D said in a statement, hoping to kick off the project by September.
	The plan involves robotic arm printers 'walking' across the canal as it slides along the bridge's edges, essentially printing its own support structure out of thin air as it moves along.
	Specially-designed robotic arms heat the metal to a searing 1,500 degrees Celsius (around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit) to painstakingly weld the structure drop-by-drop, using a computer programme to plot the sophisticated design.
	"The underlying principle is very simple. We have connected an advanced welding machine to an industrial robot arm," said the bridge's designer Joris Laarman.
	"We ...

Robot to build 3D-print steel canal bridge in Amsterdam

Turkey today briefly detained four journalists covering the seizure by Kurdish forces of the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad, reportedly because they asked the local governor a tricky question on Islamic State (IS) militants.
	Hasan Akbas of the daily Evrensel, Cumhuriyet reporter Pinar Ogunc, Ozlem Topcu of German weekly Die Zeit and Deniz Yucel of German daily Die Welt were all detained, the reporters announced on Twitter.
	They were held briefly and then released after an identity check, they said.
	The journalists were working at Turkey's Akcakale border crossing, which saw a huge influx of refugees in the last days due to the fighting between Kurds and IS.
	Turkish media reports, including in Cumhuriyet, said they had been detained at an outdoor briefing for asking the local Sanliurfa governor Izzettin Kucuk a question which he disliked.
	Akbas and Yucel asked Kucuk if he had a statement on reports that the inhabitants of Akcakale had safety concerns over the alleged presence of .

AFP

AFP

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