More than 80 per cent of a dengue fever-spreading mosquito has been wiped out in an Australian town during a landmark trial scientists said today offered hope for combating the dangerous pest globally.
Researchers from Australia's national science body CSIRO bred millions of non-biting male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in laboratory conditions at James Cook University (JCU) in a project funded by Google parent company Alphabet.
The insects were infected with the Wolbachia bacteria, which renders them sterile.
They were then released into the wild at trial sites around the Queensland town of Innisfail where over three months they mated with females who laid eggs that did not hatch, causing the population to plummet.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito is one of the world's most dangerous pests, capable of spreading devastating diseases like dengue, Zika and chikungunya.
It is responsible for infecting millions of people around the world each year and JCU's Kyran Staunton said the successful trial ..

Sterilised mosquito trial slashes dengue-spreading population

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"We keep hearing the same question and we give out the same answer", said Croatia's Ivan Perisic last week.
Every time a Croatian player appears before the media at this World Cup, he knows a question about Modric is coming, and every time the answer reflects the admiration there is in the squad for their captain.
The 32-year-old has been outstanding in his team's run to a semi-final against England in Moscow on Wednesday, picking up the man-of-the-match award in three of Croatia's five matches.
Modric has scored twice in Russia, including a fabulous goal in the 3-0 win over Argentina in the group stage, and twice netted in nail-biting penalty shootouts against Denmark and Russia.
The coolness displayed by the Real Madrid playmaker in the last-16 tie against the Danes was particularly impressive -- having missed a penalty late in extra time, he still stepped up to score another spot-kick only a few minutes later.
After once again starring as Real won a fourth Champions League crown in 

Jaded Croatia look to master Modric to carry them through against England

The first eight boys rescued from a Thai cave are in good mental and physical health and are asking for chocolate, officials said today, although two were on antibiotics after being tested for pneumonia.
"Everyone is in a good mental state," Jesada Chokedamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public health ministry, told reporters at Chiang Rai hospital.
"None of the eight boys has fever today," he added in the clearest update yet on the condition of the boys rescued from Tham Luang cave.
The boys, aged 12-16, were the first to be extracted on Sunday and Monday, while the final four and their coach spent a 17th night inside.
Experts had warned of possible long-lasting damage from the ordeal, either through psychological trauma or infections caught in the cave.
Jesada said the group had been given x-rays and blood tests, adding that two presented suspected symptoms of pneumonia but were given antibiotics and were "in a normal state".
He said the group can eat, move about, and ...

Eight boys rescued from Thai cave in good mental, physical state: officials

As excitement builds in England in the run-up to the country's first World Cup semi-final for 28 years, midfielder Dele Alli insists Gareth Southgate's team are keeping a cool head in their tournament "bubble".
England's matches so far in Russia have attracted huge television audiences at home and wild celebrations, with affable coach Gareth Southgate and his vibrant young squad capturing the hearts of a nation.
In sharp contrast to the feverish atmosphere, Alli and his teammates are in relaxed mood in the sleepy seaside resort of Repino, 45 kilometres (28 miles) northwest of Saint Petersburg.
"You are in your own little bubble when here -- training camp, coming back, getting ready for the next game. It is not until you look at social media and the internet that you realise how big it is," Alli said on Monday.
"Obviously we know we are playing in the World Cup, in the semi-final. We are so focused on the games that you forget what we have done so far.
"It is important that we stay ...

England thrive in World Cup 'bubble' ahead of Croatia semi-final

Kevin Anderson, the big South African who winds down from tennis by reaching for his guitar, admits he needs to be right on key from the start of his Wimbledon quarter-final against eight-time champion Roger Federer.
The odds are stacked against Anderson who will be playing in his first last-eight match at the All England Club while Federer is in his 16th.
He has also lost all four meetings against the 20-time major winner, failing to win a set off the great Swiss star.
When asked what he admired about defending champion Federer, the 32-year-old Anderson was happy to reel off an exhaustive check-list.
"His consistency, the way he plays such great tennis week in and week out," said Anderson.
"Just the way he moves, the way he conducts himself on the court is very impressive. Everything looks so easy, so fluid.
"The variety he brings to the court. The use of the slice backhand. The use of his attacking forehand. His defence. He's really got the complete package."
Anderson added that ...

