Many people were killed today in twin suicide attacks targeting police in the capital of Chad, whose armed forces have been on the frontline of the fight against Boko Haram Islamists, police said.
	The government swiftly convened an emergency meeting following the attacks outside the police headquarters and academy in N'Djamena, an official said on condition of anonymity.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, which a police official said left many dead and a number of people wounded.
	It is believed to be the first attack of its kind in the capital of the north-central African nation, where security has been beefed up since Chad joined the fight against Boko Haram.
	Members of Chad's security forces were seen taking up positions on the streets of the capital after the attacks, which came as President Idriss Deby was in South Africa for an African Union summit.
	The former French colony is part of a four-nation coalition also including Nigeria, Cameroon and ...

'Many dead' in suicide attacks targeting police in Chad

PTI Automatic

With his campaign logo ready, Jeb Bush is set to make his big announcement today, formally adding his name to the crowded Republican field for the 2016 US presidential election.
	Bush, 62, has run a de facto race for six months, raising money and increasing his international profile, including a trip this week to Europe.
	Following his speech in Miami, he will set about proving that although he comes from the Bush political dynasty, he is his own man with his own accomplishments to point to and ideas to offer.
	Today, his campaign released his logo: "Jeb!" in big red letters on a white background, with 2016 in smaller blue lettering underneath the name.
	The family name is carefully avoided.
	"I think the transition to a candidacy will allow me to be more direct about my advocacy of the leadership skills necessary for the next president to fix a few things," Bush told CNN in an interview aired Sunday.
	"And as a candidate," he added, "I'll be more specific on policy."
	A Bush campaign 

Jeb Bush ready to declare he is running for president

A Vietnamese fishing crew said they were attacked by a Chinese vessel using water cannon in disputed waters near the flashpoint Paracel Islands, Vietnam's state media reported today.
	The wooden Vietnamese fishing boat from central Quang Ngai province was near the Paracels -- known as Hoang Sa in Vietnamese -- on June 7 when it was attacked by a red-and-white painted Chinese vessel, the Lao Dong newspaper said.
	"The crew signalled to the (Chinese) boat not to use water cannon as they feared their boat would sink, but they fired the water directly at them," the report said.
	One of the 13-man crew was knocked over and broke his leg during the altercation, the report said, quoting the crew.
	A number of Vietnamese state-run newspapers ran photos of the sailor with his leg in plaster.
	In a separate incident, on June 10, another Vietnamese fishing boat in the same area was surrounded by four Chinese boats and had their equipment and catch stolen, the Lao Dong newspaper said.
	The ...

Vietnam fishermen 'attacked by Chinese boats': state media

Greece has agreed to budget targets for 2015, conceding on a key red line in talks towards unlocking crucial bailout cash before the end of the month, a European Commission spokeswoman said today.
	"The Greek authorities agreed to these targets, the question is how credible the commitments are to achieve (them)," Annika Breidthardt, spokeswoman for the EU executive, said at a news briefing, a day after crunch talks between Greece and its creditors ended with no deal.

Greece agrees to EU, IMF budget targets: EU spokeswoman

Many people died today after two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside police headquarters and academy in the capital of Chad, whose forces have been on the frontline fighting Boko Haram Islamists, a police official said.
	The twin attacks also left a number of people wounded, the source said on condition of anonymity.
	Security in N'Djamena has been beefed up for months, after Chad sent its troops to fight the jihadists who have been waging an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria for six years.

Many dead in twin Chad suicide attacks: police

Hong Kong police said today they had arrested nine members of a "local syndicate" involved in making explosives and said at least one claimed to be a member of a radical group.
	Police would not name the group or specify motives but said that maps of central districts of Hong Kong had been found and warned anyone taking part in public gatherings to stay away from "violent protesters".
	It comes as a series of rallies are planned ahead of a vote this week on a controversial political reform package which has divided the city and led to mass protests at the end of last year.
	"The operation... Resulted in the arrest of nine Hong Kong citizens for the offence of conspiracy to manufacture explosives," Au Chin-chau, superintendent of the organised crime and triad bureau, told reporters.
	"During police inquiries someone claimed to be a member of a local radical organisation," said Au.
	Au would not clarify how many of the group belonged to the organisation, but said "not all".
	He ...

