A 26-year-old Dalit man on Thursday died in police custody under suspicious circumstances in Kanpur, following which twelve police personnel have been suspended. 
 
Kamal Valmiki, a resident of Shiv Katra village, was found dead at Ahirwan police station on Thursday afternoon after he was picked up along with another man, Raju Mistri, Wednesday in a case of loot. 
 
Police called the family of Mistri to identify the body, which was later claimed by Kamal&#39;s family. 
 
The family members of the deceased filed an FIR against the station in charge and other police personnel for beating Kamal to death. However, police claimed he had committed suicide and sent the body for postmortem. 
 
&quot;Twelve police personnel, including the station in charge Yogendra Singh, have been suspended and strict action will be taken against them if found guilty,&quot; SSP, Mathura, Shalabh Mathur said 
 
The members of Valmiki community blocked the Kanpur-Lucknow highway and threw stones at the police station, following which senior police officials reached there to control the situation.&nbsp;Meanwhile, Raju Mistri has been reported missing. 
 
(DNA)

Kamal Valmiki was found dead at Ahirwan police station on Thursday afternoon under suspicious circumstances

A 26-year-old Dalit man on Thursday died in police custody under suspicious circumstances in Kanpur, following which twelve police personnel have been suspended. Kamal Valmiki, a resident of Shiv Katra village, was found dead at Ahirwan police station on Thursday afternoon after he was picked up along with another man, Raju Mistri, Wednesday in a case of loot. Police called the family of Mistri to identify the body, which was later claimed by Kamal's family. The family members of the deceased filed an FIR against the station in charge and other police personnel for beating Kamal to death. However, police claimed he had committed suicide and sent the body for postmortem. "Twelve police personnel, including the station in charge Yogendra Singh, have been suspended and strict action will be taken against them if found guilty," SSP, Mathura, Shalabh Mathur said The members of Valmiki community blocked the Kanpur-Lucknow highway and threw stones at the police station, following which senior police officials reached there to control the situation. Meanwhile, Raju Mistri has been reported missing. (DNA)

Dalit man dies in police custody in India's Kanpur

Thousands of socially-backward Dalits, also known as &quot;untouchables&quot;, protested in western India today against an attack on their members by cow protection vigilantes. 
 
Police surrounded the protesters in Ahmedabad, the main city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s home state of Gujarat, to prevent any violence, as anger among Dalits mounts over the attack. 
 
Protest organiser Jignesh Mevani said Dalit youths were trying to kill themselves to protest attacks committed against their caste, which lies at the bottom of India&#39;s complex and entrenched social hierarchy system. 
 
&quot;Neither the BJP nor Congress will come to our help,&quot; Mevani said of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and main opposition party. 
 
&quot;Only our united strength will help us fight the age-old oppression,&quot; the dalit activist told the crowd which police put at 5,000-strong. 
 
Violent protests erupted this month after video footage emerged of an attack on four Dalit villagers who were taking a dead cow to be skinned.&nbsp;Cows are considered sacred by Hindus, and killing them is banned in Gujarat, but the villagers said the animal had died of natural causes. 
 
Dalits are commonly tasked with removing the corpses of dead cows from the streets of India, where the animals often roam freely.&nbsp;Dalit leaders told the rally that a 24-year-old man who had drank poison to protest against the attack died of his injuries in hospital today. 
 
A senior hospital official in Ahmedabad confirmed the death. 
 
Mevani said such suicides were signs of deep despair among low-caste Indians after years of discrimination and violence by those from higher castes who often went unpunished. 
 
&quot;This is the failure of the Gujarat development model, wherein youths have to consume poison to demand their rights,&quot; Mevani said. 
 
The video of the attack showed the four half-naked men tied to a car as the activists took turns to thrash them with belts and batons at a crowded marketplace.&nbsp;Two more Dalits were beaten up after they tried to save the other four. 
 
Attacks by vigilante groups on cow traders and smugglers have increased since Hindu nationalist premier Modi won power in 2014. 
 
(AFP)

Violent protests erupted after video footage emerged of an attack on four dalit villagers taking a dead cow to be skinned

Thousands of socially-backward Dalits, also known as "untouchables", protested in western India today against an attack on their members by cow protection vigilantes. Police surrounded the protesters in Ahmedabad, the main city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, to prevent any violence, as anger among Dalits mounts over the attack. Protest organiser Jignesh Mevani said Dalit youths were trying to kill themselves to protest attacks committed against their caste, which lies at the bottom of India's complex and entrenched social hierarchy system. "Neither the BJP nor Congress will come to our help," Mevani said of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and main opposition party. "Only our united strength will help us fight the age-old oppression," the dalit activist told the crowd which police put at 5,000-strong. Violent protests erupted this month after video footage emerged of an attack on four Dalit villagers who were taking a dead cow to be skinned. Cows are considered sacred by Hindus, and killing them is banned in Gujarat, but the villagers said the animal had died of natural causes. Dalits are commonly tasked with removing the corpses of dead cows from the streets of India, where the animals often roam freely. Dalit leaders told the rally that a 24-year-old man who had drank poison to protest against the attack died of his injuries in hospital today. A senior hospital official in Ahmedabad confirmed the death. Mevani said such suicides were signs of deep despair among low-caste Indians after years of discrimination and violence by those from higher castes who often went unpunished. "This is the failure of the Gujarat development model, wherein youths have to consume poison to demand their rights," Mevani said. The video of the attack showed the four half-naked men tied to a car as the activists took turns to thrash them with belts and batons at a crowded marketplace. Two more Dalits were beaten up after they tried to save the other four. Attacks by vigilante groups on cow traders and smugglers have increased since Hindu nationalist premier Modi won power in 2014. (AFP)

Thousands protest attack on low-caste Dalits in western India

Saudi Arabia Cross-border shelling from war-torn Yemen killed four people in Saudi Arabia on Monday, authorities in the kingdom said.&nbsp;Three others were wounded and hospitalised after the incident in the Jazan region, the civil defence agency said on Twitter without giving details. 
 
Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government in its fight against Iran-backed rebels since March last year.&nbsp;The rebels have in recent days intensified cross-border attacks on the kingdom as peace talks in Kuwait have failed to achieve a breakthrough. 
 
Border clashes left a Saudi army officer and six soldiers dead on Saturday. On July 25, five Saudi border guards were killed in similar clashes.&nbsp;Around 100 members of the Saudi forces and civilians have been killed in skirmishes, by artillery fire or landmines inside the kingdom&#39;s borders, since the coalition launched its campaign. 
 
In Yemen itself, the conflict has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year, according to UN figures. 
 
(AFP)

The rebels have intensified attacks on the kingdom as peace talks in Kuwait have failed to achieve a breakthrough

Saudi Arabia Cross-border shelling from war-torn Yemen killed four people in Saudi Arabia on Monday, authorities in the kingdom said. Three others were wounded and hospitalised after the incident in the Jazan region, the civil defence agency said on Twitter without giving details. Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government in its fight against Iran-backed rebels since March last year. The rebels have in recent days intensified cross-border attacks on the kingdom as peace talks in Kuwait have failed to achieve a breakthrough. Border clashes left a Saudi army officer and six soldiers dead on Saturday. On July 25, five Saudi border guards were killed in similar clashes. Around 100 members of the Saudi forces and civilians have been killed in skirmishes, by artillery fire or landmines inside the kingdom's borders, since the coalition launched its campaign. In Yemen itself, the conflict has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year, according to UN figures. (AFP)

Four dead in Saudi-Yemen cross-border attack

Islamic State&#39;s news agency on Wednesday posted a video of two men it said were those who attacked a church in France in which they pledged allegiance to the group&#39;s leader. 
 
The video was posted by Amaq news agency a day after two men burst into the Catholic church in Normandy during a service, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat. 
 
The two men who identified themselves as Abu Omar and Abu Jalil el-Hanafy appeared in the one-minute video sitting on a staircase pledging loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State&#39;s leader. 
 
One of the two attackers has been named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was under close surveillance after two failed attempts to reach Syria last year, France&#39;s anti-terrorism prosecutor said yesterday 
 
The second attacker remains unidentified. Police shot and killed both assailants as they emerged from the church. 
 
(Reuters)

The two men identified themselves as Abu Omar and Abu Jalil el-Hanafy in the one-minute video and pledged loyalty to Islamic State's leader

Islamic State's news agency on Wednesday posted a video of two men it said were those who attacked a church in France in which they pledged allegiance to the group's leader. The video was posted by Amaq news agency a day after two men burst into the Catholic church in Normandy during a service, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat. The two men who identified themselves as Abu Omar and Abu Jalil el-Hanafy appeared in the one-minute video sitting on a staircase pledging loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State's leader. One of the two attackers has been named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was under close surveillance after two failed attempts to reach Syria last year, France's anti-terrorism prosecutor said yesterday The second attacker remains unidentified. Police shot and killed both assailants as they emerged from the church. (Reuters)

Islamic state posts video of men it says were French church attackers

French Prosecutor Francois Molins yesterday that one of two jihadists who attacked a&nbsp;church&nbsp;in a Normandy town, and slit a priest&#39;s throat, was 19-year-old Adel Kermiche. 
 
Adel Kermiche had been charged with terror links and held before being freed on bail, a source close to the investigation said. 
 
Both men were shot dead by police outside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. 
 
The source said one of them was known to France&#39;s anti-terrorism police and had tried twice to go to Syria in 2015.&nbsp;After his release, he had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet that allows police to locate him at all times. 
 
He had already threatened to attack a church, according to witness testimony collected in his neighbourhood. 
 
&quot;We knew he wanted to go to Syria,&quot; a 60-year-old neighbour of the assailant&#39;s family, who added that he &quot;never saw him go to the mosque&quot; that he attended. 
 
The attacker was detained the first time in Germany, while he was on his way to Syria, the source close to the probe said. He was not yet 18 years old at the time. 
 
The second time, which was after he had turned 18, he went through Switzerland, and was detained in Turkey. He was sent back to Switzerland and then France. 
 
He was charged and jailed for associating with criminals with terror links. He was then released and fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet. 
 
During Tuesday&#39;s attack on the church, 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel had his throat slit and another parishioner was seriously wounded. 
 
&quot;He never spoke to us,&quot; said the neighbour.&nbsp;&quot;The last time I saw him was on Friday. He was playing football in his garden.&quot; 
 
Threats 
 
Another of the town&#39;s residents, a teenager who said he knew the attacker, told the RTL radio station that he was not surprised by what happened yesterday. 
 
&quot;He talked about it all the time. He spoke about Islam, that he was going to do stuff like that. He told me two months ago, &#39;I&#39;m going to do a church.&#39; I didn&#39;t believe him. He said a lot of things,&quot; said the teenager. 
 
Another resident who said he knew the attacker, however, told the same radio station, &quot;He was a young guy like us. I don&#39;t understand how he changed like that.&quot; 
 
&quot;What he did has nothing to do with Muslims, he did that of his own accord,&quot; he added. 
 
(AFP)

Adel Kermiche had tried twice to go to Syria in 2015 and had already threatened to attack a church

French Prosecutor Francois Molins yesterday that one of two jihadists who attacked a church in a Normandy town, and slit a priest's throat, was 19-year-old Adel Kermiche. Adel Kermiche had been charged with terror links and held before being freed on bail, a source close to the investigation said. Both men were shot dead by police outside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The source said one of them was known to France's anti-terrorism police and had tried twice to go to Syria in 2015. After his release, he had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet that allows police to locate him at all times. He had already threatened to attack a church, according to witness testimony collected in his neighbourhood. "We knew he wanted to go to Syria," a 60-year-old neighbour of the assailant's family, who added that he "never saw him go to the mosque" that he attended. The attacker was detained the first time in Germany, while he was on his way to Syria, the source close to the probe said. He was not yet 18 years old at the time. The second time, which was after he had turned 18, he went through Switzerland, and was detained in Turkey. He was sent back to Switzerland and then France. He was charged and jailed for associating with criminals with terror links. He was then released and fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet. During Tuesday's attack on the church, 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel had his throat slit and another parishioner was seriously wounded. "He never spoke to us," said the neighbour. "The last time I saw him was on Friday. He was playing football in his garden." Threats Another of the town's residents, a teenager who said he knew the attacker, told the RTL radio station that he was not surprised by what happened yesterday. "He talked about it all the time. He spoke about Islam, that he was going to do stuff like that. He told me two months ago, 'I'm going to do a church.' I didn't believe him. He said a lot of things," said the teenager. Another resident who said he knew the attacker, however, told the same radio station, "He was a young guy like us. I don't understand how he changed like that." "What he did has nothing to do with Muslims, he did that of his own accord," he added. (AFP)

One French church attacker identified, was charged for terror link

The Tesla electric car driving in semi-autonomous mode when it crashed and killed its driver, was speeding just ahead of impact with a tractor-trailer, a preliminary probe showed yesterday. 
 