Guitar man Anderson wants rhythm not blues against Federer

Serena Williams has warned her Wimbledon rivals she is nowhere near her best despite powering into the quarter-finals without dropping a set.
Williams is chasing an eighth Wimbledon crown and the American star showed why she is the title favourite with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Evgeniya Rodina in the fourth round yesterday.
In her 13th Wimbledon quarter-final, Serena faces Italian world number 52 Camila Giorgi on Tuesday.
The path to the title appears wide open for the 36-year-old after every female top seed crashed out before the last eight for the first time in Wimbledon history.
Garbine Muguruza, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Sloane Stephens have all been eliminated.
The carnage at the top leaves 11th seed Angelique Kerber -- beaten by Serena in the 2016 Wimbledon final -- as the highest ranked player left.
Williams isn't complaining about the high number of shock results, but she couldn't resist at jab at the Wimbledon ...

'I'm just getting started': Serena warns Wimbledon rivals

England and Manchester United top career goalscorer Wayne Rooney praised his homeland's "fantastic" World Cup effort, cheering the buzz and belief their semi-final run in Russia has inspired.
Rooney appeared at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new USD 200 million home stadium of DC United, where the 32-year-old striker makes his Major League Soccer debut Saturday against Vancouver.
"They are doing fantastic. Hopefully we can get the win," Rooney said. "It's great. You see the atmosphere back home. There are billions watching it. Hopefully we can get through and go on to the final."
Manager Gareth Southgate's England squad will face Croatia in a semi-final for a berth in Sunday's championship match against either France or Belgium.
"For the players and Gareth, I wish them massive good luck. They are making us all proud," Rooney said. "Hopefully they can get that one step further and get to the final and bring the Cup home.
"I've enjoyed all the buzz coming out of this. We're ...

Rooney lauds 'fantastic' England World Cup: 'We believe'

The first eight boys to be rescued from a Thai cave are in good mental and physical health, an official said today, in the clearest update on their condition so far.
"All eight are in good health, no fever," Jesada Chokedamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public health ministry, told reporters at Chiang Rai hospital. "Everyone is in a good mental state.

Eight boys rescued from Thai cave in 'good mental state': official

Thousands of Puerto Ricans lost power as driving rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl neared the island, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria 10 months ago.
"The entire government of Puerto Rico is on alert for the passage of Beryl's remnants, and heavy rain is expected in the local area," Ricardo Rossello, governor of the US territory, wrote on Facebook yesterday.
"We ask citizens to be watchful."
The US National Weather Service issued an alert for flash floods, with as much as 50 mm (two inches) of rain already recorded on the Caribbean island.
The local Electric Power Authority reported on Facebook that more than 13,000 customers were without service, including those who still do not have power after Hurricane Maria, which struck on its path through the Caribbean last September.
The official death count from the hurricane is 64, but a study by Harvard University and Puerto Rico's Carlos Albizu University estimated there were as many as 4,645 hurricane-related deaths, .

Storm Beryl leaves thousands without power in Puerto Rico

Five major krill fishing firms today agreed to halt operations across huge swathes of the Antarctic to help protect wildlife in a move hailed as "bold and progressive" by conservationists.
The vast frozen continent is home to penguins, seals, whales and other marine life with krill a staple food for many species.
But a combination of climate change and industrial-scale fishing has been hitting populations of the small crustacean, with potentially disastrous impacts on larger predators.
Now the five companies that make up the Association of Responsible Krill Harvesting (ARK) -- from Norway, Chile, South Korea and China -- have agreed to stop fishing in sensitive coastal areas.
They also threw their support behind a planned network of marine protected areas (MPAs) throughout the Southern Ocean, including in places where they currently operate.
"Our members agree that the industry must develop sustainably to ensure long-term viability of the krill stocks and the predators that depend on .

