More than 400 people including Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were detained in Moscow on Wednesday, a monitor said, as authorities sought to break up a rally urging police reform after the framing of a journalist on drugs charges.
Many Russians had hoped to harness the widespread outrage over last week's arrest of respected reporter Ivan Golunov on trumped-up drugs charges to press for genuine reform of Russia's tainted law enforcement and justice systems.
But a much smaller crowd of protesters had turned up in central Moscow on Russia Day, a public holiday, amid fierce divisions among liberals.
Police in riot gear moved in against the unsanctioned march at which some protesters chanted slogans against President Vladimir Putin.
Police manhandled some protesters and beat others with truncheons amid shouts of "you are criminals" and "stop police terror."
As police dragged protesters into vans the crowd yelled: "Shame, on Russia Day, this is our country's day! Have you ...

More than 400 arrested at Moscow police abuse march: monitor

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The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is under investigation by the country's anti-corruption watchdog over a 500,000 rand (USD 35,000) donation to his campaign fund from a company facing extensive graft allegations, the presidency said Wednesday.
Ramaphosa, who was re-elected last month, has staked his reputation on fighting corruption in a nation smarting from the graft scandal-tainted tenure of his predecessor Jacob Zuma.
But his party has continued to face wideranging corruption claims against senior figures and even the president himself.
The inquiry against him centres on opposition complaints over a payment from Bosasa, a company that corruptly won huge government tenders under Zuma's tenure.
According to the South African presidency, the country's ombudswoman Busisiwe Mkhwebane has issued Ramaphosa with a notice to respond to allegations that he violated the executive ethics code.
"It is served on an individual when they are implicated in an adverse or detrimental manner 

South African president under investigation over graft allegations

A five-year-old boy who tested positive for Ebola in Uganda has died, a health ministry official said Wednesday as two of his family members also tested positive for the virus after a visit to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The World Health Organisation confirmed on Twitter that Uganda has now recorded three cases of Ebola, in the first spread across the country's porous western border with the DRC where more than 2,000 cases of the highly contagious virus have been registered.
Uganda's health ministry said on Tuesday that a woman of Congolese origin, who is married to a Ugandan, had gone with her child and four other family members to take care of her father in the DRC, who later died of Ebola.
"The boy who tested positive for Ebola in Kasese yesterday passed on last night in the isolation unit," a health ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The minister for health (Ruth Aceng) will be briefing the country about the death of the boy and arrangements to ..

Boy dies of Ebola in Uganda as virus spreads from DRCongo

China has announced regulations to curb the smuggling of human organs and tighten oversight on the use of human genetic materials in research months after a Chinese scientist caused a global outcry by claiming that he gene-edited babies.
The announcement comes as He Jiankui's controversial experiment continues to transfix the scientific community, with researchers saying the procedure may significantly affect life expectancy.
The high-profile scientist announced in November that the world's first gene-edited babies -- twin girls -- were born that month after he altered their DNA to prevent them from contracting HIV by deleting a certain gene.
The regulations published Monday said international organisations that collect, store or use human genetic resources to carry out scientific research without proper permissions will be fined up to five million yuan (US$722,600).
The penalty was double for foreign organisations conducting research using China's genetic resources.
Chinese and ...

China tightens rules on genetic research after designer-baby scandal

A former youth football coach at English Premier League side Southampton was jailed for 24 years on Wednesday for sexually abusing young players during a 25-year period.
Bob Higgins, 66, who ran youth training programmes at Southampton as well as lower-level club Peterborough, was last month convicted of dozens of indecent assault counts on 24 teenage boys between 1971 and 1996.
The trial heard Higgins was a "kingmaker" who abused his position of power over the future careers of the young players to take advantage of them for his own sexual needs.
Handing down the lengthy sentence at Winchester Crown Court in southern England, judge Peter Crabtree said he was "predatory, cunning and manipulative".
He added Higgins used sexualised behaviour to "normalise" the abuse he carried out.
"A number of the boys idolised you and were prepared, and did, anything to further their dreams of becoming a professional footballer," Crabtree said.
"The only person who should feel shame and guilt is you", 