Nine arrested over explosives in Hong Kong

Saudi Arabia today beheaded a Syrian drug trafficker and a national convicted of murder, taking to 100 the number of executions in the kingdom this year.
	The number of executions has surged in 2015 compared with the 87 recorded by AFP for all of last year. But it is still far below the record 192 which rights group Amnesty International said took place in 1995.
	Syrian Ismael al-Tawm smuggled "a large amount of banned amphetamine pills into the kingdom", said an interior ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
	He was beheaded in the northern region of Jawf.
	A separate statement said that Rami al-Khaldi was convicted of stabbing another Saudi to death and was executed in the western province of Taef.
	Drug and murder convictions account for the bulk of executions in Saudi Arabia.
	According to London-based Amnesty, use of the death penalty for other than the "most serious crimes" -- premeditated killings -- violates international law.
	Saudi judicial ...

Saudi Arabia beheads 100th person this year

A young North Korean soldier walked into South Korea today in a rare defection through one of the world's most fortified frontiers, saying he deserted his camp because of habitual beating, military officials said.
	The 19-year-old soldier surrendered himself to South Korean border guards around 8:00 am local time after crossing the frontier in Hwacheon, northeast of Seoul, the South's defence ministry said.
	"We've confirmed his will to defect after he reached our guard post," a ministry spokesman told AFP.
	The North Korean soldier told investigators that he had decided to defect "because of habitual beating at his camp while harbouring complaints about the reality of his homeland", the spokesman added.
	The defection sparked a tense stand-off between North and South Korean border guards across the four-kilometre- (2.5-mile-) wide and 248-kilometre-long demilitarised zone (DMZ), but there was no conflict, the Yonhap news agency reported.
	The man identified himself as a private, the .

N Korea soldier defects across land border

Legislation that would allow Japan's military to fight in defence of allies is unconstitutional, legal experts said today, as opposition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pet project grows.
	Two of Japan's foremost constitutional experts told journalists that the bills, which are currently being debated in parliament, must be withdrawn because they risked undermining the country's avowed pacifism.
	"The government should retract the bills, because the core element of the bills -- allowing the use of collective self-defence -- is manifestly unconstitutional," Yasuo Hasebe, professor of constitutional law at Waseda University, told reporters.
	"It is quite likely that the bills could bring about the entanglement of (Japan's armed forces) in unconstitutional foreign military activities."
	Abe, a robust nationalist, has pushed for what he calls a normalisation of Japan's military posture. He has sought to loosen restrictions that have bound the so-called Self-Defense Forces to a narrowly ...

Japan's security bills threaten constitution: legal experts

A team of Iran-backed Yemeni rebels had not yet arrived in Geneva for peace talks, due to start today, because their plane was delayed, UN and diplomatic sources said.
	The delegation comprising members of the Ansarullah and their allies, loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, left Sanaa yesterday afternoon but were forced to have a long halt in Djibouti, the sources said.
	Talks between the Huthi rebels and the government of exiled President President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi were supposed to start in Geneva early today in the presence of UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
	Their positions are so far apart that analysts feel any breakthrough is highly unlikely and the delegations will not even begin talks in the same room.
	The UN's peace envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said that today would see the start of "preliminary inclusive consultations" on the war that has claimed more than 2,500 lives and sparked a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis.
	Yemen has been wracked by conflict ...

Yemen rebels yet to arrive in Geneva for UN talks: sources

A British jihadist fighting for Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Shebab, is believed to have been killed in a thwarted attack on a Kenyan army base, a Kenyan defence spokesman said.
	"All the available data, including photographs, points to it being Thomas Evans. There is an investigation going on with forensics and DNA to confirm his identity," Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Colonel David Obonyo told AFP today.
	Evans, in his mid-20s and also known as Abdul Hakim, is a Muslim convert whose family lives in Buckinghamshire in southern England. He reportedly travelled to Somalia in 2011 to join Shebab.
	A group of militants yesterday attacked a Kenyan army base in Baure, close to the border with Somalia. Two Kenyan soldiers were killed and 11 Shebab fighters, including two "Caucasians", according to Obonbyo.
	If confirmed, Evans' death will be the first reported case of a British Islamist militant being killed on Kenyan soil.
	The British embassy in Nairobi said it was "seeking to ...