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said its preliminary findings showed the Tesla was traveling at 19 kilometres per hour ahead of impact, but noted that investigators have not yet completed an analysis of the crash data or assigned a cause for the fatal collision. 
 
The car was driving in excess of the posted speed limit of 65 miles per hour before the crash. 
 
&quot;All aspects of the crash remain under investigation,&quot; the NTSB said in a statement on its review of the May 7 fatality, which raised concerns about the safety of the rapidly growing field of autonomous driving technology. 
 
The NTSB said the driver was using the advanced driver assistance features called Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer lane keeping assistance. 
 
It was also equipped with automatic emergency braking that is designed to automatically apply the brakes to reduce the severity of or assist in avoiding frontal collisions. 
 
Tesla earlier this month acknowledged the crash and said its sensors failed to pick up the white side of the truck against a brightly lit sky. 
 
With the truck crossing the divided highway, the impact sheared off the top of the car and killed the driver. 
 
Some reports said the driver may have been watching a DVD at the time, ignoring Tesla`s warning to remain vigilant while using the Autopilot system. 
 
Tesla said the Autopilot system, introduced last year, is not a fully autonomous system and that drivers are cautioned that they need to be at the wheel and in control. 
 
The system allows the vehicle to automatically change lanes, manage speed and brake to avoid a collision. The system may be overridden by the driver. 
 
Backers of autonomous driving say that despite the Tesla fatality, the technology is likely to eliminate a large percentage of accidents, which are attributed mainly to human error. 
 
Most major automakers are also looking at autonomous cars. 
 
BMW has announced that it is joining forces with US computer chip giant Intel and the Israeli technology firm Mobileye to develop self-driving cars, aiming for fully automated driving in production cars by 2021. 
 
South Korea`s Kia has pledged to produce a self-driving car by 2020 and General Motors plans to test the technology with ridesharing giant Lyft. 
 
Google has driven its autonomous cars some 2.4 million kilometres with only some minor dust-ups 
 
(AFP)

The car was driving in excess of the posted speed limit of 65 miles per hour before the crash

The Tesla electric car driving in semi-autonomous mode when it crashed and killed its driver, was speeding just ahead of impact with a tractor-trailer, a preliminary probe showed yesterday. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said its preliminary findings showed the Tesla was traveling at 19 kilometres per hour ahead of impact, but noted that investigators have not yet completed an analysis of the crash data or assigned a cause for the fatal collision. The car was driving in excess of the posted speed limit of 65 miles per hour before the crash. "All aspects of the crash remain under investigation," the NTSB said in a statement on its review of the May 7 fatality, which raised concerns about the safety of the rapidly growing field of autonomous driving technology. The NTSB said the driver was using the advanced driver assistance features called Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer lane keeping assistance. It was also equipped with automatic emergency braking that is designed to automatically apply the brakes to reduce the severity of or assist in avoiding frontal collisions. Tesla earlier this month acknowledged the crash and said its sensors failed to pick up the white side of the truck against a brightly lit sky. With the truck crossing the divided highway, the impact sheared off the top of the car and killed the driver. Some reports said the driver may have been watching a DVD at the time, ignoring Tesla`s warning to remain vigilant while using the Autopilot system. Tesla said the Autopilot system, introduced last year, is not a fully autonomous system and that drivers are cautioned that they need to be at the wheel and in control. The system allows the vehicle to automatically change lanes, manage speed and brake to avoid a collision. The system may be overridden by the driver. Backers of autonomous driving say that despite the Tesla fatality, the technology is likely to eliminate a large percentage of accidents, which are attributed mainly to human error. Most major automakers are also looking at autonomous cars. BMW has announced that it is joining forces with US computer chip giant Intel and the Israeli technology firm Mobileye to develop self-driving cars, aiming for fully automated driving in production cars by 2021. South Korea`s Kia has pledged to produce a self-driving car by 2020 and General Motors plans to test the technology with ridesharing giant Lyft. Google has driven its autonomous cars some 2.4 million kilometres with only some minor dust-ups (AFP)

Driver was speeding before fatal Tesla Autopilot crash, finds probe

The teenager who shot dead nine people in Munich had likely hacked a Facebook account and used it to lure victims to the McDonald&#39;s outlet where he began his rampage, the German interior minister said today. 
 
Thomas de Maiziere told reporters in Berlin that the shooter, a German-Iranian 18-year-old, had likely used a hacked account to &quot;invite (the victims) to go to the branch, offering them special reductions&quot;. 
 
&quot;Some of our findings suggest that the killer&quot; broke into a girl&#39;s account and used it to send invitations to go to the restaurant at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Friday. 
 
&quot;I will give you whatever you want, for not a lot of money,&quot; the online invite read, according to German media reports. 
 
The shooter, David Ali Sonboly, killed nine people and injured 16 others at the Olympia mall in Munich.&nbsp;He fled the shopping centre and then committed suicide, with his body found later Friday night a kilometre from the scene of the rampage. 
 
Most of the victims in Friday&#39;s attack were foreigners, including three Turkish nationals, three people from Kosovo and a Greek man.&nbsp;The casualties were mostly young, with three aged just 14 and two aged 15. 
 
De Maiziere said Sonboly had likely been bullied by other &quot;young people his age&quot;. 
 
(AFP)

The attacker hacked into a girl's account and sent online invitations. 'I will give you whatever you want, for not a lot of money', it read

The teenager who shot dead nine people in Munich had likely hacked a Facebook account and used it to lure victims to the McDonald's outlet where he began his rampage, the German interior minister said today. Thomas de Maiziere told reporters in Berlin that the shooter, a German-Iranian 18-year-old, had likely used a hacked account to "invite (the victims) to go to the branch, offering them special reductions". "Some of our findings suggest that the killer" broke into a girl's account and used it to send invitations to go to the restaurant at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Friday. "I will give you whatever you want, for not a lot of money," the online invite read, according to German media reports. The shooter, David Ali Sonboly, killed nine people and injured 16 others at the Olympia mall in Munich. He fled the shopping centre and then committed suicide, with his body found later Friday night a kilometre from the scene of the rampage. Most of the victims in Friday's attack were foreigners, including three Turkish nationals, three people from Kosovo and a Greek man. The casualties were mostly young, with three aged just 14 and two aged 15. De Maiziere said Sonboly had likely been bullied by other "young people his age". (AFP)

Munich killer lured victims using Facebook

Two people were killed in rain-related incidents in north Indian state of Uttarakhand today even as the showers subsided at most places including in capital city Dehradun where the sun emerged in the afternoon after a couple of days. 
 
India Meteorological Department (MeT) has forecast a decrease in rainfall from today onwards which may lead to lowering of water levels in the rivers. 
 
&quot;Though widespread rains from across Uttarakhand were reported this morning, they were moderate at most places and heavy only at a few, mostly in Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri, Almora and Nainital districts.&nbsp;There will be further decrease in rainfall from today onwards with a drop in both intensity and distribution,&quot; said MeT director Vikram Singh, adding that there was no &quot;heavy rain&quot; warning for the state today or the next three to four days. 
 
The current spell of heavy rains has affected the Chardham Yatra, a pilgrimage to four holy sites in India, with the highways leading to the Himalayan shrines of Badrinath and Kedarnath still blocked. 
 
Sahdev Chohri, a bank employee, was killed in Uttarkashi town of the state when the car he was driving fell into a swollen Bhagirathi river after being hit by a boulder due to a landslip, said Dharasu police station in-charge Ravindra Yadav.&nbsp;The mishap occurred on Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway when Chohri was on his way from Chinyalisaur town to Uttarkashi where he used to work in Punjab National Bank, he said. 
 
It took National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) personnel four hours to recover the body from the river. 
 
A child drowned in Badhedi Rajputana village of Haridwar district after being swept away by flood waters this morning. 
 
With these incidents, the number of casualties during the current spell of rains in the state has risen to 14 since Friday.&nbsp;Two more people from Jamalpur Khurd village of Haridwar district drowned late last night. 
 
Four were killed in Tehri district last evening as their car was hit by debris falling from the hill due to a landslide triggered by heavy rains.&nbsp;One woman was killed on Saturday morning when the bus she was travelling in overturned after being hit by the overflowing waters of a swollen canal at Haldwani in Nainital district. 
 
A tree fell over a cowshed late on Saturday evening in Uttarkashi town killing one on the spot and leaving two injured of whom, one succumbed on way to the hospital.&nbsp;A car skidded off the road and fell into a gorge, killing three and leaving two others injured in Pauri district on Saturday evening. 
 
(PTI)

India's Meteorological Department forecast a decrease in rainfall from today onwards, which may lead to lowering of water levels in rivers

Two people were killed in rain-related incidents in north Indian state of Uttarakhand today even as the showers subsided at most places including in capital city Dehradun where the sun emerged in the afternoon after a couple of days. India Meteorological Department (MeT) has forecast a decrease in rainfall from today onwards which may lead to lowering of water levels in the rivers. "Though widespread rains from across Uttarakhand were reported this morning, they were moderate at most places and heavy only at a few, mostly in Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri, Almora and Nainital districts. There will be further decrease in rainfall from today onwards with a drop in both intensity and distribution," said MeT director Vikram Singh, adding that there was no "heavy rain" warning for the state today or the next three to four days. The current spell of heavy rains has affected the Chardham Yatra, a pilgrimage to four holy sites in India, with the highways leading to the Himalayan shrines of Badrinath and Kedarnath still blocked. Sahdev Chohri, a bank employee, was killed in Uttarkashi town of the state when the car he was driving fell into a swollen Bhagirathi river after being hit by a boulder due to a landslip, said Dharasu police station in-charge Ravindra Yadav. The mishap occurred on Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway when Chohri was on his way from Chinyalisaur town to Uttarkashi where he used to work in Punjab National Bank, he said. It took National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) personnel four hours to recover the body from the river. A child drowned in Badhedi Rajputana village of Haridwar district after being swept away by flood waters this morning. With these incidents, the number of casualties during the current spell of rains in the state has risen to 14 since Friday. Two more people from Jamalpur Khurd village of Haridwar district drowned late last night. Four were killed in Tehri district last evening as their car was hit by debris falling from the hill due to a landslide triggered by heavy rains. One woman was killed on Saturday morning when the bus she was travelling in overturned after being hit by the overflowing waters of a swollen canal at Haldwani in Nainital district. A tree fell over a cowshed late on Saturday evening in Uttarkashi town killing one on the spot and leaving two injured of whom, one succumbed on way to the hospital. A car skidded off the road and fell into a gorge, killing three and leaving two others injured in Pauri district on Saturday evening. (PTI)

14 killed over weekend in rain-related incidents in north India

The Nice truck attacker staked out the seafront for two days before striking, it emerged Sunday, as investigators pieced together details of the IS-claimed massacre and questioned possible accomplices. 
 
A source close to the investigation told AFP that Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, sent a text message just before the attack in which he &quot;expresses satisfaction at having obtained a 7.65mm pistol and discusses the supply of other weapons&quot;.&nbsp;He also took a selfie at the wheel of the 19-tonne truck in the days before he ploughed it into a crowd of people who had been enjoying a fireworks display on Bastille Day, France&#39;s national day, killing 84 and injuring about 300. 
 
Mangled bodies were left strewn across the Riviera city&#39;s seafront in the grisly attack by a man described by those who knew him as a loner with a history of violence and depression. 
 