Win for wildlife as krill fishing restricted in Antarctica

China is planning a summit of Pacific island leaders in November, Papua New Guinea has revealed, as New Zealand warned today Beijing was attempting to fill a "vacuum" in the long-neglected region.
President Xi Jinping wants to hold the meeting ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Port Moresby from November 12-18.
"(I) invite you to attend a Pacific Island leaders' meeting with the President of China, His Excellency Xi Jinping, during his state visit to Papua New Guinea in the days before the APEC Leaders' Meeting," PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in an address to the Fiji parliament in Suva yesterday.
O'Neill did not detail the meeting's agenda but the fact that Xi is seeking a sit-down with the region's small island nations will draw attention in Canberra, Wellington and beyond.
Australia and New Zealand have long regarded Oceania as their backyard but China has become increasingly assertive in the region over the past decade.
Australia's Lowy ...

China eyes Pacific summit as NZ warns of power vacuum

European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani in Libya has called for a "blacklist" of people smugglers to be set up to help stem the flow of migrants from Africa to Europe.
The European Union is grappling with the issue of migration from Africa and the Middle East and hammered out a controversial plan last week to curb the number of arrivals.
People traffickers in North Africa have taken advantage of chaos in Libya since the 2011 ouster of Moamer Khadafi to send people on the perilous voyage northwards across the Mediterranean Sea.
"We have to establish a blacklist of the major traffickers... so that police and law enforcement in Africa and in Europe can work together on a common objective," Tajani said yesterday after meeting the head of Libya's internationally backed government in Tripoli.
"If we do not manage to destroy these criminal organisations, it will be very difficult to fight against illegal immigration." Italy and Greece have until now recorded the biggest numbers of migrants .

EU parliament head in Libya urges trafficker 'blacklist'

At least 12 fishermen have died and a dozen more are missing after deadly clashes on Lake Edward, which is shared by Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congolese official has said.
"The 12 bodies of our compatriots are still floating on Edward Lake" after violent exchanges between the Ugandan navy and DRC armed forces, said Muhindo Kyakwa, a senior official of the DRC province of North Kivu.
"We can't retrieve them because Ugandan troops are opening fire on anything that moves," he told AFP yesterday, adding that "a dozen fishermen" were still missing.
His statement follows an earlier Congolese announcement that 16 fishermen were missing on the lake.
Some 30 people have now either died or disappeared after the clashes erupted late last week.
Lake Edward, the smallest of the Great Lakes of eastern Africa, has seen a rise in tension between the two neighbours since the start of the year.
The Congolese navy is tasked with preventing militia fighters and local rebels and ...

12 fishermen killed in Uganda/Congo lake clashes: official

US, Canadian and Mexican auto industry groups have urged their governments to resume stalled efforts to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Talks to revamp the trilateral NAFTA deadlocked in February after more than six months, as Ottawa and Mexico flatly rejected Washington's calls for a five-year sunset clause on the agreement as well as steep new US-content requirements for autos.
Mexico's presidential elections early this month left the governments with little time to maneuver, so the talks were halted.
And while there were some concerns about whether anti-establishment leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would scrap NAFTA altogether, since winning the presidency he has vowed to work towards revising the trade pact.
The joint statement from the auto industry groups in the three nations urged political leaders to take advantage of the moment to proceed with the talks, even though AMLO will not take office until December.
"As a new government forms in Mexico .

North American automakers call for NAFTA talks to resume

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unveiled a new-look cabinet after being sworn in for new term, with his son-in-law Berat Albayrak given the crucial post of finance minister.
In another key change announced by Erdogan yesterday, army chief of staff General Hulusi Akar joins the government as defence minister but Mevlut Cavusoglu keeps the post of foreign minister.
Suleyman Soylu stays on as interior minister while Fuat Oktay, a former head of Turkey's emergencies agency, has been named as the sole vice president.
The appointment of finance minister had been keenly awaited by markets, with the naming of Albayrak, formerly energy minister, coming as something of a surprise.
The Turkish lira lost 2.4 per cent in value on the news to trade at 4.68 lira to the dollar.
The cabinet is the first named by Erdogan under a new system that dispenses with the office of prime minister and concentrates powers under the president.
Erdogan now sits at the top of a vertical power structure ...

