Tiqrik province taken back From ISIS

Governor of Salahaddin province in Northern Iraq Ahmad Abdullah al-Cuburi said they are now in control of Tiqrit.
Governor Cuburi said "Iraqi army attacked from 4 directions with aerial backup and regained the city from ISIS led armed groups. Special forces arfe currently positioned in the city center."
Meanwhile, Al-Iraqiyya TV channel reported that 60 armed men were killed in clashes between Iraqi security forces and armed groups. Military forces have regained control of the governorship building in the city.    
Eyewitnesses say clashes between military forces and armed men have intensified in the northern front.

For a while now clashes have engulfed the country where there is a vacuum of authority ISIS and certain tribal forces took control in Mosul, Tiqrit, Baquba and Telafar. ISIS also took control in Al-Kaim, Rave, Aneh, Ratbe and Hadise townships of Anbar city.

Drug traffickers infiltrate foreign embassies Tanzania

Adept at taking advantage of every opportunity to grow their dubious business, drug traffickers are now using local staff working in foreign embassies to secure visas easily, The wadjs on Sunday can report.

In a month-long investigation, we have established that drug dealers pay officials in diplomatic missions to help process their visas. Other officials in diplomatic missions help them process their visa applications and give them inside information necessary to ease their way through the system.

Already, a local employee at the Brazilian Embassy in Dar es Salaam (name withheld) is said to have disappeared after investigations on a visa for a detained drug mule zeroed in on him. A source at the embassy confided to our reporter that the absconder had created a file full of fake documents to aid his accomplice.

Brazilian envoy Francisco Luz confirmed the developments in an exclusive interview. They had to tighten visa application procedures and security system at the embassy, he confided, in response to the inside job.

“Because of this, we are introducing tight procedure in scrutinising visa applications,” said Ambassador Luz. “We are denying more visas than ever.”

The embassy has reportedly laid off local staff in the past for the same reason.

The revelation comes at a time police reports indicate that over 90 per cent of cocaine seized in Tanzania’s major airports in the past three years was sourced in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. About Sh6 billion worth of heroin and cocaine has been seized at Tanzania’s major airports in the past two-and-half-years.

The drug haul came from 56 suspects detained at Julius Nyerere International Airport and Kilimanjaro International Airport. The travel documents of most of the suspects confirmed that much of the cocaine is sourced in Sao Paulo.

But Ambassador Luz told The wadjs on Sunday that the fact that the drug mules came from Sao Paulo should not be taken to mean his country was not working at stopping the trend. The trend, he added, can best be explained by the fact that his country is the only one in the region that offers connection flights to Africa.

“People ought to know the cocaine or heroin is not produced in Brazil but sometimes cocaine produced in some Latin American countries gets into Brazil to be transported to Africa,” he said.

In the meantime, police in Tanzania and Brazil are hard at work trying to unmask the faces behind the syndicate.

“We are determined to find out who these guys are and who are behind them and stop this link,” Mr Luz added.

This paper has reliably learnt that the embassy will assign a police officer from Brazil to work at the embassy in Dar in the campaign to keep drug traffickers at bay.

The embassy has also increased the time to process visa applications from a minimum of 48 hours to at least four days to allow time for verification of documents.

At least 20 people who applied for visas to travel to Brazil to watch the World Cup were turned down--reportedly because the purpose of their travel was suspicious and their travel documents were wanting.

Not only the Brazilian embassy

The Brazilian embassy is not the only diplomatic mission that drug dealers could have been manipulating into dishing out visas. Another embassy (name withheld) is investigating how a woman who was recently detained at JNIA got her visa.

Drug traffickers are very innovative, according to the Brazilian ambassador, and are using all means possible to transport their loot.

“A woman may go to Brazil and conceive while there or a Tanzanian man may impregnate a Brazilian woman to qualify for a visa,” says the envoy, “This makes it hard for us to deny them visas.”

He adds: “They always find new ways. These people are well organised and what we are doing is to try to make their life difficult.”

The tricks never end. According to the ambassador, a young Tanzanian who was denied visa surprisingly returned a year later to ask for a visa with a new passport--complete with a new name and details.

Head of the Anti-Narcotics Unit Godfrey Nzowa says he is not surprised by the reports as drug dealers use every opportunity to get into the dangerous business. “They use more tricks than you can imagine,” says Mr Nzowa. “Every person and institution needs to be extra careful because drug dealers can use them without their knowledge.”

He called on diplomatic missions to work closely with the police whenever they had reason to suspect anyone.

Suicide bombing leaves four people dead in Kirkuk

Pour peshmerga fighters were killed and 15 others were injured in a bomb attack in Kirkuk by ISIL militants.

In Mousul, ISIL militants detonated a roadside mine, killing one peshmerga and injuring four others.
ISIL militants also attacked Mousul's Syriac-dominated areas with mortar shells, triggering a mass migration towards Irbil.
British Defense Secretary Phillip Hammond, who is visiting Gulf countries to discuss the threat ISIL poses in Iraq and the region, said that finding a political solution to the Iraq crisis is necessary.
Hammond said his country is not planning a military intervention to address the Iraqi crisis.
British politician said developments in the region concern Britain and Gulf countries, adding that “We want to work with our friends and partners in the Gulf to help Iraq find a solution to the challenges it faces. Once it’s clear that the Iraqis have made the decision to build an inclusive government, to reach out to the Kurdish and Sunni communities, and to build an inclusive future foe Iraq, then there is a lot of support willing to come in behind that initiative."