While some relatives and friends described the delivery driver as someone who drank heavily and never attended the local mosque, others questioned by investigators spoke of &quot;a recent shift to radical Islam&quot;, said a police source.&nbsp;But there has been no evidence yet linking him to the Islamic State group, which on Saturday claimed the attack. 
 
An Albanian suspected of providing the driver with the pistol was arrested in Nice on Sunday. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel fired at police who sprayed his rampaging truck with gunfire, eventually killing him.&nbsp;Two replica assault rifles and a dummy grenade were also found in the truck, which he rented a few days earlier and used for reconnaissance on the seafront on the two consecutive days before the attack. 
 
One of five other people being held over the carnage is a 22-year-old suspected of lending logistical support, said his lawyer Jean-Pascal Padovani. 
 
The lawyer said the pair had only known each other for a few months.&nbsp;Lahouaiej-Bouhlel&#39;s estranged wife, the mother of his three children, was released Sunday after two days of questioning. 
 
Slow identification of victims 
 
In Nice, many people were still desperately waiting for news of their loved ones.&nbsp;Prosecutors said only 35 victims have been officially identified as they take painstaking measures to avoid errors of identification seen during the Paris attacks last November. 
 
&quot;We have no news, neither good nor bad,&quot; said Johanna, a Lithuanian who was looking for her two friends, aged 20. 
 
At least 10 children were among the dead, as well as tourists from the United States, Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany and about 10 people from Russia, a local Russian association said.&nbsp;Health Minister Marisol Touraine said 85 people were still hospitalised, 18 of them in critical condition. 
 
&#39;Radicalised very quickly&#39; 
 
Despite several brushes with the law for petty crime, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had never appeared on the radar of intelligence services.&nbsp;Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Saturday he &quot;seemed to have been radicalised very quickly, from what his friends and family&quot; told police. 
 
People who went to the same gym as Lahouaiej-Bouhlel - where he took salsa dancing classes and lifted weights - described him as a vain man who &quot;flirted with anything that moved&quot;. 
 
The Islamic State group said one of its &quot;soldiers&quot; carried out the attack in response to its calls to target countries from the US-led coalition engaged in airstrikes against the group. 
 
Cazeneuve described the massacre as a &quot;a new kind of attack&quot;. 
 
&quot;We are now confronted with individuals open to IS&#39;s message to engage in extremely violent actions without necessarily having been trained or having the weapons to carry out a mass (casualty) attack,&quot; he said. 
 
Patriots called to volunteer 
 
France&#39;s third major attack in the past 18 months has left the government fending off criticism over security failures and scrambling to reassure citizens about their safety.&nbsp;Cazeneuve called for volunteers to boost the security forces who were already on high alert under an eight-month-old state of emergency. 
 
&quot;I want to call on all French patriots who wish to do so, to join this operational reserve,&quot; said Cazeneuve of a force currently made up of 12,000 volunteers aged between 17 and 30. 
 
The latest attack comes after a French parliamentary inquiry last week criticised numerous failings by the intelligence services following jihadist assaults in January and November last year. 
 
France is a prime target of IS, due to its role in fighting the group in Iraq and Syria, its emphasis on secular values, and what the government has admitted is a &quot;social and ethnic apartheid&quot; that alienates its large Muslim community.&nbsp;Hundreds of French jihadists have gone to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria. 
 
French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted that IS had recently repeated calls for supporters to &quot;directly attack the French, Americans, wherever they are and by whatever means&quot;. 
 
&quot;Even when Daesh is not the organiser, Daesh breathes life into the terrorist spirit that we are fighting,&quot; he said, using an Arabic name for IS. 
 
(AFP)

Only 35 victims have been officially identified as prosecutors take painstaking measures to avoid errors seen during November's Paris attack

The Nice truck attacker staked out the seafront for two days before striking, it emerged Sunday, as investigators pieced together details of the IS-claimed massacre and questioned possible accomplices. A source close to the investigation told AFP that Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, sent a text message just before the attack in which he "expresses satisfaction at having obtained a 7.65mm pistol and discusses the supply of other weapons". He also took a selfie at the wheel of the 19-tonne truck in the days before he ploughed it into a crowd of people who had been enjoying a fireworks display on Bastille Day, France's national day, killing 84 and injuring about 300. Mangled bodies were left strewn across the Riviera city's seafront in the grisly attack by a man described by those who knew him as a loner with a history of violence and depression. While some relatives and friends described the delivery driver as someone who drank heavily and never attended the local mosque, others questioned by investigators spoke of "a recent shift to radical Islam", said a police source. But there has been no evidence yet linking him to the Islamic State group, which on Saturday claimed the attack. An Albanian suspected of providing the driver with the pistol was arrested in Nice on Sunday. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel fired at police who sprayed his rampaging truck with gunfire, eventually killing him. Two replica assault rifles and a dummy grenade were also found in the truck, which he rented a few days earlier and used for reconnaissance on the seafront on the two consecutive days before the attack. One of five other people being held over the carnage is a 22-year-old suspected of lending logistical support, said his lawyer Jean-Pascal Padovani. The lawyer said the pair had only known each other for a few months. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's estranged wife, the mother of his three children, was released Sunday after two days of questioning. Slow identification of victims In Nice, many people were still desperately waiting for news of their loved ones. Prosecutors said only 35 victims have been officially identified as they take painstaking measures to avoid errors of identification seen during the Paris attacks last November. "We have no news, neither good nor bad," said Johanna, a Lithuanian who was looking for her two friends, aged 20. At least 10 children were among the dead, as well as tourists from the United States, Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany and about 10 people from Russia, a local Russian association said. Health Minister Marisol Touraine said 85 people were still hospitalised, 18 of them in critical condition. 'Radicalised very quickly' Despite several brushes with the law for petty crime, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had never appeared on the radar of intelligence services. Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Saturday he "seemed to have been radicalised very quickly, from what his friends and family" told police. People who went to the same gym as Lahouaiej-Bouhlel - where he took salsa dancing classes and lifted weights - described him as a vain man who "flirted with anything that moved". The Islamic State group said one of its "soldiers" carried out the attack in response to its calls to target countries from the US-led coalition engaged in airstrikes against the group. Cazeneuve described the massacre as a "a new kind of attack". "We are now confronted with individuals open to IS's message to engage in extremely violent actions without necessarily having been trained or having the weapons to carry out a mass (casualty) attack," he said. Patriots called to volunteer France's third major attack in the past 18 months has left the government fending off criticism over security failures and scrambling to reassure citizens about their safety. Cazeneuve called for volunteers to boost the security forces who were already on high alert under an eight-month-old state of emergency. "I want to call on all French patriots who wish to do so, to join this operational reserve," said Cazeneuve of a force currently made up of 12,000 volunteers aged between 17 and 30. The latest attack comes after a French parliamentary inquiry last week criticised numerous failings by the intelligence services following jihadist assaults in January and November last year. France is a prime target of IS, due to its role in fighting the group in Iraq and Syria, its emphasis on secular values, and what the government has admitted is a "social and ethnic apartheid" that alienates its large Muslim community. Hundreds of French jihadists have gone to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria. French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted that IS had recently repeated calls for supporters to "directly attack the French, Americans, wherever they are and by whatever means". "Even when Daesh is not the organiser, Daesh breathes life into the terrorist spirit that we are fighting," he said, using an Arabic name for IS. (AFP)

Nice attack investigation unfolds gradually

French President Francois Hollande said Thursday&#39;s lethal attack on the southern city of Nice was clearly a terrorist assault and that the state of emergency imposed since since jihadists killed 130 in Paris on November 13, 2015&nbsp;would be extended for another three months. 
 
Speaking after an emergency meeting in the early hours of Friday morning, Hollande said at least 77 people were killed in an attack in which the assailant drove a big truck at high speed into dense crowds who were watching a fireworks display on the country&#39;s national Bastille Day holiday. 
 
&quot;There&#39;s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence,&quot; the French leader said in a national television address at 4am (0200 GMT), about five or six hours after the carnage in Nice.&nbsp;There was a sense of deja vu in France as the visibly moved President took to the airwaves to address a nation once again in mourning. 
 
As an act of terror, the incident will be the third major attack on French soil in 18 months - with several smaller-scale jihadist killings also having taken place. 
 
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.&nbsp; 
 
Hollande calls up reservists to boost security 
 
President Francois Hollande had called on reservists to boost the ranks of police and gendarmes after the attack. 
 
France&#39;s &quot;operational reservists&quot; include French citizens with or without military experience as well as former soldiers. Hollande said they would in particular be used to boost &quot;border controls&quot;. 
 
&#39;France will strengthen role in Iraq and Syria&#39; 
 
Hollande also vowed to strengthen his country&#39;s role in the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria after a deadly attack on Nice, which has not been claimed by any group. 
 
&quot;Nothing will make us yield in our will to fight terrorism. We will further strengthen our actions in Iraq and in Syria. We will continue striking those who attack us on our own soil,&quot; he said, in reference to the Islamic State group. 
 
(Reuters)

State of emergency imposed since jihadists killed 130 in Paris on November 13, 2015?will be extended for another three months

French President Francois Hollande said Thursday's lethal attack on the southern city of Nice was clearly a terrorist assault and that the state of emergency imposed since since jihadists killed 130 in Paris on November 13, 2015 would be extended for another three months. Speaking after an emergency meeting in the early hours of Friday morning, Hollande said at least 77 people were killed in an attack in which the assailant drove a big truck at high speed into dense crowds who were watching a fireworks display on the country's national Bastille Day holiday. "There's no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence," the French leader said in a national television address at 4am (0200 GMT), about five or six hours after the carnage in Nice. There was a sense of deja vu in France as the visibly moved President took to the airwaves to address a nation once again in mourning. As an act of terror, the incident will be the third major attack on French soil in 18 months - with several smaller-scale jihadist killings also having taken place. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Hollande calls up reservists to boost security President Francois Hollande had called on reservists to boost the ranks of police and gendarmes after the attack. France's "operational reservists" include French citizens with or without military experience as well as former soldiers. Hollande said they would in particular be used to boost "border controls". 'France will strengthen role in Iraq and Syria' Hollande also vowed to strengthen his country's role in the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria after a deadly attack on Nice, which has not been claimed by any group. "Nothing will make us yield in our will to fight terrorism. We will further strengthen our actions in Iraq and in Syria. We will continue striking those who attack us on our own soil," he said, in reference to the Islamic State group. (Reuters)

Nice attack clearly of terrorist nature, says Hollande

At least 84 are dead, including more than 10 children, after a truck slammed into a crowd late Thursday night in the southern French city of Nice.&nbsp; 
 
About 30 000 were out celebrating France&rsquo;s Bastille Day, their day of liberty. Many families stayed up late to watch the fireworks. Eyewitnesses say the truck was driving at full speed towards the crowds, zigzagging to ensure the driver hit as many people as possible. Parents were seen frantically throwing their children out of harm&rsquo;s way. 
 
The driver, a 31-year-old Frenchman of Tunisian descent, was shot dead by police at the scene. He has been identified by local media as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. Guns and a grenade were found inside the truck but are reported to be fakes. 
 
According to Tunisian security sources, the attacker Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was married and had three children. He visited Tunisia frequently, the last time eight months ago. 
 
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had been in trouble with the police in the past for petty crime, but he was not on the watch list of radicalised young men. 
 
A photograph showed the front of the truck riddled with bullet holes and badly damaged, with burst tyres. 
 
A lone doll lay abandoned on the promenade where families celebrated the holiday just hours earlier. 
 
Robert Holloway, an AFP reporter who witnessed the white truck driving at speed into the crowd, described scenes of &quot;absolute chaos&quot;. 
 
&quot;We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around. I had to protect my face from flying debris,&quot; Holloway said. 
 
On Twitter, people mobilised fast, with citizens offering safe refuge under the hashtag #PortesOuvertesNice (Nice Open Doors). 
 
An account called SOS Nice was set up where desperate pleas for news of missing loved ones went out with pictures of a young girl with braces or a teenager pulling a funny face among those posted. 
 
Some were quickly tracked down, according to relieved tweets. 
 