Former youth football coach jailed for 24 years for sex abuse

Tyson Fury believes former world champion Anthony Joshua is "finished" after the British heavyweight's shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr in New York.
Joshua lost his IBF, WBA and WBO titles on June 1 in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the division.
After the fight, Fury sent a message on Twitter that urged his fellow Briton to "rest up, recover, regroup and come again".
But this week he told BBC Sport: "When a man doesn't want to be there once, he will always do it and it's hard to come back from.
"It's been done many different times by many different fighters. He did it that night and I don't think he will come back from it. Finished. Ask any top trainer who has been around the sport a lifetime. When he got to the ring I saw he didn't want to be there."
Joshua, 29, whose defeat against Ruiz was the first of his career, had previously made Fury an offer to fight.
"Everybody thought that man could beat me," said Fury. "In what world could he ever beat me? What were people ...

Anthony Joshua is 'finished' says Tyson Fury

Hong Kong was rocked Wednesday by the worst political unrest since its handover to China as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who tried to storm parliament and blocked roads in the financial hub.
The violent protests were the latest expression of widespread public anger over the government's controversial Beijing-backed plan to allow extraditions to China.
Clashes broke out hours after tens of thousands of people seized key arteries in the morning rush hour and surrounded the city's parliament, forcing lawmakers to postpone a debate on the proposed law.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who is championing the law's passage, described the protests as "organised riots" and called for calm to be restored.
"The rioting actions that damage peaceful society, ignoring law and discipline is unacceptable for any civilised societies," she said in a video statement.
Police earlier used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons to battle crowds of black-clad ...

China extradition clashes plunge Hong Kong into historic violence

Hong Kong's leader hit out at protesters who battled police Wednesday calling the clashes "organised riots" in her first comments since violence broke out over her government's unpopular plan to allow extraditions to China.
"The rioting actions that damage peaceful society, ignoring law and discipline is unacceptable for any civilised societies," chief executive Carrie Lam said in a video statement, her first comments since the clashes erupted.
"Its obvious that these are not peaceful rallies, but openly organised riots," she added.

Hong Kong leader calls extradition law protests an 'organised riot'

Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have been allowed limited satellite television after more than eight years of house arrest for leading mass protests, reports said Wednesday.
Mousavi, 77, and Karroubi, 81, were reformist candidates in the controversial election of 2009, which was won by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
They claimed the vote was rigged, triggering months of mass protests, particularly in Tehran. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the biggest challenge to the system since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
"Security forces ... have said we can install satellite (dishes) for the detainees," Iran's ILNA news agency quoted Mehdi Karroubi's son, Mohammad Hossein as saying.
"But they have left very few channels open. These are limited to only some Persian-language news channels," he added.
Mousavi's daughter, Narges, told reformist news agency Jamaran on Monday that his parents had been granted the same access.
The pair were placed under 

Detained opposition leaders allowed vetted TV: Iran media

An attack by Boko Haram jihadists in northern Cameroon last weekend left 37 dead, a security official in the region said Wednesday, revising the toll upward.
"As of today, we have 21 military and 16 civilian fatalities," the source said.  An earlier toll said at least 26 people -- 17 soldiers and nine civilians -- had died, in one of the deadliest attacks in Cameroon by the Nigerian-based group.
The jihadists, armed with rocket launchers, attacked military positions on Darak, an island near Lake Chad in Cameroon's Far North region.
Fierce fighting broke out with the soldiers, which included the Cameroonian army and troops from the Multinational Joint Task Force, a five-nation anti-jihadist mission.
The assailants succeeded in raising their black flag before being repelled.
Around 40 assailants were captured, another security source said.
"More bodies have been recovered from the water," a source said.
Most of the military fatalities were sailors who had been sent to the Lake Chad ...

Toll from Boko Haram attack in Cameroon rises to 37

The potent insecticide DDT still lingers in Canadian lakes nearly 50 years after it was banned, according to a study published Wednesday that highlighted its harmful impact on micro-organisms at the bottom of the local food web.
From 1952 to 1968, planes sprayed more than 6,280 tons of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT on forests in the Atlantic coast province of New Brunswick to control pest outbreaks in commercial forests, according to Environment Canada.
It was arguably one of the largest aerial spray programs in North America.
Public awareness of DDT's harmful effects on wildlife and the environment eventually led to curtailed use of the insecticide until it was banned in 1972.
But researchers led by Joshua Kurek at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick recently found traces in lake sediments that "still exceeded levels considered safe for aquatic organisms," they said in a statement.
They also identified a potential risk of the DDT spreading across the local food web, ...