Iraqi helicopters fired on a university campus in Tikrit on Friday to dislodge insurgents who overran the city

Iraqi helicopters fired on a university campus in Tikrit on Friday to dislodge insurgents who overran the city in an onslaught that has given them control of most majority Sunni regions and brought them close to Baghdad.

Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein, fell a fortnight ago to Sunnis led by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which split from al Qaeda.
A rights group said analysis of photographs and satellite imagery "strongly indicate" that ISIL staged mass executions in Tikrit after seizing it on June 11 early in their offensive.
ISIL killed as many as 190 men in at least two locations over three days, Human Rights Watch said. Numbers may be much higher but the difficulty of locating bodies and getting to the area had prevented a full investigation, it added.
Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on Tikrit on Thursday, flying commandos into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after coming under fire from insurgents.
"My family and I left early this morning. We could hear gunfire and helicopters are striking the area," said Farhan Ibrahim Tamimi, a professor at the university who fled Tikrit for a nearby town.
Iraq's million-strong army, trained and equipped by the United States, largely evaporated in the north after the Sunni Muslim fighters led by ISIL launched their assault with the capture of the north's biggest city Mosul on June 10.
ISIL emerged after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader a group then called the Islamic State in Iraq, defied the al Qaeda leadership by moving into neighboring Syria more than a year ago to join the civil war against President Bashar al-Assad.
The group is now fighting in both Iraq and Syria, seeking to erase the frontiers and create an Islamic caliphate stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to Iraq.
In Washington, President Barack Obama asked the U.S. Congress on Thursday to approve $500 million to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, who have been largely upstaged by the more effective ISIL forces.
In Iraq, the fighters have been halted about an hour's drive north of Baghdad and on its western outskirts. However, they have pressed on with their advances in areas including the religiously mixed Diyala province and are consolidating their gains in northwestern Iraq.
Militants took control of six villages populated by the country's Shi'ite Shabak minority southeast of Mosul after clashing with Kurdish "peshmerga" forces who secure the area, according to a lawmaker and Shabak leader.

PARLIAMENT SESSION
A new Iraqi parliament elected two months ago is set to meet on Tuesday to begin the process of forming a government that the United States and other countries hope will be inclusive enough to blunt the insurgency.
Fighters from ISIL - which says all Shi'ite Muslims are heretics who should be killed - have been helped in their advance by other, less radical groups who share their view that Sunnis have been persecuted under the Shi'ite-led government.
Washington hopes that armed Sunni tribal groups, which turned against al Qaeda during the U.S. "surge" offensive of 2006-2007, can again be persuaded to switch sides and back the government, provided that a new cabinet is more inclusive.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led State of Law coalition won the most seats in the April election but needs allies to form a cabinet.
Maliki confirmed this week that he would abide by the constitutional deadlines to set up a new government, after pressure from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who flew to Baghdad for crisis talks earlier this week.
Under the official schedule, parliament will have 30 days from when it first meets on Tuesday to name a president and 15 days after that to name a prime minister.
In the past the process has dragged out, taking nine months to seat the government in 2010. Any delays would allow Maliki to continue to serve as caretaker.
The 64-year-old Shi'ite Islamist is fighting for his political life in the face of an assault that threatens to dismember his country. Sunni, Kurdish and rival Shi'ite groups have demanded he leave office, and some ruling party members have suggested he could be replaced with a less polarizing figure, although close allies say he has no plan to step aside.

EU backs Juncker to head Commission in blow to UK

EU leaders in Brussels have nominated former Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker to be president of the European Commission, in a blow to the UK.

Prime Minister David Cameron called it "a serious mistake". "This is going to be a long, tough fight," he said.
He had pushed for a vote on Mr Juncker - breaking with tradition - and 26 out of 28 countries backed him.
Only Mr Cameron and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban voted against him. Mr Juncker is also likely to win a vote by Euro MPs.
It is the most powerful job in Brussels - the Commission drafts EU laws, oversees national budgets, enforces EU treaties and negotiates international trade deals.
Mr Cameron believes Mr Juncker is too much in favour of closer political union and might block EU reform.
"This is a bad day for Europe... it hands new power to the European Parliament," Mr Cameron said. "This whole process has simply reinforced my conviction that the EU has to change."
New procedure Mr Cameron objected to the way Mr Juncker, a 59-year-old veteran of Brussels deal-making, was put forward. He was lead candidate of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), which won last month's European elections.
"I've told EU leaders they could live to regret the new process for choosing the Commission President," Mr Cameron tweeted after the decision.
He told them it was "a sad moment for Europe" and expressed his "disappointment it has reached this point". In the past such appointments were made by the EU leaders - called the European Council - by unanimity.