French President Francois Hollande said 50 injured were in a critical condition &quot;between life and death&rdquo; and many of the victims were foreigners. Two American citizens, a Ukrainian, a Russian and a Swiss woman are among the dead. 
 
Hollande has announced that he will extend the state of emergency for another three months. It has been in place since November&#39;s Paris attacks carried out by Islamic State militants&nbsp;in which 130 died.&nbsp; 
 
&#39;Horrific terrorist attack&#39; 
 
The attack is the third major strike against France in less than 18 months and prosecutors said anti-terrorist investigators will handle the probe. 
 
The Islamic State group has repeatedly singled out France as a prime target for its military actions against the group in Iraq and Syria, and hundreds of jihadists have left France to go and fight in its ranks. 
 
Luc Belmont, a taxi driver in Nice, said &ldquo;the people of Nice are enraged at what has happened and heartbroken too.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
 
But Belmont believes the blame lies with the authorities. &ldquo;You reap what you sow. These people are getting radicalised in our own jails. We need to stop it there, we have not been dealing with this problem.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
 
The French police are still dealing with a scene of a mass murder that extends over two kilometres. Before there can be tributes to the victims, they have to fully investigate and clear the crime scene. 
 
World leaders expressed their sadness and their solidarity with France. 
 
US President Barack Obama condemned &quot;in the strongest terms&quot; what he said appeared to be &quot;a horrific terrorist attack in Nice&rdquo; 
 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote &ldquo;India shares the pain &amp; stands firmly with our French sisters &amp; brothers in this hour of immense sadness.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
 
While, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she was &quot;shocked and saddened by the horrifying attack in Nice&quot; 
 
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has declared three days of national mourning, starting from Saturday. 
 
&#39;He crushed a lot of people&#39; 
 
The Mediterranean city of Nice, with its pebble beaches and clear blue water, has been a magnet for sun-seekers and the jet-set since the 19th century. 
 
A witness named Nader told BFM television he had seen the whole attack from start to finish&nbsp;and had initially thought the driver had &quot;lost control&quot;. 
 
&quot;I was in the street. He stopped just in front of me after he (crushed) a lot of people. I saw a guy in the street, we were trying to speak to the driver to get him to stop.&quot; 
 
&quot;He looked nervous. There was a girl under the car, he smashed her. The guy next to me pulled her out,&quot; he said in broken English. 
 
Nadr said he saw the driver pull out a gun and start shooting at police. 
 
&quot;They killed him and his head was out the window.&quot; 
 
The Promenade des Anglais was sealed off, crawling with police and ambulances as authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urged residents to stay indoors. 
 
Over the past week, France had been breathing a sigh of relief after successfully hosting the month-long Euro 2016 football championship&nbsp;which passed off without incident despite fears of attacks. 
 
The tournament brought an all-too-brief burst of joy to a gloomy France, bogged down after the two attacks in 2015, violent anti-government protests, strikes and floods. 
 
European Council president Donald Tusk said: &quot;It&#39;s a sad day for France, for Europe, for all of us.&quot; 
 
&quot;The subjects of the attack were people celebrating liberty, equality and fraternity.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from AFP)

Driver shot dead. Authorities find identity papers belonging to a 31-year-old French-Tunisian citizen in the truck

At least 84 are dead, including more than 10 children, after a truck slammed into a crowd late Thursday night in the southern French city of Nice. About 30 000 were out celebrating France’s Bastille Day, their day of liberty. Many families stayed up late to watch the fireworks. Eyewitnesses say the truck was driving at full speed towards the crowds, zigzagging to ensure the driver hit as many people as possible. Parents were seen frantically throwing their children out of harm’s way. The driver, a 31-year-old Frenchman of Tunisian descent, was shot dead by police at the scene. He has been identified by local media as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. Guns and a grenade were found inside the truck but are reported to be fakes. According to Tunisian security sources, the attacker Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was married and had three children. He visited Tunisia frequently, the last time eight months ago. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had been in trouble with the police in the past for petty crime, but he was not on the watch list of radicalised young men. A photograph showed the front of the truck riddled with bullet holes and badly damaged, with burst tyres. A lone doll lay abandoned on the promenade where families celebrated the holiday just hours earlier. Robert Holloway, an AFP reporter who witnessed the white truck driving at speed into the crowd, described scenes of "absolute chaos". "We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around. I had to protect my face from flying debris," Holloway said. On Twitter, people mobilised fast, with citizens offering safe refuge under the hashtag #PortesOuvertesNice (Nice Open Doors). An account called SOS Nice was set up where desperate pleas for news of missing loved ones went out with pictures of a young girl with braces or a teenager pulling a funny face among those posted. Some were quickly tracked down, according to relieved tweets. French President Francois Hollande said 50 injured were in a critical condition "between life and death” and many of the victims were foreigners. Two American citizens, a Ukrainian, a Russian and a Swiss woman are among the dead. Hollande has announced that he will extend the state of emergency for another three months. It has been in place since November's Paris attacks carried out by Islamic State militants in which 130 died. 'Horrific terrorist attack' The attack is the third major strike against France in less than 18 months and prosecutors said anti-terrorist investigators will handle the probe. The Islamic State group has repeatedly singled out France as a prime target for its military actions against the group in Iraq and Syria, and hundreds of jihadists have left France to go and fight in its ranks. Luc Belmont, a taxi driver in Nice, said “the people of Nice are enraged at what has happened and heartbroken too.” But Belmont believes the blame lies with the authorities. “You reap what you sow. These people are getting radicalised in our own jails. We need to stop it there, we have not been dealing with this problem.” The French police are still dealing with a scene of a mass murder that extends over two kilometres. Before there can be tributes to the victims, they have to fully investigate and clear the crime scene. World leaders expressed their sadness and their solidarity with France. US President Barack Obama condemned "in the strongest terms" what he said appeared to be "a horrific terrorist attack in Nice” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote “India shares the pain & stands firmly with our French sisters & brothers in this hour of immense sadness.” While, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "shocked and saddened by the horrifying attack in Nice" French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has declared three days of national mourning, starting from Saturday. 'He crushed a lot of people' The Mediterranean city of Nice, with its pebble beaches and clear blue water, has been a magnet for sun-seekers and the jet-set since the 19th century. A witness named Nader told BFM television he had seen the whole attack from start to finish and had initially thought the driver had "lost control". "I was in the street. He stopped just in front of me after he (crushed) a lot of people. I saw a guy in the street, we were trying to speak to the driver to get him to stop." "He looked nervous. There was a girl under the car, he smashed her. The guy next to me pulled her out," he said in broken English. Nadr said he saw the driver pull out a gun and start shooting at police. "They killed him and his head was out the window." The Promenade des Anglais was sealed off, crawling with police and ambulances as authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urged residents to stay indoors. Over the past week, France had been breathing a sigh of relief after successfully hosting the month-long Euro 2016 football championship which passed off without incident despite fears of attacks. The tournament brought an all-too-brief burst of joy to a gloomy France, bogged down after the two attacks in 2015, violent anti-government protests, strikes and floods. European Council president Donald Tusk said: "It's a sad day for France, for Europe, for all of us." "The subjects of the attack were people celebrating liberty, equality and fraternity." (WION with inputs from AFP)

At least 84 dead in Nice, France after 19-tonne truck ploughs two kilometres through Bastille Day crowd

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting on the situation in Kashmir Valley, which has been rocked by violent protests in the wake of the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani.&nbsp;Back from a visit to four African countries, Modi convened a meeting of Union Ministers and senior officials. 
 
The Prime Minister was given a detailed presentation of the situation prevailing in the Valley which has witnessed escalating protests following the killing of Wani on Friday.&nbsp;Violent clashes between security forces and protestors have so far left 24 dead. 
 
The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj,&nbsp;Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar among others. 
 
Yesterday, Parrikar, Jaitley and Doval, who returned a day earlier from Africa where he was accompanying the Prime Minister, had met to discuss the situation.&nbsp;The Ministers were briefed by Chiefs of central security agencies about the steps taken to bring back peace and normalcy in the Valley. 
 
All forces have been asked to ensure security of Amarnath pilgrims and enhance vigil along the border to check fresh attempts of infiltration from across the border.&nbsp;Sources said security forces were asked to ensure judicious use of force against protesting civilians. 
 
Parrikar had told reporters that an overall assessment of security situation in Kashmir has to be done by the Home Ministry and Army was ready to provide any assistance like increasing force levels in any areas required. 
 
Earlier, the Home Minister had reached out to opposition leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Parliamentary leaders of all parties, and discussed the prevailing situation there. 
 
During the telephone conversation with Gandhi and National Conference leader Omar, the Home Minister had discussed with them efforts to bring back peace and normalcy in Kashmir Valley. 
 
(PTI)

The region has been rocked by violent protests in the wake of the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, leaving 24 dead

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting on the situation in Kashmir Valley, which has been rocked by violent protests in the wake of the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. Back from a visit to four African countries, Modi convened a meeting of Union Ministers and senior officials. The Prime Minister was given a detailed presentation of the situation prevailing in the Valley which has witnessed escalating protests following the killing of Wani on Friday. Violent clashes between security forces and protestors have so far left 24 dead. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar among others. Yesterday, Parrikar, Jaitley and Doval, who returned a day earlier from Africa where he was accompanying the Prime Minister, had met to discuss the situation. The Ministers were briefed by Chiefs of central security agencies about the steps taken to bring back peace and normalcy in the Valley. All forces have been asked to ensure security of Amarnath pilgrims and enhance vigil along the border to check fresh attempts of infiltration from across the border. Sources said security forces were asked to ensure judicious use of force against protesting civilians. Parrikar had told reporters that an overall assessment of security situation in Kashmir has to be done by the Home Ministry and Army was ready to provide any assistance like increasing force levels in any areas required. Earlier, the Home Minister had reached out to opposition leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Parliamentary leaders of all parties, and discussed the prevailing situation there. During the telephone conversation with Gandhi and National Conference leader Omar, the Home Minister had discussed with them efforts to bring back peace and normalcy in Kashmir Valley. (PTI)

Indian PM Narendra Modi meets with ministers and senior officials over fatal Kashmir clashes

Nine people were killed in a stampede at a party in central Ghana to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, a public official told reporters today. 
&nbsp; 
&quot;We so far have nine people who are dead, six females and three males,&quot; said Nurudeen Hamidan, the head of the Asokore Mampong municipal assembly, in the city of Kumasi. 
 
There was no immediate comment from the police in the city, which is 255 kilometres (160 miles) northwest of the capital, Accra. 
&nbsp; 
But Hamidan said three bodies have been identified so far and six people were injured, one of them critical and were receiving treatment in hospital. 
&nbsp; 
The party was organised on Wednesday at a community centre in the Asawase area of Kumasi as the climax to the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, which marks the end of a month of fasting and prayer. 
 
Local member of parliament Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka said carnivals were often held to celebrate the occasion but in the past have been marked by clashes between youths. 
 
Organisers had told police the carnival would end by 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) and a group, thought to number about 300, moved to the community centre, where a fight reportedly broke out, he added. 
&nbsp; 
&quot;In a bid for people to rush out... there was this stampede,&quot; said Muntaka, from President John Dramani Mahama`s National Democratic Congress. 
&nbsp; 
But Hamidan said there were conflicting reports about the cause of the tragedy and a security meeting had been called today afternoon to determine what happened. 
 
&quot;People are saying so many things. Some are saying that there was a lights out and the meter sparked and the sound of the meter made people agitated,&quot; he said. 
&nbsp; 
&quot;Others are saying that they finished the programme, they were leaving and there was a stampede along the way. 
 