DDT lingers in Canada lakes 50 years after chemical banned: study

Boris Johnson said Wednesday he would only take Britain out of the EU without a deal as a "last resort", officially launching his campaign to be prime minister with a promise to unify a country still deeply divided over Brexit.
The former foreign minister is the favourite among 10 candidates vying to succeed Theresa May, who is stepping down after twice delaying Britain's departure from the European Union.
At a launch event packed with senior members of the ruling Conservative party, he insisted Brexit must happen on October 31, the latest deadline agreed with Brussels, but failed to provide detail on how this could happen.
He said Britain must prepare to leave with no new arrangements but softened his previous rhetoric, suggesting that this was "a last resort, not something that anybody desires".
He also avoided a question about his drug use when a student and dismissed criticism about past comments that have provoked offence among women, ethnic minorities and gay people, saying ...

Johnson plays down no-deal Brexit as he launches bid to become PM

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been ordered to stand trial for tweeting pictures of Islamic State atrocities, a judicial source told AFP on Wednesday.
Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after IS jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris.
A judge in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre ordered that the National Rally leader stand trial on charges of circulating "violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity" and that can be viewed by a minor.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros (USD85,000).
Last year, an investigative magistrate called for Le Pen to undergo psychiatric tests in connection with the IS tweets.
The 50-year-old trained lawyer, whose party topped France's vote in the recent European elections, has denounced the case as a violation of her freedom of expression.
She tweeted the images after a French journalist drew a comparison between ...

France's Le Pen to go on trial for tweeting gruesome IS images

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for a rare diplomatic mission, hoping to defuse tensions between the Islamic republic and Tokyo's ally Washington.
State television broadcast footage of Abe being greeted at Tehran's Mehrabad airport by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The first Japanese prime minister to visit Iran in 41 years, Abe was expected to go straight into talks with President Hassan Rouhani and to meet Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday morning.
His arrival was preceded by that of Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who held closed-door talks with Zarif.
Addressing a cabinet meeting ahead of the visit, Rouhani said Iran's leaders and people were united in their view that "the main culprit is America. Not a single individual doubts it." "The (US) pressure has reached its full strength," he told the cabinet.
Tehran is locked in a bitter standoff with Washington after President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 ...

Japan PM on Tehran mission to ease Iran-US tensions

More than 200 people including opposition leader Alexei Navalny were detained Wednesday as police sought to break up a peaceful Moscow rally against the alleged impunity of law enforcement agencies.
Russian police in riot gear moved in against the unsanctioned march of more 1,000 people amid screams of protesters shouting "you are criminals" and "stop police terror."
Moscow police said around 1,200 took part in the march and more than 200 people were arrested.
AFP correspondents witnessed dozens of arrests which took place on Russia Day, a public holiday.
As police dragged protesters into vans the crowd yelled: "Shame, on Russia Day, this is our country's day! Have you forgotten the constitution?"
Some of the arrested wore T-shirts in support of Ivan Golunov, an investigative journalist who was last week arrested on trumped-up drugs charges.
One detained activist brandished a placard saying, "I am Ivan Golunov" in the window of a police van.
At least four journalists were detained ...

More than 200 arrested at Moscow police abuse march

Scores of Kenyans on Wednesday protested a project to build a coal power station near the Lamu archipelago, a popular tourist spot that includes a UNESCO World Heritage site and vibrant marine life.
The power station, which has been in the planning stages for about six years, has faced fierce resistance from activists and local communities, and the National Environmental Tribunal is to rule on June 24 on the fate of the project.
A group of about 200 protesters carrying black coffins emblazoned with white skulls, as well as a miniature chimney spewing smoke, marched through downtown Nairobi on Wednesday chanting "coal is poisonous!"
"There is no need to build centralised dirty sources of energy such as coal to answer Kenya's energy demands, especially when the country is taking the lead in Africa with an 85-percent renewable energy base," said deCOALonize Campaign Coordinator, Omar Elmawi.
"With access to wind, solar, geo-thermal and tidal energy sources, Kenya's renewable energy ...