Jean-Claude Juncker is the choice of the European People's Party, which won the most seats in the European Parliament

After the vote Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said there would be a review of how the Commission president was nominated - but only after the new Commission team was in place.
She said Europe was "ready to address British concerns" about its future direction, and that she shared Britain's ideas about what the EU should be like.
The UK Conservatives - who pulled out of the EPP - suspect that the Commission is being politicised in a power grab by the European Parliament. But Mr Juncker's supporters value his record of consensus-building and commitment to EU integration.
Under new EU treaty rules the leaders have to take account of the European election result when nominating a Commission chief. The parliament will vote on Mr Juncker in mid-July.
Mr Cameron's bid to block Mr Juncker suffered a major setback this week when his allies changed tack.
Chancellor Merkel had given Mr Cameron hope after agreeing to a vote on the issue if there was no consensus.
But both the Netherlands and Sweden - normally close to UK positions in Europe - later said they would back Mr Juncker.
Speaking after the summit, Ms Merkel said there had been "no backroom agreement" but "a very good discussion" on Mr Juncker.
In the coming months a new 28-member Commission team - one from each country - will be appointed. The EU will also appoint a new foreign policy chief and new president of the European Council.

Uruguay striker Suares loses backing of gambling firm

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has lost a sponsor after he was banned for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Online gambling firm 888poker said it had "decided to terminate its relationship" with "immediate effect".

“Everyone knows what they've done to Luis. They wanted him out of the World Cup. Perfect, they did it. They chucked him out of there like a dog”

Lila Piriz Da Rosa Suarez's grandmother

The Liverpool player, 27, was handed a four-month ban by governing body Fifa after being found guilty of biting Chiellini during a World Cup match.

Liverpool are seeking legal advice as Suarez cannot play for either club or country until the end of October.
He misses the rest of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
Uruguay will play Colombia in the last 16 on Saturday after qualifying from Group D behind Costa Rica.
Suarez joined 888poker as a worldwide ambassador shortly before the World Cup, and produced several video diaries for the website during the tournament, including one after his two goals in the 2-1 victory over England.

A man holds his arm in front of an advertising placard showing Suarez flashing his teeth

Suarez's boot deal with Adidas could also be in jeopardy after the sportswear manufacturer announced on Thursday it would consider its partnership with the player.
Liverpool remain unsure whether Suarez will be allowed to train during his ban, with the player set to earn about £3m during the time he is on the sidelines.
But while his future is unclear, it is understood the club have no intention of off-loading him on the cheap this summer, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid known to have had an interest in the player.
Suarez learned of his ban on Thursday after Fifa decided to open disciplinary proceedings.
He was judged to have bitten centre-half Chiellini on the left shoulder towards the end of Tuesday's group game, which Uruguay won 1-0 to qualify for the next stage.
Suarez denied the allegations, claiming Chiellini had bumped into him.
But Fifa decided he was guilty and handed him the longest ban in World Cup history.
As well as a four-month ban from any football-related activity, Suarez was also given a nine-match international suspension.
Spanish side Barcelona, however, remain keen on signing the striker .
Meanwhile Chiellini says the four-month ban given to Suarez is excessive.
The Juventus player said he has "no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez".

Analysis

Ben Smith BBC Sport

"Liverpool will not cash in on one of the world's best strikers for the sake of it - the owners will do what they feel is right for the club.
"It may take an offer of around £80m to persuade them to sell. Even then, the deal would have to be the right one for Liverpool"

Uruguay football officials say they plan to appeal against the suspension.

The decision to ban Suarez for four months has split opinion.
While the likes of former England captain Alan Shearer and ex-USA goalkeeper Brad Friedel have argued the ban is fair, reaction in Uruguay has largely been of anger.
Huge crowds gathered at Carrasco International Airport near Montevideo on Thursday as expectations grew that Suarez would be flying there.
Uruguay's Sports Minister Liliam Kechichian said the punishment was a "disproportionate sanction" that "hurts us", while Uruguay Football Association president Wilmar Valdez claimed the ban was "excessive".
He added: "It feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup."
Suarez's lawyer, Alejandro Balbi, said the player was "totally distraught", while his grandmother, Lila Piriz Da Rosa, said her grandson had been treated like "a dog".

Fans wait for Luis Suarez at Carrasco International Airport near Montevideo

She added: "Everyone knows what they've done to Luis. They wanted him out of the World Cup. Perfect, they did it."
Meanwhile, Liverpool say they will wait for the official report on the Suarez case before deciding their next move.

A child shows his support for Suarez by wearing plastic vampire's teeth

This is the third time the player has been banned for biting and he will miss nine Premier League games while he serves his latest suspension.
The Professional Footballers' Association has again offered its services to Suarez after helping him following his 10-match ban for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in April 2013.
"This is a human being who is clearly one of the best footballers in the world but he has this trait in his character which is so abnormal that needs looking at," PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told BBC Sport.
"We thought we'd got him back on track."