&quot;As to what caused the actual stampede the security agencies are working to unravel what happened and we will take it on from there.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
(AFP)

The party was organised on Wednesday at a community centre in the Asawase area of Kumasi as the climax to the Eid-ul-Fitr festival

Nine people were killed in a stampede at a party in central Ghana to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, a public official told reporters today. "We so far have nine people who are dead, six females and three males," said Nurudeen Hamidan, the head of the Asokore Mampong municipal assembly, in the city of Kumasi. There was no immediate comment from the police in the city, which is 255 kilometres (160 miles) northwest of the capital, Accra. But Hamidan said three bodies have been identified so far and six people were injured, one of them critical and were receiving treatment in hospital. The party was organised on Wednesday at a community centre in the Asawase area of Kumasi as the climax to the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, which marks the end of a month of fasting and prayer. Local member of parliament Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka said carnivals were often held to celebrate the occasion but in the past have been marked by clashes between youths. Organisers had told police the carnival would end by 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) and a group, thought to number about 300, moved to the community centre, where a fight reportedly broke out, he added. "In a bid for people to rush out... there was this stampede," said Muntaka, from President John Dramani Mahama`s National Democratic Congress. But Hamidan said there were conflicting reports about the cause of the tragedy and a security meeting had been called today afternoon to determine what happened. "People are saying so many things. Some are saying that there was a lights out and the meter sparked and the sound of the meter made people agitated," he said. "Others are saying that they finished the programme, they were leaving and there was a stampede along the way. "As to what caused the actual stampede the security agencies are working to unravel what happened and we will take it on from there." (AFP)

Nine dead in Eid party stampede in Ghana

Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up in the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday night, killing 36 people and wounding close to 150, officials said. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that initial indications point at Islamic State as being responsible for the attack. 
 
&quot;According to assessments so far, 36 people have lost their lives and there were also many wounded,&quot; Yildirim told reporters at the site of the attack on Europe&#39;s third-busiest airport. The attack took place shortly before 10 pm local time when two gunmen opened fire at a security checkpoint at Ataturk airport, The New York Times quoted officials. 
 
Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport, but they detonated their explosives, one of the officials said. 
 
Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said authorities believed there were three suicide bombers, an account corroborated by witnesses. 
 
A Turkish official said the vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals, but foreigners were also among the dead. 
 
&quot;There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can&#39;t recognise it, the damage is big,&quot; said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place. 
 
A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks. 
 
&quot;Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors,&quot; she said outside the airport. 
 
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a string of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, but the Dogan news agency said initial indications suggested Islamic State may have been responsible, citing police sources. 
 
A Turkish official said it was too soon to assign blame. 
 
The attack bore some similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital. 
 
Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers &quot;randomly shooting&quot; on the departures floor of the terminal. 
 
&quot;He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres (55 yards) away from him,&quot; said Roos, a South African on his way back to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey. 
 
&quot;We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting,&quot; Roos told Reuters. 
 
&quot;He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.&quot; 
 
&quot;Could have been anywhere&quot; 
 
President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups. 
 
&quot;The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values,&quot; he said in a statement. 
 
&quot;The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world,&quot; he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism. 
 
Speaking in Parliament earlier, Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag said initial reports suggested one attacker had initially opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated explosives. 
 
Ataturk is Turkey&#39;s largest airport and a major transport hub for international travellers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings. 
 
A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The US embassy urged US citizens to avoid the area. 
 
Flights halted 
 
Authorities halted the take-off of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted. 
 
The airport will be closed for up to 48 hours, Turkey told one foreign government. 
 
In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region. 
 
Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group. 
 
In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor&#39;s office. 
 
Turkey, which is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast. 
 
One person was killed on December 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul&#39;s second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group. 
 
(Agencies)

Three gunmen with suspected links to IS fired indiscriminately in Turkey's international airport before blowing themselves up

Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up in the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday night, killing 36 people and wounding close to 150, officials said. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that initial indications point at Islamic State as being responsible for the attack. "According to assessments so far, 36 people have lost their lives and there were also many wounded," Yildirim told reporters at the site of the attack on Europe's third-busiest airport. The attack took place shortly before 10 pm local time when two gunmen opened fire at a security checkpoint at Ataturk airport, The New York Times quoted officials. Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport, but they detonated their explosives, one of the officials said. Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said authorities believed there were three suicide bombers, an account corroborated by witnesses. A Turkish official said the vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals, but foreigners were also among the dead. "There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place. A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks. "Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a string of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, but the Dogan news agency said initial indications suggested Islamic State may have been responsible, citing police sources. A Turkish official said it was too soon to assign blame. The attack bore some similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital. Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers "randomly shooting" on the departures floor of the terminal. "He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres (55 yards) away from him," said Roos, a South African on his way back to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey. "We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters. "He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over." "Could have been anywhere" President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups. "The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement. "The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism. Speaking in Parliament earlier, Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag said initial reports suggested one attacker had initially opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated explosives. Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travellers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings. A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The US embassy urged US citizens to avoid the area. Flights halted Authorities halted the take-off of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted. The airport will be closed for up to 48 hours, Turkey told one foreign government. In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region. Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group. In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office. Turkey, which is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast. One person was killed on December 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group. (Agencies)

Istanbul airport suicide attack: 41 dead, 239 wounded, Turkish PM says initial findings point to Islamic State

Somalia&#39;s al Shabaab Islamist group launched a suicide bomb attack on a hotel in the centre of Mogadishu on Saturday before fighters stormed inside, police and the militant group said. 
 
Police said at least seven people had died and 10 others were wounded. Gunfire echoed round the seaside city after the blast and ambulances raced to the scene. 
 
&quot;We attacked the hotel which was frequented by the apostate government members,&quot; al Shabaab military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters, adding that the group&#39;s fighters were inside the building. 
 
Al Shabaab frequently carries out attacks in the capital in its bid to topple the Western-backed government. 
 
&quot;Those who died included civilians and hotel guards,&quot; police major Ali Hassan told Reuters. 
 
&quot;We have rescued many people from the back door. No one can enter the building from the front or near the front. There are snipers there,&quot; he said as fighting continued. 
 
Earlier, another police officer said the initial blast was caused by a suicide bomber before fighters stormed into the Nasahablood hotel. There was a heavy exchange of gunfire. 
 
Muslims in&nbsp;Somalia&nbsp;and around the world are observing Ramadan. In previous years, al Shabaab has often intensified attacks during the fasting month, often picking targets where people gather just before or after breaking the fast. 
 
(Reuters)

Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group launched a suicide bomb attack on a hotel in the centre of Mogadishu on Saturday before fighters stormed inside, police and the militant group said. Police said at least seven people had died and 10 others were wounded. Gunfire echoed round the seaside city after the blast and ambulances raced to the scene. "We attacked the hotel which was frequented by the apostate government members," al Shabaab military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters, adding that the group's fighters were inside the building. Al Shabaab frequently carries out attacks in the capital in its bid to topple the Western-backed government. "Those who died included civilians and hotel guards," police major Ali Hassan told Reuters. "We have rescued many people from the back door. No one can enter the building from the front or near the front. There are snipers there," he said as fighting continued. Earlier, another police officer said the initial blast was caused by a suicide bomber before fighters stormed into the Nasahablood hotel. There was a heavy exchange of gunfire. Muslims in Somalia and around the world are observing Ramadan. In previous years, al Shabaab has often intensified attacks during the fasting month, often picking targets where people gather just before or after breaking the fast. (Reuters)

Somalia Islamist group al Shabaab launch suicide bomb attack before storming inside Mogadishu hotel

Nearly 200 people have died in the last month at a camp for people made homeless by Boko Haram violence in northeast Nigeria, an aid agency said Wednesday, warning of a growing malnutrition crisis. 
 
A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team on Tuesday visited the camp, home to around 24,000 people including 15,000 children, and found what it called &quot;a catastrophic humanitarian emergency&quot; unfolding. 
 
One in five of over 800 children it examined had severe acute malnutrition, while 16 severely malnourished children &quot;at immediate risk of death&quot; were referred to its in-patient treatment centre. 
 
At least 188 people have died in the internally displaced people (IDP) camp in Bama, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Maiduguri, since May 23 -- about six a day -- mainly from diarrhoea and malnutrition, MSF said in a statement. 
 
A total of 1,233 graves, many of them of for children, had been dug near the camp in the past year, the agency said. 
 
&quot;This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical,&quot; said MSF head of mission in Nigeria, Ghada Hatim. 
 
&quot;We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors.&quot; 
 
&#39;Walking corpses&#39;&nbsp; 
 
The Borno state government and international aid agencies have previously warned about acute food shortages for IDPs in northeast Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region. 
 
On June 15, the Borno state government said it had transferred nearly 700 people, most of them children, from Bama to Maiduguri for treatment for severe malnutrition. 
 
Sixty-one young children and babies were said to be &quot;critically malnourished&quot;. 
 
A civilian vigilante and a soldier based in the remote town of Banki, 60 kilometres from Bama near the Cameroon border, told AFP 
this month at least 10 people were &quot;starving to death&quot; every day. 
 
The vigilante said 376 people had been buried in the last three months and those still alive were like &quot;walking corpses&quot;. 
 
- Security issues - 
 
Boko Haram, whose seven-year Islamist insurgency in northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million, controlled swathes of territory in the northeast in 2014. 
 
But the Nigerian government has said IDPs housed in camps or host communities can return after a military counter-offensive pushed the militants out of captured towns and villages. 
 
Despite assurances the northeast is largely clear of the rebels, sporadic attacks continue and security remains an issue, while houses, businesses and farms have largely been destroyed. 
 
Domestic and international aid agencies are mainly based in Maiduguri and dependent on Nigerian army assistance to access camps outside the city. 
 
The Borno state governor Kashim Shettima last week ordered police to investigate reports that relief material, including bags of rice meant for IDPs, was being stolen. 
 
The UN&#39;s children&#39;s agency, UNICEF, said it has been working with its partners in Bama since March and has provided health and nutrition support for some 19,000 people. 
 
Its primary health care centre sees on average 140 patients a day for conditions ranging from malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhoea, as well as malnutrition screening and treatment. 
 
(AFP)

One in five of over 800 children had severe acute malnutrition, while 16 severely malnourished children 'at immediate risk of death'

Nearly 200 people have died in the last month at a camp for people made homeless by Boko Haram violence in northeast Nigeria, an aid agency said Wednesday, warning of a growing malnutrition crisis. A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team on Tuesday visited the camp, home to around 24,000 people including 15,000 children, and found what it called "a catastrophic humanitarian emergency" unfolding. One in five of over 800 children it examined had severe acute malnutrition, while 16 severely malnourished children "at immediate risk of death" were referred to its in-patient treatment centre. At least 188 people have died in the internally displaced people (IDP) camp in Bama, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Maiduguri, since May 23 -- about six a day -- mainly from diarrhoea and malnutrition, MSF said in a statement. A total of 1,233 graves, many of them of for children, had been dug near the camp in the past year, the agency said. "This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical," said MSF head of mission in Nigeria, Ghada Hatim. "We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors." 'Walking corpses' The Borno state government and international aid agencies have previously warned about acute food shortages for IDPs in northeast Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region. On June 15, the Borno state government said it had transferred nearly 700 people, most of them children, from Bama to Maiduguri for treatment for severe malnutrition. Sixty-one young children and babies were said to be "critically malnourished". A civilian vigilante and a soldier based in the remote town of Banki, 60 kilometres from Bama near the Cameroon border, told AFP this month at least 10 people were "starving to death" every day. The vigilante said 376 people had been buried in the last three months and those still alive were like "walking corpses". - Security issues - Boko Haram, whose seven-year Islamist insurgency in northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million, controlled swathes of territory in the northeast in 2014. But the Nigerian government has said IDPs housed in camps or host communities can return after a military counter-offensive pushed the militants out of captured towns and villages. Despite assurances the northeast is largely clear of the rebels, sporadic attacks continue and security remains an issue, while houses, businesses and farms have largely been destroyed. Domestic and international aid agencies are mainly based in Maiduguri and dependent on Nigerian army assistance to access camps outside the city. The Borno state governor Kashim Shettima last week ordered police to investigate reports that relief material, including bags of rice meant for IDPs, was being stolen. The UN's children's agency, UNICEF, said it has been working with its partners in Bama since March and has provided health and nutrition support for some 19,000 people. Its primary health care centre sees on average 140 patients a day for conditions ranging from malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhoea, as well as malnutrition screening and treatment. (AFP)