Kenyans protest bid to build East Africa's first coal plant

The Philippines on Wednesday condemned the "cowardly action" of a suspected Chinese fishing vessel accused of abandoning a Filipino fishing crew after a collision in the disputed South China Sea.
The boat on Sunday hit a Filipino craft anchored near Reed Bank -- claimed by both Manila and Beijing -- causing it to sink and leaving 22 crewmen "to the mercy of the elements", said defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Although Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has largely set aside the bitter dispute with Beijing over the resource-rich waterway, Manila does sometimes protest against Chinese action.
"We condemn in the strongest terms the cowardly action of the suspected Chinese fishing vessel and its crew for abandoning the Filipino crew," Lorenzana said in a statement.
"This is not the expected action from a responsible and friendly people." Lorenzana called for an investigation into the collision, and for "diplomatic steps" to prevent a repeat of the incident.
However, Philippine ...

Philippines blasts 'cowardly Chinese boat' over sinking

The European Commission warned on Wednesday that Britain will have to pay its outstanding share of the existing EU budget even if it leaves the union without a withdrawal agreement.
In a statement on preparations for Britain's departure, Brussels said it would not enter talks on future trade until London honours "the financial obligations the UK has made as a member state".
Under the Brexit withdrawal agreement agreed last year between outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May and her fellow EU leaders, Britain would owe the union approximately 39 billion pounds (around 44 billion euros).
This sum would cover budget commitments up through a transition period at the end of next year, but the British parliament has refused to ratify the treaty and Brexit has been delayed until October 31.
May is due to step down and some of the challengers to replace her, including frontrunner former foreign minister Boris Johnson, have said they are ready to leave Europe without an agreement on that .

EU warns UK must pay bill even in 'no deal' Brexit

Shops began to reopen in Sudan's capital on Wednesday after demonstrators called off a nationwide civil disobedience campaign and agreed to new talks, though many residents remained indoors following last week's deadly crackdown.
The breakthrough in the standoff between the military rulers who toppled veteran leader Omar al-Bashir and protesters demanding civilian rule followed mediation led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The United Nations Security Council called on the generals and protest leaders to resolve the crisis triggered by the June 3 crackdown on a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum that killed dozens.
Global diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff were expected to get a boost from a visit by a top US official who was due to meet with the two sides.
The slow return to normality came after an Ethiopian envoy of Abiy announced that the protest leaders and the ruling military council had agreed to resume talks and that a three-day civil ...

Shops reopen as Sudan generals, protesters agree to talk

More than 50 people including opposition leader Alexei Navalny were detained Wednesday as police sought to break up a peaceful Moscow rally against the alleged impunity of law enforcement agencies.
Russian police moved in against the unsanctioned march amid cries of "shame" and "stop police terror." At least 57 people were detained amid a heavy police presence, the OVD Info monitor said.
Some of the protesters wore T-shirts in support of Ivan Golunov, an investigative journalist who was last week arrested on allegedly trumped-up drugs charges.
One activist brandished a placard "I am Ivan Golunov" in the window of a police van.
Golunov's arrest sparked outrage and triggered unprecedented solidarity among Russians, with three top newspapers publishing the same front page  "I am/we are Ivan Golunov" in giant letters on Monday.
The rally was initially called to press for the freedom of Golunov who was suddenly released, with the charges against him dropped, on the eve of the march ...

Navalny among dozens detained during Moscow march

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday delivered a condolence message for former South Korean first lady Lee He-ho, the first high-level contact between the two countries in months.
Kim Yo Jong, who holds a powerful position in the reclusive state, delivered the message, and flowers, on her brother's behalf at a meeting with South Korean officials at Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone.
The meeting lasted about 15 minutes, said Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's top national security advisor.
"Kim commented we should continue co-operation in honour of Lee's efforts for inter-Korean harmony," he said, according to broadcaster YTN.
Lee, a lifelong companion of late president Kim Dae-jung, died on Monday aged 96.
Kim was known for his "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea, and Pyongyang also sent a delegation to Seoul to pay respects when he died in 2010.
Wednesday's meeting was the first by senior officials since the breakdown of a second summit between North ..

AFP

AFP

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