Suarez embraces a member of the Uruguay coaching set-up at the team's hotel in Natal on Thursday

It remains to be seen whether Liverpool stick by Suarez, who had been linked with moves to Barcelona and Real Madrid prior to his ban.
Taylor also felt Suarez's punishment would have major ramifications for players who regularly play international football.
"It's going to increase that tension between club and country," he said.
He argued clubs would think twice about allowing their players to feature for their country if they could suffer punishments on international duty that could impact on their involvement in their domestic leagues.

Tanzania loses Serengeti road case

Zebras cross the Serengeti highway. The East African Court of Justice ruled yesterday that the planned tarmacked road from  Loliondo-Kleins Gate/Tabora B to Mugumu/Natta would damage the Serengeti National Park’s ecosystem.

 Tanzania has lost a case on the proposed highway across the Serengeti National Park filed by a Nairobi-based animal welfare organisation. The First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) ruled yesterday that the planned tarmacked road from Loliondo-Kleins Gate/Tabora B to Mugumu/Natta would damage the park’s ecosystem.

The decision is a big blow to Tanzania, which had vowed to continue with its plans to build the road to tarmac level despite growing pressure from environmentalists and wildlife conservationists.

President Jakaya Kikwete had earlier promised supporters a commercial highway across the Serengeti--a pledge greeted with strong international protest on the grounds that it posed a great threat to the World Heritage site. The government has been reiterating its position on the highway, which was meant to ease transport problems of the poor communities in the neighbourhood of the park, saying it will go ahead and build the road.

The President once accused groups lobbying against the planned highway of distorting the facts. He said the highway would not be built through the Serengeti, which is acclaimed internationally as a World Heritage Site. He said then that his government only sought to reduce the length of the current road passing through the Serengenti.

Reading the judgment, Deputy Principal Judge Isaac Lenaola said that, given the ecological concerns, the plan to build the bitumen standard road across the park was unlawful.

The action would also infringe the East African Community (EAC) Treaty under which member countries are compelled to respect protocols on conservation, protection and management of natural resources. The court, therefore, restrained the government from going ahead with the project because it had the potential to inflict “irreparable and irreversible” damage to the environment.  “We have already ruled on that subject based on the evidence before us and no more,” Judge Lenaola said. He noted that although building the road may be a popular decision by policy makers, the  environment is rarely ever repaired once damaged.

The case was filed in December 2010 by the African Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW), a charitable Pan African animal welfare and community-centred organisation registered in Kenya.

The Tanzania government intended to build and maintain the Natta/Mugumu-Tabora B/Kleins Gate-Loliondo road across the Serengeti.

In its submission, ANAW had argued that the proposed highway would have “deleterious environmental and ecological effects” on the delicate Serengeti ecosystem and the adjoining protected areas such as the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya. These would include disruption of animal migration. The Serengeti/Maasai-Mara ecosystem is famous the world over for the spectacular annual wildbeest migration and draws thousands of tourists and nature lovers from overseas.

Over 400 Tanzanian youth have been arrested with narcotics outside the country

  The minister of State in the President’s Office (Policy, Coordination and Parliamentary Affairs), Mr William Lukuvi

Over 400 Tanzanian youth have been arrested with narcotics outside the country, the government said yesterday.

Countries in which the youth were caught include Hong Kong, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, the UK, Malawi, Oman, Switzerland, the US, Chile, Botswana and China.

The minister of State in the President’s Office (Policy, Coordination and Parliamentary Affairs), Mr William Lukuvi, said 18 of the suspects were arrested in Hong Kong, 108 in Brazil and 65 in China.

He added that 220 kilograms of heroin were seized in Tanzania and 18 suspects arrested in the last six months.

Mr Lukuvi said 15.4kg of cocaine and other narcotic substances were impounded and seven suspects arrested during the same period.

He added that traffickers had in recent months been attempting to smuggle into the country ephedrine, a chemical used for producing narcotics.

Mr Lukuvi blamed the high incidence of drug smuggling into the country on legal loopholes which enabled drug barons to use their financial muscle to escape imprisonment. Once they were arrested and arraigned, the law required them to pay a sum, said Mr Lukuvi, adding that the government was in a process of amending the law to give the Anti-Drugs Commission the power to arrest and prosecute suspects.

Narcotics are threatening the national economy, as the vice contributes to the spread of HIV and Aids, lung and heart diseases as well as tuberculosis, he said. The government is currently rehabilitating 1,526 drug addicts, mostly the workforce, at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

China give 320 bilions for support key water project in Tanzania

Vice President of People’s Republic of China Li Yuanchao and his Tanzanian counterpart Mohammed Gharib Bilal (left) admire various photos of African institutes during the opening of a joint conference of Confucius Institutes in Africa in Dar es Salaam yesterday

Tanzania will get Sh320 billion ($200 million) from China as a soft loan for the construction of the water source at the Kidunda dam that will improve water supply in Dar es Salaam, it was announced Monday evening.

Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (Dawasa) signed the $200 million memorandum of understanding with China National Aero Technology International Corporation for the latter to finance the multipurpose Kidunda dam.

The concessional credit will enable construction of the dam, hydro power plant to produce 20MW and supply of clean water to the city of over four million residents, according to details released during a tour by Chinese Vice President Li Luanchao.