200 die in one month at camp for people made homeless by Boko Haram violence

Motorcycle-borne gunmen shot dead an acclaimed Pakistani singer on Wednesday in the busy port city of Karachi, police said. This comes two days after masked men kidnapped the son of a top provincial judge. &nbsp; 
 
Karachi, a metropolis of about 20 million, is home to Pakistan&#39;s stock exchange and central bank and is plagued by political, ethnic and sectarian violence. &nbsp; 
 
Amjad Sabri, 45, was one of South Asia&#39;s most popular singers of the &#39;qawwali&#39;, Sufi devotional music that dates back more than 700 years.&nbsp; 
 
Officers said two gunmen shot at the windscreen of Sabri&#39;s car as it drove off a bridge in the congested Liaquatabad area of the southern city, and a relative travelling with him was also injured.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Two attackers riding a motorcycle intercepted his car and targetted Amjad Sabri who was driving,&quot; Sindh police chief Allah Dino Khawaja told Reuters.&nbsp; 
 
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Amjad Sabri died on the way to the hospital,&quot; police surgeon Rohina Hasan said. &quot;He was shot three times.&quot; Police gave no further details.&nbsp; 
 
Violence is common in Karachi despite a sharp decline in murders since the Pakistani military launched a crackdown two years ago against suspected militants and violent criminals.&nbsp; 
 
On Monday, a lawyer, the son of Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was abducted outside a city supermarket. The motive for the kidnapping was not immediately clear, authorities said.&nbsp; 
 
In May, gunmen shot dead prominent Pakistani rights activist Khurram Zaki, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups, in the central part of the city.&nbsp; 
 
In April last year prominent activist Sabeen Mahmud was shot and killed while travelling in her car.&nbsp; 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp;

Sabri's murder comes close on the heels of the abduction of a provincial judge's son two days ago

Motorcycle-borne gunmen shot dead an acclaimed Pakistani singer on Wednesday in the busy port city of Karachi, police said. This comes two days after masked men kidnapped the son of a top provincial judge. Karachi, a metropolis of about 20 million, is home to Pakistan's stock exchange and central bank and is plagued by political, ethnic and sectarian violence. Amjad Sabri, 45, was one of South Asia's most popular singers of the 'qawwali', Sufi devotional music that dates back more than 700 years. Officers said two gunmen shot at the windscreen of Sabri's car as it drove off a bridge in the congested Liaquatabad area of the southern city, and a relative travelling with him was also injured. "Two attackers riding a motorcycle intercepted his car and targetted Amjad Sabri who was driving," Sindh police chief Allah Dino Khawaja told Reuters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. "Amjad Sabri died on the way to the hospital," police surgeon Rohina Hasan said. "He was shot three times." Police gave no further details. Violence is common in Karachi despite a sharp decline in murders since the Pakistani military launched a crackdown two years ago against suspected militants and violent criminals. On Monday, a lawyer, the son of Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was abducted outside a city supermarket. The motive for the kidnapping was not immediately clear, authorities said. In May, gunmen shot dead prominent Pakistani rights activist Khurram Zaki, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups, in the central part of the city. In April last year prominent activist Sabeen Mahmud was shot and killed while travelling in her car. (Reuters)

Karachi: Pakistani Sufi singer Amjad Sabri shot dead

At least 34 Libyan pro-government forces were killed and 100 wounded in clashes with Islamic State (IS) group jihadists as they prepared for a final assault on the jihadist stronghold of Sirte. 
 
It was one of bloodiest days since forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) launched an offensive in May to retake Sirte from IS. 
 
The fighting came as 29 people were killed and dozens wounded further west in the town of Garabulli when a blast ripped through an arms depot after militiamen and armed residents clashed yesterday. 
 
The fall of Sirte would be a major blow to IS, which has faced a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq where local forces and a US-led coalition are pressing an offensive against their positions. 
 
A statement by the GNA said yesterday&#39;s fighting took place in several parts of Sirte, where jihadists are pinned down in pockets of the coastal city. 
 
Speaking from the western city of Misrata, the source said the death toll had risen from 18 to 34, with the number of wounded increasing from 70 to 100. 
 
It was one of the heaviest tolls since the pro-GNA forces launched an offensive in May to dislodge IS from Sirte -- hometown of ousted and slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi which IS seized in June last year. 
 
The GNA forces earlier said &quot;dozens&quot; of IS fighters had been killed within 24 hours. 
 
They also announced their &quot;intelligence network is in full swing in preparation for the decisive battle&quot; against IS fighters in the city, after repelling multiple counter-attacks. 
 
The statement said fighters were targeting IS-held areas of Sirte with heavy artillery while loyalist aircraft were carrying out sorties every day to strike IS or carry out reconnaissance missions. 
 
IS fighters &quot;are besieged in a small area of Sirte and although they have sought to break out our forces have repelled all attempts&quot;, the statement said. 
 
It said that the jihadists had barricaded themselves in residential buildings and deployed snipers and explosive devices to fend off pro-GNA forces. 
 
IS has hit back with a string of suicide car bombings in a bid to defend their stronghold on the Mediterranean coast. 
 
Around 200 loyalist troops have been killed and hundreds wounded since the start of the offensive to capture Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli. 
 
An unknown number of jihadists have been killed. 
 
Libya has been awash with weapons since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Kadhafi, with rival militias fighting for control of its cities and oil wealth. 
 
In Garabulli near the Libyan capital, armed residents stormed an arms depot after clashing with a militia from the western city of Misrata, which owned the weapons store.&nbsp; 
 
(AFP)

One of the bloodiest days in months as IS tries to maintain hold on key Libyan city, Sirte

At least 34 Libyan pro-government forces were killed and 100 wounded in clashes with Islamic State (IS) group jihadists as they prepared for a final assault on the jihadist stronghold of Sirte. It was one of bloodiest days since forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) launched an offensive in May to retake Sirte from IS. The fighting came as 29 people were killed and dozens wounded further west in the town of Garabulli when a blast ripped through an arms depot after militiamen and armed residents clashed yesterday. The fall of Sirte would be a major blow to IS, which has faced a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq where local forces and a US-led coalition are pressing an offensive against their positions. A statement by the GNA said yesterday's fighting took place in several parts of Sirte, where jihadists are pinned down in pockets of the coastal city. Speaking from the western city of Misrata, the source said the death toll had risen from 18 to 34, with the number of wounded increasing from 70 to 100. It was one of the heaviest tolls since the pro-GNA forces launched an offensive in May to dislodge IS from Sirte -- hometown of ousted and slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi which IS seized in June last year. The GNA forces earlier said "dozens" of IS fighters had been killed within 24 hours. They also announced their "intelligence network is in full swing in preparation for the decisive battle" against IS fighters in the city, after repelling multiple counter-attacks. The statement said fighters were targeting IS-held areas of Sirte with heavy artillery while loyalist aircraft were carrying out sorties every day to strike IS or carry out reconnaissance missions. IS fighters "are besieged in a small area of Sirte and although they have sought to break out our forces have repelled all attempts", the statement said. It said that the jihadists had barricaded themselves in residential buildings and deployed snipers and explosive devices to fend off pro-GNA forces. IS has hit back with a string of suicide car bombings in a bid to defend their stronghold on the Mediterranean coast. Around 200 loyalist troops have been killed and hundreds wounded since the start of the offensive to capture Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli. An unknown number of jihadists have been killed. Libya has been awash with weapons since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Kadhafi, with rival militias fighting for control of its cities and oil wealth. In Garabulli near the Libyan capital, armed residents stormed an arms depot after clashing with a militia from the western city of Misrata, which owned the weapons store. (AFP)

At least 34 Tripoli troops dead, 100 injured in fight against Islamic State

Protesters burnt vehicles and set tires on fire to barricade roads in South Africa&#39;s capital on Tuesday, June 21, after the ANC named a mayoral candidate not nominated by the ruling party&#39;s regional branches. 
 
The violence spread overnight from the townships and started after a member of the African National Congress (ANC) was shot dead on Sunday, June 19, as factions clashed at a meeting in Pretoria to decide on the candidates for mayor of Tshwane municipality, where Pretoria is located. 
 
The ANC then named senior party member and former cabinet minister, Thoko Didiza, as its candidate for Tshwane, saying that it made the decision after wrangling between members at the party&#39;s headquarters over who should lead the municipality. 
 
According to local media, residents want the incumbent mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa to be allowed to run on the ANC ticket but Ramokgopa has publicly backed Didiza&#39;s selection and called for calm. 
 
The ANC said its members were not to blame for the violence. 
 
Local elections in August pose a major test for the ANC as it gears up for a 2019 presidential vote in the face of a slowing economy and a strong challenge from the opposition 
 
(Reuters)

The violence spread overnight, starting after a member of the African National Congress was shot dead on Sunday

Protesters burnt vehicles and set tires on fire to barricade roads in South Africa's capital on Tuesday, June 21, after the ANC named a mayoral candidate not nominated by the ruling party's regional branches. The violence spread overnight from the townships and started after a member of the African National Congress (ANC) was shot dead on Sunday, June 19, as factions clashed at a meeting in Pretoria to decide on the candidates for mayor of Tshwane municipality, where Pretoria is located. The ANC then named senior party member and former cabinet minister, Thoko Didiza, as its candidate for Tshwane, saying that it made the decision after wrangling between members at the party's headquarters over who should lead the municipality. According to local media, residents want the incumbent mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa to be allowed to run on the ANC ticket but Ramokgopa has publicly backed Didiza's selection and called for calm. The ANC said its members were not to blame for the violence. Local elections in August pose a major test for the ANC as it gears up for a 2019 presidential vote in the face of a slowing economy and a strong challenge from the opposition (Reuters)

Protesters in Pretoria burn cars, tires after unnominated man becomes mayoral candidate

Two bomb explosions rocked Afghanistan Monday morning. In the first, a&nbsp;suicide bomber killed at least 14 and wounded eight in an attack on a minibus carrying Nepalese security contractors in the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
A Reuters witness saw several apparently dead victims and at least two wounded being carried out of the yellow bus, while police and emergency service vehicles surrounded the scene in the Banae district of the city.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter that 14 people had been killed and eight wounded. Police were working to identify the victims, he said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The casualties appeared to include both Afghans and Nepalese security contractors, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
He said the suicide bomber had waited near the compound housing the security contractors and struck as the vehicle moved through early morning traffic. As well as the bus passengers, several people in an adjacent market were also wounded.&nbsp; 
 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack on the minibus that was carrying Nepalese security guards in Kabul. He said India will provide all assistance to Nepal government in this hour of tragedy.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;We strongly condemn the horrible tragedy in Kabul. Our deep condolences to the people and governments of Afghanistan and Nepal on the loss of innocent lives,&quot; he said in a tweet.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;We are taking steps to provide all relevant assistance to the Nepal government in this hour of tragedy,&quot; PM Modi said.&nbsp; 
 
Fourteen Nepalese security guards were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber targetted their minibus in the Afghan capital.&nbsp; 
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which occurred during Ramadan, Islam&#39;s holy month.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
It underlined how serious the security threat facing Afghanistan remains since the death of former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike last month.&nbsp; 
 
Also Monday morning, at least eight people were killed and 18 injured in a seprate attack Monday morning, when a motorcycle bomb exploded in a crowded market in Afghanistan&#39;s northeastern Badakhshan province, local authorities said. 
 
&quot;Our initial information is eight people were martyred, and 18 others were wounded, all the victims are civilians,&quot; the Badakhshan provincial governor&#39;s spokesman Naweed Froutan told AFP, adding that the death toll is set to rise. 
 
The district governor of Keshim, where the attack took place, gave a higher toll of at least 10 killed and 30 wounded. 
 
&quot;It was a motorcycle bomb explosion inside a main market in Keshim district of Badakhshan province,&quot; Abdul Salam Paiman told AFP, adding that some of the wounded were in critical condition and all had been taken to hospital. 
 
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast in the remote, mountainous province. 
 