Erdogan names son-in-law as finance minister in new Turkey cabinet

Tunisia paid tribute today to six members of its security forces killed the day before along the border with Algeria in the country's bloodiest jihadist attack in more than two years.
The attack comes as Tunisia prepares for what it hopes will be a surge in tourism after a spate of jihadist attacks in 2015 sent visitor numbers plunging.
After the ceremony at the national guard base close to the capital, hundreds of people watched as several of the dead were laid to rest.
A large procession led by members of the armed forces accompanied the body of guardsman Arbi Guizeni through the Tunis suburb of Douar Hicher.
The six national guard members were killed, and three others wounded, when their cars were attacked yesterday morning with an improvised explosive device in the Ain Sultan area of the Jendouba border province.
The three wounded guards were transferred to a military hospital in Tunis and their condition was stable on Monday, said guard spokesman Colonel Houssemeddine Jebabli.
He 

Tunisia pays tribute to security forces killed in jihadist attack

Hundreds of supporters of under-pressure Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega broke into a basilica in an opposition heartland and harassed Roman Catholic bishops at the heart of a mediation process.
The attack yesterday came a day after at least 14 people died in a raid by a pro-government mob in the areas of Diriamba and Jinotepe, 20 km from the opposition bastion of Masaya, in the Central American country's southeast.
Prior to yesterday's invasion of the Diriamba basilica, dozens of chanting government supporters, some hurling insults, blocked a church convoy heading there with Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes and Apostolic Nuncio Stanislaw Waldemar Sommertag.
"Murderers," "liars" and "sons of bitches" were among the barbs flung the church convoy's way, while others government supporters shouted: "We want peace" and "no more roadblocks." Protesters in the area had barricaded roads to keep out police.
The influential Roman Catholic church has been mediating between Ortega's government and the 

Pro-Ortega supporters invade basilica and harass bishops

British Health Minister Jeremy Hunt will replace Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister, Prime Minister Theresa May's Downing Street office today said following Johnson's dramatic resignation over the government's strategy for Brexit.
"The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of... Jeremy Hunt MP as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs," Downing Street said in a statement.

Jeremy Hunt named UK's new foreign minister to replace Johnson

Britain's Prince Louis of Cambridge, the baby son of Prince William and his wife Kate, was christened today but Queen Elizabeth II did not attend.
The monarch, 92, and her 97-year-old husband Prince Philip had attended the christenings of Louis' older siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
However, the decision for them not to attend Louis' baptism at St. James's Palace in London was understood to have been mutually agreed by the sovereign and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge some time ago, and was not health-related.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, lead the service in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace.
Welby baptised Louis by pouring holy water from the River Jordan over his head. The 11-week-old prince was fast asleep as Kate carried him into the chapel.
She told Welby that Louis was "very relaxed and peaceful", adding: "I hope he stays like this." Louis is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne after .

Britain's Prince Louis christened without Queen

US President Donald Trump is maintaining his planned four-day visit to Britain later this week, the White House said today, as Theresa May's government was plunged into turmoil by two shock cabinet resignations.
"The president continues to look forward to his working visit with the prime minister on July 13, and further strengthening the US-UK special relationship," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters.
May's government imploded today as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson followed Brexit minister David Davis in resigning over the prime minister's master plan for Britain's future outside the European Union.

Trump to go ahead with UK visit as planned: White House

Serena Williams underlined her status as the Wimbledon title favourite with a 62-minute demolition of Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina, while Karolina Pliskova became the last top 10 seed to crash out on Monday.
Williams raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarter-final as the seven-time champion thrashed Rodina 6-2, 6-2 in a Centre Court masterclass.
Williams, who won the Wimbledon title on her last two visits in 2015 and 2016, is now on an 18-match winning streak at the All England Club.
Having missed Wimbledon last year while she prepared to have her first child in September, Serena is in pole position to win her first Grand Slam crown since becoming a mother.
On Tuesday, the 36-year-old faces Italian world number 52 Camila Giorgi, who beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final.  Asked if it was a flawless display, Serena admitted she is never satisfied.
"I'm a perfectionist. I always find something wrong," she said.
"It was a good win but it ..

AFP

AFP

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