The project is expected to be complete in two years, according to Dawasa chief executive officer Archard Mutalemwa. Dar es Salaam authorities have struggled for many years to satisfy demand for the key resource, with many residents of the sprawling metropolitan going without supply.

“We hope this will improve water supply in Dar es Salaam as we also plan to sell excess electricity to Tanesco,” said Mr Mutalemwa.

He said the two had already agreed on the sale of power.

The signing ceremony was held during the official opening of the Tanzania - China Business Forum at the Bank of Tanzania.

Mr Li Yuanchao who is visiting Tanzania for six days starting Saturday and Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda graced the event in which the media was left clueless because the Chinese spoke their language as translation equipment was limited.

Over 170 Chinese businessmen and women are visiting the country and expect to partner with their Tanzanian counterparts during the visit. Mr Pinda invited the Chinese investors as he reiterated the government’s commitment to improve the business environment.

He said, a total of 522 investment projects from China worth $2.49 billion have been registered in Tanzania to date in the areas of manufacturing, tourism, construction and transportation.

He also noted that the value of Tanzania exports to China increased from Sh101.84 billion in 2005 to Sh817.98 billion in 2012 while the imports from China jumped from Sh245.4 billion to Sh1.814 trillion in the same period.

Barrick Gold suspected to contract fakes

 

 North Mara Gold Mine is an open pit gold mine inTarime. It is one of four gold mines African Barrick Gold, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, operates in Tanzania, the other two being Bulyanhulu and the Buzwagi Gold Mine. 

African Barrick Gold Plc, the Tanzanian subsidiary of Canadian gold company Barrick Gold Corp, has been accused of illegal payments to government officials in the North Mara mine. In the process of buying land near the mine starting last year, African Barrick paid more than $400,000 (Sh670 million) in cash, mostly to Tanzanian government officials and consultants responsible for valuing the land, according to company invoices and copies of cheques reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The American-based newspaper said the payments were bribes for officials in positions to influence African Barrick’s business interests, according to an email sent to the company last year and reviewed by the Journal. The person did not describe any quid pro quo behind the payments.

In an email sent to The Citizen on Saturday however, African Barrick and Toronto-based Barrick Gold said the payments they made were not bribes but legitimate payments for expenses and allowances tied to an agreement with the Tanzanian government.

“Both African Barrick Gold (ABG) and Barrick Gold Corporation are committed to ethical and transparent business practices in compliance with the law,” said the email. “ABG engages regularly with local and national government officials in Tanzania to determine the fair value of land the company wishes to purchase from local land owners.”

According to the company, the Lands Task Force was created to facilitate a transparent, fair and inclusive process to value land-- which ABG strongly supports. The company said: “Cash is often the only viable method of payment because, in many regions of the country, banking infrastructure and services are extremely limited or sometimes not available at all. All such payments are carefully documented, monitored and controlled.” The nearest bank was hours from the mine, people close to the company said. An investigation of the companies by law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP found that African Barrick “acted appropriately in all instances, in accordance with Tanzanian, US, and UK law”.

The Tanzanian government did not respond to requests for comment, according to the American newspaper.

US authorities have said that cash payments to government officials, while not necessarily illegal, are a red flag. “The most obvious form of corrupt payment is large amounts of cash,” says a guide from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under a memorandum of understanding between African Barrick and the Tanzanian government that was reviewed by the Journal, local and national officials would oversee the valuation of land parcels that African Barrick wanted to buy and determine their owner. The company would compensate the officials with allowances and pay cash for travel and other expenses, the memorandum and the people close to the company said.

Some of the money was paid in cash to Mr Adam Yusuf, the head of a Tanzanian government task force overseeing the land valuation for African Barrick, with the intention that he would deliver cash to other officials, according to the documents reviewed by the Journal. Mr Yusuf was responsible for asking for money, picking up the cash at a bank and turning in documentation such as sign-in sheets showing that the cash was used as intended. Two people inside the company raised concerns over the cash payments to Mr Yusuf and other officials, according to company emails.

Taliban agree that their responsible for destraction of Karachi Airport

The Pakistani Taliban have said they were behind an attack at the country's largest airport that killed at least 28 people, including 10 militants.

The raid began late on Sunday at a terminal used for cargo and VIP flights at Karachi international airport.
Following reports of fresh violence early on Monday, army officials said the siege was now over and flights were set to resume in the afternoon.
Karachi has been a target for many attacks by the Taliban.
A spokesman for the group, Shahidullah Shahid, said Monday's assault was "a message to the Pakistan government that we are still alive to react over the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages".
The dead terminal staff were said to be mostly security guards from the Airport Security Force (ASF) but also airline workers. At least 14 people were wounded.
Analysts say the attack further undermines Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's attempt at initiating peace talks with the Taliban.
The negotiations have made little headway since February. Critics have argued that they could allow the militants to regroup and gain strength.