Reuters reports that the attack was the latest in a recent surge of violence that highlights the challenges faced by the Afghan government in Kabul and its Western backers as Washington slowly draws down its remaining troops despite a persistent insurgency. &nbsp; 
 
AFP notes that the attacks come just days after Washington expanded the US military&#39;s authority to carry out airstrikes on the insurgents. 
(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)

Suicide attack and so far unclaimed motorcycle bomb devastate country as insurgency persists despite Taliban leader's recent death

Two bomb explosions rocked Afghanistan Monday morning. In the first, a suicide bomber killed at least 14 and wounded eight in an attack on a minibus carrying Nepalese security contractors in the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials said. A Reuters witness saw several apparently dead victims and at least two wounded being carried out of the yellow bus, while police and emergency service vehicles surrounded the scene in the Banae district of the city. Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter that 14 people had been killed and eight wounded. Police were working to identify the victims, he said. The casualties appeared to include both Afghans and Nepalese security contractors, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. He said the suicide bomber had waited near the compound housing the security contractors and struck as the vehicle moved through early morning traffic. As well as the bus passengers, several people in an adjacent market were also wounded. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack on the minibus that was carrying Nepalese security guards in Kabul. He said India will provide all assistance to Nepal government in this hour of tragedy. "We strongly condemn the horrible tragedy in Kabul. Our deep condolences to the people and governments of Afghanistan and Nepal on the loss of innocent lives," he said in a tweet. "We are taking steps to provide all relevant assistance to the Nepal government in this hour of tragedy," PM Modi said. Fourteen Nepalese security guards were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber targetted their minibus in the Afghan capital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which occurred during Ramadan, Islam's holy month. It underlined how serious the security threat facing Afghanistan remains since the death of former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike last month. Also Monday morning, at least eight people were killed and 18 injured in a seprate attack Monday morning, when a motorcycle bomb exploded in a crowded market in Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, local authorities said. "Our initial information is eight people were martyred, and 18 others were wounded, all the victims are civilians," the Badakhshan provincial governor's spokesman Naweed Froutan told AFP, adding that the death toll is set to rise. The district governor of Keshim, where the attack took place, gave a higher toll of at least 10 killed and 30 wounded. "It was a motorcycle bomb explosion inside a main market in Keshim district of Badakhshan province," Abdul Salam Paiman told AFP, adding that some of the wounded were in critical condition and all had been taken to hospital. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast in the remote, mountainous province. Reuters reports that the attack was the latest in a recent surge of violence that highlights the challenges faced by the Afghan government in Kabul and its Western backers as Washington slowly draws down its remaining troops despite a persistent insurgency. AFP notes that the attacks come just days after Washington expanded the US military's authority to carry out airstrikes on the insurgents. (With inputs from Reuters and AFP)

Twin blasts rock Afghanistan Monday morning: At least 22 dead, 26 injured

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{7925e5b9-6228-427f-a482-00fa781626e1}{172}" paraid="1780931624" style="text-align: justify;" >The main suspect in the murder of the Bangladesh bloggers,&nbsp;Avijit&nbsp;Roy and&nbsp;Niladri&nbsp;Chattopadhyay&nbsp;Niloy, was killed in an&nbsp;alleged gunfight with the police in capital Dhaka&#39;s&nbsp;Khilgaon&nbsp;area early on Sunday. 
&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{05a0032d-ac79-453f-a114-958b5ecea2d7}{96}" paraid="295924590" style="text-align: justify;" >The suspect,&nbsp;Shariful&nbsp;alias&nbsp;Sakib&nbsp;alias Sharif alias Saleh alias&nbsp;Arif&nbsp;alias Hadi-1, was a top&nbsp;organiser&nbsp;of&nbsp;Ansarullah&nbsp;Bangla Team (ABT), Bangladesh&nbsp;newspaper,&nbsp;The Daily Star, reported&nbsp;Musudur&nbsp;Rahman, a Dhaka police officer&nbsp;as saying. ABT is a banned militant group.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{984d1263-ec83-482f-8a1a-583559350cb5}{12}" paraid="1413621411" style="text-align: justify;" >The &quot;gunfight&quot;&nbsp;apparently took place&nbsp;at&nbsp;Meradiya&nbsp;Banshpotti&nbsp;at about 2.00 am on Sunday.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{7362ad74-bce9-4f03-84af-fcff745e99de}{173}" paraid="1819828175" style="text-align: justify;" >The police had claimed they found evidence that&nbsp;Shariful&nbsp;was present at&nbsp;Dhaka University where&nbsp;Avijit&nbsp;Roy was hacked to death with&nbsp;machetes&nbsp;on February 26, 2015 and of his involvement even in the killing of&nbsp;Niladri&nbsp;Niloy.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{7d89d678-a532-47d7-8f4a-8dd68125f7d7}{27}" paraid="895991529" style="text-align: justify;" > 
Shariful, who was originally from Khulna,&nbsp;played an important role in the recruitment of ABT members, apart from providing training in&nbsp;firearms and information technology&nbsp;to the new recruits, as per the Dhaka metropolitan police&#39;s website.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{7362ad74-bce9-4f03-84af-fcff745e99de}{159}" paraid="1494492534" style="text-align: justify;" > 
He&nbsp;was also linked to the murder attempt on&nbsp;publisher Ahmed Rashid&nbsp;Tutul&nbsp;at&nbsp;Lalmatia&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;killing of&nbsp;Riyad&nbsp;Morshed&nbsp;Babu, a student of Shanta Mariam University.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{7362ad74-bce9-4f03-84af-fcff745e99de}{161}" paraid="1062033893" style="text-align: justify;" > 
This is not all, the police said&nbsp;Shariful&nbsp;was&nbsp;one of the brains behind the murders of&nbsp;Jagriti&nbsp;Prokashoni&nbsp;owner,&nbsp;Faisal&nbsp;Arefin&nbsp;Dipan, blogger&nbsp;Oyashiqur&nbsp;Rahman&nbsp;Babu, secular activist&nbsp;Nazim&nbsp;Uddin&nbsp;Samad&nbsp;and LGBT rights activist&nbsp;Xulhaz&nbsp;Mannan&nbsp;and his friend&nbsp;Mahbub&nbsp;Tonoy.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{87805b9a-9ccf-46cd-b117-e1b01fe3d6f0}{205}" paraid="1372513054" style="text-align: justify;" > 
The alleged gun fight took place within hours of&nbsp;another&nbsp;suspected militant, nineteen-year-old&nbsp;Golam&nbsp;Faizullah&nbsp;Fahim, being killed in a&nbsp;reported ambush&nbsp;when he was taken along on a search for his Islamist associates, the police claimed.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{e4ca9fd8-f38a-4e36-8526-4567b7e7bdbc}{166}" paraid="1621426751" style="text-align: justify;" > 
The search team was reportedly&nbsp;ambushed in a farmland.&nbsp;Faizullah&nbsp;was in police custody for questioning for attacking Hindu mathematics lecturer Ripon&nbsp;Chakrabarti&nbsp;and grievously injuring him&nbsp;in Bangladesh&#39;s&nbsp;Madaripur. Eyewitnesses managed to catch him and hand him to the police.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{57b998cf-5434-431a-b2c2-d45e1cf5717d}{75}" paraid="1784564055" style="text-align: justify;" > 
As per the police,&nbsp;Fahim&nbsp;was a college student and was a member of the banned Islamist group&nbsp;Hizb&nbsp;ut-Tahrir&nbsp;--&nbsp;an international group which wants to combine all Muslim countries in a unitary Islamic state. The group is outlawed in several countries, including Bangladesh.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{74659285-ee64-4e3d-82d9-6922b2b828be}{52}" paraid="1214658543" style="text-align: justify;" > 
Seven suspected Islamist militants have now been shot dead since Bangladesh launched a nationwide crackdown on local jihadist groups in the wake of a spike in the murders of secular activists and religious minorities.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The drive has seen more than 11,000 people including 194 militants arrested over the past week despite widespread criticism by local and international human rights groups.&nbsp;</div>

<div lang="EN-US" paraeid="{74659285-ee64-4e3d-82d9-6922b2b828be}{74}" paraid="840182797" style="text-align: justify;" > 
Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome murders targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, secular activists and foreigners, with most blamed on or claimed by Islamist militants.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Many of the victims were hacked to death with machetes.&nbsp; 
(WION)</div>

Seven Islamist militants have been shot dead since Bangladesh started its crackdown on Jihadist groups

The main suspect in the murder of the Bangladesh bloggers, Avijit Roy and Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy, was killed in an alleged gunfight with the police in capital Dhaka's Khilgaon area early on Sunday. The suspect, Shariful alias Sakib alias Sharif alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi-1, was a top organiser of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Bangladesh newspaper, The Daily Star, reported Musudur Rahman, a Dhaka police officer as saying. ABT is a banned militant group. The "gunfight" apparently took place at Meradiya Banshpotti at about 2.00 am on Sunday. The police had claimed they found evidence that Shariful was present at Dhaka University where Avijit Roy was hacked to death with machetes on February 26, 2015 and of his involvement even in the killing of Niladri Niloy. Shariful, who was originally from Khulna, played an important role in the recruitment of ABT members, apart from providing training in firearms and information technology to the new recruits, as per the Dhaka metropolitan police's website. He was also linked to the murder attempt on publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul at Lalmatia and the killing of Riyad Morshed Babu, a student of Shanta Mariam University. This is not all, the police said Shariful was one of the brains behind the murders of Jagriti Prokashoni owner, Faisal Arefin Dipan, blogger Oyashiqur Rahman Babu, secular activist Nazim Uddin Samad and LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Tonoy. The alleged gun fight took place within hours of another suspected militant, nineteen-year-old Golam Faizullah Fahim, being killed in a reported ambush when he was taken along on a search for his Islamist associates, the police claimed. The search team was reportedly ambushed in a farmland. Faizullah was in police custody for questioning for attacking Hindu mathematics lecturer Ripon Chakrabarti and grievously injuring him in Bangladesh's Madaripur. Eyewitnesses managed to catch him and hand him to the police. As per the police, Fahim was a college student and was a member of the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir -- an international group which wants to combine all Muslim countries in a unitary Islamic state. The group is outlawed in several countries, including Bangladesh. Seven suspected Islamist militants have now been shot dead since Bangladesh launched a nationwide crackdown on local jihadist groups in the wake of a spike in the murders of secular activists and religious minorities. The drive has seen more than 11,000 people including 194 militants arrested over the past week despite widespread criticism by local and international human rights groups. Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome murders targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, secular activists and foreigners, with most blamed on or claimed by Islamist militants. Many of the victims were hacked to death with machetes. (WION)

Bangladesh bloggers' murder:?Main suspect?dead in gunfight with police

Britain has been left deeply shocked after&nbsp;Labour&nbsp;member of&nbsp;Parliament&nbsp;Jo Cox was murdered on the streets of her constituency. She died after she was shot at least two times and stabbed in West Yorkshire.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The 41-year-old politician was kicked and left lying bleeding on the pavement in&nbsp;Birstall, near Leeds,&nbsp;an eyewitness said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
A second witness reported three shots&nbsp;including one &quot;round the head area&quot;.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
She was married with two young daughters aged three and five. Her husband, Brendan Cox, said in a statement that his wife &quot;believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life&quot;.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
He also urged people to &quot;fight against the hatred that killed her&quot;. &quot;Hate doesn&#39;t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.&quot;&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
A fifty-two-year-old man has been arrested over the attack. He has been named locally as Tommy&nbsp;Mair. He was described by&nbsp;neighbours&nbsp;as&nbsp;a loner who never had a full-time job and had suffered mental illness in the past.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
British Prime Minister&nbsp;David Cameron paid tribute to the&nbsp;Labour&nbsp;politician saying, &nbsp;&quot;We&#39;ve lost a great star. She had a big heart and people are going to be very, very sad at what has happened.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
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&nbsp; 
Labour&nbsp;leader&nbsp;Jeremy&nbsp;Corbyn&nbsp;said the country will be &quot;in shock at the horrific murder&quot; and said that&nbsp;Ms&nbsp;Cox was a &quot;much loved colleague&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The EU referendum Remain and Leave campaigns suspended their activities for Thursday and Friday as a result of the attack&nbsp;and David Cameron cancelled a pro-EU rally in Gibraltar.&nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Incredibly sad to hear shocking news about Jo Cox. All my thoughts with Brendan and their children
&mdash; George Osborne (@George_Osborne) <a href="https://twitter.com/George_Osborne/status/743478309338636288">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Extremely sad news of the murder of Jo Cox MP, killed whilst serving her constituents, thinking of all who knew her
&mdash; Chloe Smith (@NorwichChloe) <a href="https://twitter.com/NorwichChloe/status/743487945802399745">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Hoping, praying and thinking of Jo, Brendan and the children. GB
&mdash; Gordon &amp; Sarah Brown (@OfficeGSBrown) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficeGSBrown/status/743441830713384960">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Absolutely devastated at Jo Cox death, a beautiful person, a wonderful caring and decent person, R.I.P. friend <a href="https://t.co/LdKMlYOM0c">pic.twitter.com/LdKMlYOM0c</a>
&mdash; Angela Rayner MP (@AngelaRayner) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngelaRayner/status/743485648854728704">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Absolutely devastating news that the wonderful, beautiful &amp; brilliant <a href="https://twitter.com/Jo_Cox1">@Jo_Cox1</a> has died. All my thoughts are with Brendan &amp; her children
&mdash; Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucyMPowell/status/743477884531138560">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Please pray for our friend Jo Cox and her lovely staff and wonderful family x
&mdash; Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) <a href="https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/743437508743172096">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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She was shot, stabbed, kicked, and left lying bleeding on a pavement