British jihadist Thomas Evans believed killed in Kenya

North Korea said today that it is ready to restart talks with the South if Seoul scraps joint military exercises with the United States.
	The offer came on the 15th anniversary of a landmark summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-Il which saw a joint declaration issued on reconciliation and cooperation.
	"There is no reason to avoid dialogue and negotiations if an atmosphere for trust and reconciliation is created," the North said in a government statement carried by its official Korean Central News Agency.
	The South should take "bold" steps to remove obstacles hampering dialogue by scrapping joint military drills with the United States and should stop slandering Pyongyang's leadership, the statement said.
	North Korea sees annual joint US-South Korean military exercises, most recently carried out in March and April, as a rehearsal for invasion. It has previously stipulated an end to the drills are a condition for ...

N Korea makes conditional offer for dialogue with South

The response by Kenyan security forces to a wave of massacres a year ago in Kenya's coastal region has been marked by beatings, arbitrary detentions and theft, human rights groups said today.
	A report by Human Rights Watch and the Kenya Human Rights Commission said the abuse suffered by the local communities in the wake of the attacks underscores an urgent need for far-reaching security reforms, including increasing their resources and weeding out abusive officers.
	Groups of Islamist militants carried out a string of raids in June and July 2014 near Lamu island, a once-popular tourist destination situated close to the border with war-torn Somalia. Close to 90 people died in the violence, according to officials.
	The Somali-led and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks, which they said were in retaliation for Kenya's mistreatment of its coastal Muslims, including the alleged extra-judicial killings of several hardline clerics in Mombasa.
	On Sunday .

Kenya police accused of abuses against Muslims after massacre

Three Tunisian police and a suspected jihadist were killed today in clashes in the centre of the country, the interior ministry said.
	"The national guard attempted to ambush at dawn two terrorists on a motorcycle in Sidi Ali Ben Aoun after obtaining information that (they) were about to launch an operation," ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP.
	He said two officers were killed in the ensuing shoot-out, and that the militants fled before killing a third policeman who was making his way to work at the time.
	They were pursued by an elite unit of the national guard, Aroui said.
	"One of the terrorists was exterminated, the second was wounded and arrested. He is in a serious condition," he added.
	Tunisia has seen a surge in radical Islam since veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the 2011 revolution.
	Dozens of security forces have been killed since then in jihadist attacks.

Three Tunisia police, jihadist killed in clashes: ministry

Hong Kong police said today they had made arrests after discovering "suspected" explosives, with media reports linking the find to this week's vote on a controversial political reform package.
	"The Organised Crime and Triad Bureau has conducted an operation and discovered a certain amount of suspected explosives in (eastern) Sai Kung," a spokesman told AFP.
	A police source told AFP that "there were arrests" related to the explosives, but would give no further detail.
	Media reports said that nine people had been arrested in the operation in the east-coast district of Sai Kung, and that the explosives had been found at an abandoned television studio.
	The South China Morning Post and the Oriental Daily said that those arrested were  activists from pro-democracy "localist" groups which have emerged in the wake of a battle over the government's electoral roadmap.
	The Post said police suspect the explosives "were intended to be detonated before the Legislative Council debates the ...

Arrests after 'suspected' explosives found in Hong Kong

Reigning European champions Spain closed in on a place at Euro 2016 by grinding out a 1-0 qualifying win over Belarus as Wayne Rooney's late goal gave England victory in Slovenia.
     Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck a brace as Sweden beat Montenegro yesterday but Russia were the day's big losers, a defeat to Austria coming as a blow to their prospects of reaching the finals in France in a year's time.
     England are on a fast track to Euro 2016 having won six games out of six in qualifying Group E, although they needed an 86th-minute winner from Rooney to secure victory in Ljubljana.
     Milivoje Novakovic gave Slovenia the lead in the 37th minute at the Stozice Stadium before Jack Wilshere broke his international duck with a pair of brilliant, almost identical second-half goals to put England ahead.
     Slovenia substitute Nejc Pecnik appeared to have rescued a point with an 84th-minute equaliser, but moments later Rooney atoned for two glaring earlier misses by scoring his 48th ...