The Pakistani Taliban's latest attack was well co-ordinated

The airport raid comes against the backdrop of a major split in the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and threats of retaliation after limited military operations against foreign militants in North Waziristan.
Despite its divisions, the TTP clearly still has the ability to launch spectacular attacks - and this one appears far better coordinated and organised than many others.
That has led analysts to suspect the involvement of highly trained al-Qaeda fighters, and months of training.
One of these highly trained al-Qaeda linked groups is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has bases in North Waziristan.
Uzbek fighters are known to have launched similar high profile attacks before - for example on Peshawar airport in 2012 - and to have links with Pakistani groups blamed for other coordinated assaults, such as the 2011 Mehran naval base attack in Karachi.

'Well trained' The army said the 10 gunmen stormed Jinnah International Airport in two teams of five on Sunday at 23:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
Authorities shut Jinnah shortly after the assault began and diverted flights other airports.

Members of the bomb-disposal squad diffuse explosives outside Karachi's airport

The army said they found suicide vests after the gun battle

Some reports suggested the attackers were foreign nationals

The attackers are believed to have entered the area using fake ID cards, although some reports suggest they cut through a barbed wire fence.
They threw grenades and fired at security guards in the old terminal, which is now only used for cargo and VIP operations.
The Chief Minister of Sindh province, Qaim Ali Shah, said the attackers "were well trained".
"Their plan was very well thought out," he said, adding that they had failed to destroy some of the aircraft as they had intended.
Seven of the attackers were later shot dead during a gun battle which lasted until about 04:30. Another three detonated their explosives.
The militants set fire to cargo, but no aircraft were damaged, the officials said.

I was with police at the Fokker Gate where some of the militants initially entered - and a few hundred metres from the fighting. We spent five to six hours at the airport while the militants were battling.
Witnesses told us the militants came in a high-roofed van, which dropped them at the entrance to this terminal and then quickly left.
We took cover while loud bomb blasts could be heard. Officials told us it was suicide bombers detonating their vests. Later they discovered live suicide jackets from militants shot dead in the encounter.

Army officials said there were indications that some of the gunmen may have been foreign nationals.
There were also reports of at least two huge blasts at the airport.
Sarmad Hussain, an official with Pakistan International Airlines, told the Associated Press news agency: "I was working at my office when I heard big blasts - several blasts - and then there were heavy gunshots."
He said he and a colleague escaped by jumping from a window. His colleague broke a leg.

Passenger Ignas Vosylius said he heard "several explosions" shortly after his plane landed

Pakistan has been fighting an Islamist insurgency for more than a decade, with the Pakistani Taliban the main militant group.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently told the BBC he was still hopeful a peace initiative with the Taliban could succeed.
But violent clashes have continued and Karachi has been a frequent target.
Gunmen attacked the city's Mehran naval base in 2011, killing 10 personnel and destroying two aircraft in a 17-hour siege.

Rafael nadal win french open

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is determined to make an impact at Wimbledon again after winning his ninth French Open title on Sunday.

The Spaniard, 28, beat Novak Djokovic 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4 to win for a record fifth successive time at Roland Garros.Nadal is now focused on making up for last year's first-round defeat at the All England Club.

"I want to try to play well again in Wimbledon," he said. "I'm healthy. That's the most important thing."

Nadal struggled with the switch from clay to grass last year as he was on the way back from seven months out with a knee injury.
He made a shock first-round exit against world number 135 Steve Darcis of Belgium, and it is now four years since he won his second Wimbledon title.
"I hope my knee will have the positive feeling on grass, because I feel my knee is better than last year on the rest of the surfaces," he said.
"Grass always was a little bit harder for me after the injury. Last year I tried, but I was not ready to compete at Wimbledon.
"Let's see how my feelings are there this year, but it's a very important tournament."
Nadal has now won 14 Grand Slam titles, three behind Roger Federer's record total, but refuses to target the Swiss player's mark.
"We will see when I finish my career how many Grand Slams I have or if I win four, three, or five in a row," he said.
"The most important thing today is I won the most important tournament of the world on clay, probably the most important tournament of the year for me."
Both men appeared to struggle in the 27C heat after a fortnight of relatively cold weather in the French capital.

"The combination of two weeks of cold with the drastic change of yesterday and today - today was the first real day that we played with that conditions," he said.

"This big change I think affects us, affects our physical performance."
Djokovic has now lost five of his last six Grand Slam finals, and this time his challenge faded in the hot conditions after he lost the second set.
"I did have the period of the match at the end of the second and the whole third set, I struggled a little bit," he said.
"It's not impossible, but it's very, very difficult to stay with Rafa in this court, throughout the whole match on the highest level of performance.
"I started feeling, as I said, a little bit better, but I wasn't managing to bring my A game when it was most needed in the end of the fourth."

Canada inmates in helicopter escape

The inmates managed to flee Orsainville detention centre on Saturday evening, officials say

Three inmates have escaped from a prison in Canada using a helicopter, police say.

They say the daring jailbreak from the Orsainville detention centre, Quebec province, happened at about 19:45 local time on Saturday (23:45 GMT).
The police are now searching for the inmates, who have been identified as Yves Denis, Denis Lefebvre and Serge Pomerleau.
Local officials said they believed the helicopter had headed west.
They declined to provide further details.
Last year, two inmates managed to escape a prison near Montreal by climbing up a rope into a hovering helicopter.
The two prisoners and two other people suspected of organising the jailbreak were later arrested.

Fattah al-Sisi to be sworn in as Egypt's president

 

 Mr Sisi's supporters hope the former army chief will deliver security and economic growth

Former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is to be sworn in as Egypt's new president after winning by a landslide in May's elections.

Security forces have been deployed at key locations around the capital Cairo in preparation for the ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The retired field marshal overthrew President Mohammed Morsi last July.
He has since been locked in a battle with Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which urged a boycott of the elections.
Liberal and secular activists, including the 6 April youth movement which was prominent in the 2011 revolution that ousted long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, also shunned the 26-28 May poll in protest at the curtailing of civil rights.
'Time to work' Mr Sisi, 59, secured 96.9% of the vote and his sole challenger, left-winger Hamdeen Sabahi, received only 3.1%, according to the official results.

 

Many Egyptians believe that after three years of turmoil Mr Sisi is the saviour they have been waiting for

 

 Mr Sisi's opponents fear his election victory will mark a return to authoritarian rule

However, the turnout was less than 50%.
Despite this crowds are expected to flock to Cairo's Tahrir Square to celebrate his victory, the BBC's Orla Guerin in the Egyptian capital reports.
He inherits a nation that is divided and weary, our correspondent says. Experts warn that if cannot deliver in the next year or two he could face a mass revolt, like his predecessors.
In a televised speech after the poll, Mr Sisi said he wanted "freedom" and "social justice", echoing the slogan of the 2011 revolution.
He said it was now "time to work", adding: "Our co-operation in work and construction will lead to prosperity and luxury."
He also faces a wide array of other challenges, including fixing the economy, easing poverty and preventing further political crises.
Mr Sisi has also promised to restore security in a country where attacks by Islamist militants have left hundreds of security personnel dead over the past 11 months.
The militants have stepped up attacks in response to the state's crackdown on Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, in which more than 1,400 people have been killed and 16,000 detained.
Mr Morsi and other senior leaders of the Brotherhood, which has been designated a terrorist organisation, are currently standing trial on a series of charges. They strongly deny any wrongdoing.
Critics fear that Mr Sisi will continue to show little tolerance for dissent.

Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: Maiduguri 'preachers kill dozens

 

   

A state of emergency has not stemmed militant attacks

Suspected Boko Haram militants have launched an attack in a village near the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing about 45 people.

Survivors told journalistic the attackers said they had come to preach to the crowd, before opening fire on them.
Maiduguri and surrounding areas have not suffered many attacks since a state of emergency was imposed a year ago.
Instead more remote regions have become the targets of the Islamist group's raids.
Nigeria's government has been facing growing pressure both at home and abroad to do more to tackle the group since militants kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
Boko Haram has waged an increasingly bloody insurgency since 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.

Bashar al-Assad has been declared as Syrian president

Bashar al-Assad has been declared as Syrian president after winning a third term with 88.7 percent of the votes in the presidential election.

The Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad al-Laham said that according to the unofficial presidential elections' results Assad won the elections with 88.7 percent of the votes and the voter turnout was at 73.42 percent.
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton in a statement said that EU considered the presidential election held in Syria as illegitimate and underlined that the elections undermined the political efforts to find a solution to the horrific conflict.
Ashton said “the presidential election held in Syria on June 3 cannot be considered as a genuinely democratic vote. A flawed electoral law imposed identification requirements that deprived most Syrians living in areas under opposition control of the ability to cast their vote. The law also prevented exiled opposition candidates from standing against President Assad, and blocked access to alternative sources of campaign information".
Ashton who underlined that Assad regime has continued military operations that lead to more than 150,000 deaths, 6.5 million internally displaced persons and 2.5 million refugees added that any elections in Syria should only take place within the framework of a genuine political process agreed by the international community.

Leaders congratulate Abdel Fattah el Sisi on election victory

Egypt's newly elected President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recieves message of congratulations from the Arab League and from around the world.

Arab League in its official website said that Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby has congratulated Sisi on his election victory and added that the elections in Egypt were transparent and free.
Meanwhile, Mauritania, Oman, Lebanon, Sudan and South Sudan have sent messages of a congratulatory message to Sisi.
Canada, China and Iran also congratulated the newly elected leader.
White House in statement said "We urge the President-elect and the government to adopt the reforms that are needed to govern with accountability and transparency, ensure justice for every individual, and demonstrate a commitment to the protection of the universal rights of all Egyptians.”
The Washington administration said that US is looking forward to working with Egypt’s new president to strengthen US's strategic partnership with Egypt and to protect common interests of the both countries.
The inauguration ceremony will be held after Sisi will take the oath of office before the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo on May 8.
The inauguration ceremony will be attended by the leaders of 22 countries

The European Central Bank cuts interest rate to 0.15%

Vanishing interest rates. ECB President Mario Draghi squeezes rates close to zero - and below

The European Central Bank (ECB) has lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.15% from 0.25% in an effort to stimulate economic growth and avoid deflation in the eurozone.