Spain grind out win, Rooney the late hero for England

South Korea reported today two more deaths and five new cases in the growing outbreak of MERS which has placed more than 5,200 people under quarantine and sparked widespread alarm.
	The latest deaths of two men -- aged 58 and 61 -- put the total number of fatalities from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at 16 since the outbreak began less a month ago.
	One victim had diabetes while the other had no underlying illness, the health ministry said in a statement.
	The total number of cases -- including the 16 deaths -- rose to 150, it said, adding 17 patients were in unstable condition.
	The five new patients -- aged from 39 to 84 -- were infected in hospitals in cities including Seoul and Daejeon, 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of the capital.
	Among them was a doctor who had performed CPR on an infected patient in Daejeon and one infected in Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul -- the epicentre of the outbreak where more than 70 patients, visitors and medical staff contracted the virus.
	The 

S Korea reports two more MERS deaths, five new cases

Wayne Rooney moved to within one goal of England's all-time scoring record with an 86th-minute winner as his side edged Slovenia 3-2 in a topsy-turvy Euro 2016 qualifier on Sunday.
     Milivoje Novakovic gave Slovenia the lead against the run of play in the 37th minute at the Stozice Stadium, before Jack Wilshere broke his international duck with a pair of brilliant, almost identical second-half goals to put England ahead.
     Slovenia substitute Nejc Pecnik appeared to have rescued a point with an 84th-minute equaliser, but moments later Rooney atoned for two glaring earlier misses by scoring his 48th England goal, taking him level with Gary Lineker and leaving him one goal behind Bobby Charlton.
     "It's great to score the winner, but it was a great team performance," Rooney told ITV.
     "We came out on the front foot for the second half and Jack Wilshere scored two great goals."
     Rooney's strike gave England a sixth win in six qualifying games, keeping them six points ...

Rooney sees off Slovenia to close on record

Brazil captain Neymar scored once and set up an injury-time winner as the five-time world champions scraped a 2-1 win over Peru on Sunday after Colombia suffered a shock defeat to Venezuela.
     Neymar headed in a fifth-minute equaliser before creating a goal for team-mate Douglas Costa deep into stoppage time to seal Brazil's 11th consecutive victory since last year's World Cup.
     "This is a very tough competition," Neymar said afterwards as he collected a man-of-the-match award. "We got the win and that's important."
     Neymar has now reached 44 international goals at the age of 23, a year earlier than Brazilian legend Pele.
     "I want to keep on reaching records, with goals, assists and everything that can help the team to win," Neymar said.
     The Brazilian star was at the centre of the action throughout the game, even getting a bizarre yellow card for pushing aside the foam the referee had sprayed on the pitch to show where a free kick should be taken.
     Brazil coach 

Neymar saves Brazil, Colombia upset at Copa

Complete scoreboard in the third one-day international between England and New Zealand at Southampton on Sunday:
     England
     J. Roy b Southee                      9
     A. Hales c Southee b Wheeler         23
     J. Root b Santner                    54
     E. Morgan b Williamson               71
     B. Stokes b Wheeler                  68
     J. Buttler c Ronchi b Southee        13
     S. Billings c McClenaghan b Wheeler  34
     A. Rashid c Guptill b Henry           0
     D. Willey c McCullum b Henry          8
     M. Wood not out                       3
     S. Finn b Southee                     0
     Extras (lb5, w14)                    19
     Total (all out, 45.2 overs)         302
     Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-34, 3-139, 4-194, 5-227, 6-288, 7-290, 8-298, 9-300, 10-302
     Bowling: Southee 8.2-1-44-3; Wheeler 10-0-63-; Henry 10-0-64-2; McClenaghan 8-0-67-0; Santner 5-0-30-1; Elliott 2-0-17-0; Williamson 2-0-12-1
     New Zealand
     M. Guptill lbw b Willey       

England v New Zealand 3rd ODI scoreboard

New Zealand's Kane Williamson was happy to prove elegance and timing still had a place when batting in one-day international cricket with a brilliant century in a three-wicket win over England on Sunday.
     Victory at the Rose Bowl saw World Cup finalists New Zealand go 2-1 up in the five-match series.
     The Black Caps, chasing 303 for victory, were wobbling at 36 for two.
     But a New Zealand record third-wicket stand of 206 between Williamson (118) and Ross Taylor (110), ultimately proved decisive.
     There have long been anguished debates about whether advances in bat technology and modern-day power-hitting are making ODI cricket too much of a batsmen's game.
     But the 24-year-old Williamson proved the traditional virtues of touch and timing remain effective in white-ball cricket.
     Indeed his final scoring shot, in a sublime 113-ball innings which included 12 fours, was a seemingly effortless straight six off David Willey.
     "I don't think aggressive has to mean .

AFP

AFP

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