It has also reduced its deposit rate below zero, to -0.1%, which means commercial banks will have to pay to lodge their money with the central bank, rather than receive interest.
The idea is to incentivise the banks to lend to businesses, thereby stimulating growth.
The ECB is the first of the "Big Four" central banks (the ECB, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England) to do this.
The BBC's economics correspondent, Andrew Walker, said: "The consequences are unpredictable - how will banks respond to this very unusual move? That the ECB chose to do this in the face of that uncertainty is a very telling indication of its concerns about the weakness of Eurozone recovery and the danger of deflation."
Deflation fears Although the danger of deflation in the eurozone is limited, the ECB is concerned that growth is very sluggish and bank lending weak - both of which could potentially derail the fragile economic recovery.
The eurozone economy is only growing at 0.2%. Consumer spending, investment and exports are all growing at a slower pace than this time last year.
Inflation in the Eurozone fell to 0.5% in May, down from 0.7% in April. This is well below the European Central Bank's 2% target.
Unemployment If the eurozone slips into deflation, consumers would spend even less because they'd expect prices to fall in future months. For the same reason investors stop investing.
Growth would then grind to a halt and demand would be severely constrained. The large debts amassed by the eurozone's countries, companies and banks would take longer and be harder to pay off.
Unemployment, which is already at nearly 12% in the eurozone, and much higher in places like Spain, Portugal and Greece, would get even worse.
It's a picture that prompted today's moves by Mario Draghi and the 23 other members of the governing council at the European Central Bank

G7 Leaders Focus on Russia, Ukraine

Leaders from the Group of Seven industrialized economies gathered Thursday in Brussels for a second day of meetings, focusing discussions on Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

After a morning group meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama will hold separate talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Later, Obama will fly to Paris for dinner with French President Francois Hollande.

Late Wednesday, G7 leaders urged Moscow to respect the results of Ukraine's presidential election, stop the flow of fighters and weapons to the eastern part of the country, and completely withdraw troops from its border with Ukraine.

The joint statement threatened to "intensify targeted sanctions and to implement significant additional restrictive measures to impose further costs on Russia, should events so require."

Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited to the summit, a move that came in response to Moscow's incursion into and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March.

Putin on Wednesday played down the boycott, but insisted he was open to dialogue with Ukraine President-elect Petro Poroshenko.

Options in Ukraine

Obama praised Poroshenko effusively after meeting him for the first time this week in Poland ahead of Poroshenko's inauguration Saturday.

Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said G-7 leaders would discuss the future approach on sanctions during their meetings, the AP reported.

“We'll have to evaluate going forward, what are the triggers for different types of sanctions,” Rhodes said. “That would be reviewing whether or not Russia is continuing to destabilize eastern Ukraine and whether or not Russia is continuing to support separatist groups.”

In other G7 action, the world leaders gave their backing on Thursday to a new global deal on climate change in 2015.

Earlier this week, the United States announced a plan to cut emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, which will run into domestic opposition, prompting the European Union into a defense of its own record.

China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, also gave a hint that it would set some kind of cap on its emissions.

A draft of the G7 communique seen by Reuters said the G7 nations remained committed to low-carbon economies and limiting temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the limit scientists say can prevent the most devastating effects of climate change.

Also Thursday, the G7 offered the EU support with its efforts to make its energy supplies more secure, promising to “complement the efforts of the European Commission to develop emergency energy plans for winter 2014-2015”.

In Europe, the quest for energy security in the face of threats from Russia that it could disrupt supplies of gas pumped through Ukraine, has knocked the climate debate down the agenda.

But addressing the G7 in Brussels, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the two issues went “hand in hand.”

EU nations said domestic, renewable sources, such as solar and wind, can reduce the need for fossil fuel imports from nations such as Russia, while Poland, which relies on polluting coal, said coal is a reliable, domestic fuel source.

D-Day ceremony

Putin is scheduled to meet Friday with Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The meetings will come at a ceremony in Normandy, France to mark the 70th anniversary of the allied D-Day invasion against Nazi forces in World War II.

Underscoring frosty U.S.-Russia ties, Putin is not expected to meet with Obama at the event.

Speaking in Poland, President Obama on Wednesday condemned what he called Russia's "dark tactics" in Ukraine.

Obama also met with Poroshenko in Warsaw, where he announced $5 million in non-lethal aid to help Ukraine's military forces in their effort to battle pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The money will go toward the purchase of body armor, night vision goggles and communications equipment.

Obama said the international community must support efforts to negotiate with Russia and ensure that Russia does not finance, arm or support separatists in Ukraine. He said the world must be willing to enact consequences against Russia.

Election of Libyan Prime Minister Violated Constitution,

Libya's new Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq speaks at a news conference with members of the government in Tripoli, Libya, 

 

TRIPOLI — The election of Ahmed Maiteeq as new prime minister violates Libya's temporary constitution, an official at the Supreme Constitutional Court said on Thursday.

A court official said Maiteeq's election was in principal violating Libya's temporary constitution though the court has yet to issue a ruling.

Maiteeq's lawyers argued the election was legitimate, according to the session broadcast on television. The session was later adjourned.

Parliament elected Maiteeq as new prime minister in a chaotic vote which has been disputed by some lawmakers and officials who said it lacked a quorum.