Britain has been left deeply shocked after Labour member of Parliament Jo Cox was murdered on the streets of her constituency. She died after she was shot at least two times and stabbed in West Yorkshire. The 41-year-old politician was kicked and left lying bleeding on the pavement in Birstall, near Leeds, an eyewitness said. A second witness reported three shots including one "round the head area". She was married with two young daughters aged three and five. Her husband, Brendan Cox, said in a statement that his wife "believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life". He also urged people to "fight against the hatred that killed her". "Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous." A fifty-two-year-old man has been arrested over the attack. He has been named locally as Tommy Mair. He was described by neighbours as a loner who never had a full-time job and had suffered mental illness in the past. Police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting. British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the Labour politician saying, "We've lost a great star. She had a big heart and people are going to be very, very sad at what has happened." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the country will be "in shock at the horrific murder" and said that Ms Cox was a "much loved colleague". The EU referendum Remain and Leave campaigns suspended their activities for Thursday and Friday as a result of the attack and David Cameron cancelled a pro-EU rally in Gibraltar. Incredibly sad to hear shocking news about Jo Cox. All my thoughts with Brendan and their children — George Osborne (@George_Osborne) June 16, 2016 Extremely sad news of the murder of Jo Cox MP, killed whilst serving her constituents, thinking of all who knew her — Chloe Smith (@NorwichChloe) June 16, 2016 Hoping, praying and thinking of Jo, Brendan and the children. GB — Gordon & Sarah Brown (@OfficeGSBrown) June 16, 2016 Absolutely devastated at Jo Cox death, a beautiful person, a wonderful caring and decent person, R.I.P. friend pic.twitter.com/LdKMlYOM0c — Angela Rayner MP (@AngelaRayner) June 16, 2016 Absolutely devastating news that the wonderful, beautiful & brilliant @Jo_Cox1 has died. All my thoughts are with Brendan & her children — Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) June 16, 2016 Please pray for our friend Jo Cox and her lovely staff and wonderful family x — Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) June 16, 2016

Kingdom united in grief after death of anti-Brexit MP Jo Cox

Gold turned lower on Thursday, as Sterling bounced higher and US stock markets came well off their lows following the suspension of Britain&#39;s campaign for next week&#39;s referendum after a member of Parliament was shot dead. 
 
British Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was killed in the street in her constituency in northern England earlier in the day, had been a vocal supporter of Britain remaining within the EU. 
 
The turnaround in bullion prices, their first drop in seven sessions, came after rallying to the highest in nearly two years, buoyed by the US Federal Reserve, which sounded a dovish note after its latest policy meeting on Wednesday. 
 
In Euro and Sterling terms, the metal turned lower after reaching three-year highs. 
 
Spot gold was down 0.4 per cent at $1,285.76 an ounce by 2:40 pm EDT (1840 GMT), after rising to $1,315.55 an ounce, the highest since August 2014. 
 
Spot prices have bounced 6 per cent this month, after the approaching June 23 referendum - when Britons will vote on whether or not to leave the European Union, dubbed &quot;Brexit&quot; - dented appetite for assets viewed as higher risk, sending investors scurrying for bonds and gold. 
 
After the attack, campaigning for next week&#39;s referendum was suspended. 
 
U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled up 0.8 percent at $1,298.40 an ounce. 
 
&quot;A rebound in the euro and sterling, and a mirrored decline in the dollar, set gold up for a retracement,&quot; said James Steel, chief metals analyst for HSBC Securities in New York. 
 
&quot;Recovery in equities may also imply some dimming in risk-off related purchases of gold.&quot; 
 
Yields on most U.S. Treasury yields rose to session highs after British campaigning for the Brexit vote was suspended following MP Cox&#39;s death. 
 
Expectations that the U.S. central bank would press ahead with interest rate increases over the summer faded earlier this month after the release of weak U.S. payrolls data for May. 
 
&quot;Brexit worries then gave us the next boost and yesterday the FOMC provided enough dovish ammunition for it to make a new high,&quot; said Saxo Bank&#39;s head of commodity research, Ole Hansen. 
 
On Wednesday, holdings in the world&#39;s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, rose to the highest since October 2013. 
 
Silver fell 0.4 percent to $17.43 an ounce, platinum lost 0.1 percent to $969.67 and palladium was up 0.2 percent at $533.11. 
(Reuters)

US stock markets came well off their lows following the suspension of Britain's referendum campaign after the death of British MP

Gold turned lower on Thursday, as Sterling bounced higher and US stock markets came well off their lows following the suspension of Britain's campaign for next week's referendum after a member of Parliament was shot dead. British Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was killed in the street in her constituency in northern England earlier in the day, had been a vocal supporter of Britain remaining within the EU. The turnaround in bullion prices, their first drop in seven sessions, came after rallying to the highest in nearly two years, buoyed by the US Federal Reserve, which sounded a dovish note after its latest policy meeting on Wednesday. In Euro and Sterling terms, the metal turned lower after reaching three-year highs. Spot gold was down 0.4 per cent at $1,285.76 an ounce by 2:40 pm EDT (1840 GMT), after rising to $1,315.55 an ounce, the highest since August 2014. Spot prices have bounced 6 per cent this month, after the approaching June 23 referendum - when Britons will vote on whether or not to leave the European Union, dubbed "Brexit" - dented appetite for assets viewed as higher risk, sending investors scurrying for bonds and gold. After the attack, campaigning for next week's referendum was suspended. U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled up 0.8 percent at $1,298.40 an ounce. "A rebound in the euro and sterling, and a mirrored decline in the dollar, set gold up for a retracement," said James Steel, chief metals analyst for HSBC Securities in New York. "Recovery in equities may also imply some dimming in risk-off related purchases of gold." Yields on most U.S. Treasury yields rose to session highs after British campaigning for the Brexit vote was suspended following MP Cox's death. Expectations that the U.S. central bank would press ahead with interest rate increases over the summer faded earlier this month after the release of weak U.S. payrolls data for May. "Brexit worries then gave us the next boost and yesterday the FOMC provided enough dovish ammunition for it to make a new high," said Saxo Bank's head of commodity research, Ole Hansen. On Wednesday, holdings in the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, rose to the highest since October 2013. Silver fell 0.4 percent to $17.43 an ounce, platinum lost 0.1 percent to $969.67 and palladium was up 0.2 percent at $533.11. (Reuters)

Gold falls from two-year high as Brexit campaign suspended

British&nbsp;MP&nbsp;Jo Cox, 41, has died after being attacked in the street in her constituency today,&nbsp;police confirmed. 
 
West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman Dee Collins told reporters she was &quot;very sad&quot; to report that Cox was pronounced dead at 1.48 pm (1248 GMT). 
 
&quot;Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo&rsquo;s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.&nbsp;Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.&nbsp;She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn&rsquo;t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.&nbsp;Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full&quot;, said Brendan Cox, husband of late British lawmaker

Leading politicians reacted over the demise of Jo Cox&nbsp;&nbsp;on Twitter 
 
(WIONews and Agencies)
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The Labour lawmaker, 41, was critically injured on Thursday after being shot and stabbed in her constituency in northern England.

British MP Jo Cox, 41, has died after being attacked in the street in her constituency today, police confirmed. West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman Dee Collins told reporters she was "very sad" to report that Cox was pronounced dead at 1.48 pm (1248 GMT). "Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo. Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous. Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full", said Brendan Cox, husband of late British lawmaker Leading politicians reacted over the demise of Jo Cox on Twitter (WIONews and Agencies)

Anti-Brexit British MP dead after street attack: Police

<div paraeid="{05f3f4ba-6c27-4e34-b44d-90488c3797f0}{222}" paraid="738038165">On&nbsp;March 23,&nbsp;Abhishek Jalalabad&nbsp;spent the day&nbsp;practically praying&nbsp;that he did not&nbsp;see a whale in the waters of&nbsp;Palolem&nbsp;beach in South Goa. A day earlier a local branch of the conservation group, World Wild Fund, got in touch with him. It was a distress call.&nbsp;They wanted help rescuing an eight-foot&nbsp;dwarf&nbsp;sperm whale.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{05f3f4ba-6c27-4e34-b44d-90488c3797f0}{235}" paraid="1162057803"> 
Jalalabad, a marine scientist,&nbsp;rushed to&nbsp;Palolem&nbsp;beach. By then, tourists and lifeguards had managed to release the whale into the Arabian Sea. But&nbsp;he&nbsp;stayed back on a hunch&nbsp;and his worst fears came true at about midnight.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{05f3f4ba-6c27-4e34-b44d-90488c3797f0}{247}" paraid="416318180"> 
The eight-foot whale returned to the shore in the dark of the night. Roughly 20 minutes after Jalalabad and his colleague, assisted by tourists, sent it back into the water, the&nbsp;whale beached&nbsp;again. This&nbsp;time, it lay still, dead.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tm514WannqY" width="560"></iframe>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{1}" paraid="7873198"> 
This was one of the roughly 90 reported cases of whale and dolphin&nbsp;strandings&nbsp;along the Indian shores in the past&nbsp;16 months.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{13}" paraid="1319860927"> 
More than 13,000&nbsp;kilometres&nbsp;away from Goa is California&rsquo;s Pacifica Beach. Nicole&nbsp;Strasser&nbsp;was heading home from working the night shift at the hospital, but in the parking lot she noticed a nasty stench. Something was afloat on the beach. To her dismay it was a dead whale --&nbsp;the second she&nbsp;saw in a matter of weeks.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{25}" paraid="1458958582"> 
When WION spoke to&nbsp;Strasser, she was anxious. Last year she had spotted hundreds of whales in the sea. This year she has only seen dead ones.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{44}" paraid="109128051"> 
More and more&nbsp;mass whale and dolphin&nbsp;strandings&nbsp;are being reported the world over. Once beached, they face the risk of injury and death from dehydration.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;January&nbsp;was especially baffling for marine scientists in India. More than a hundred short-finned&nbsp;pilot whales &ndash; a species of dolphins &ndash; were found stranded along a 15-kilometre&nbsp;stretch on a beach on the East coast&nbsp;of which 45&nbsp;died.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{61}" paraid="19417065"> 
N&nbsp;Vasudevan, a conservationist&nbsp;for the&nbsp;Indian state of&nbsp;Maharashtra that flanks the western coast,&nbsp;told WION,&nbsp;&quot;The numbers are&nbsp;unusually high. Earlier, we rarely saw so many whales being washed ashore. We cannot say what is causing this.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{88}" paraid="1509952067"> 
No marine scientist can pinpoint the exact cause behind cetacean&nbsp;stranding. Giuseppe&nbsp;Notabartolo&nbsp;di&nbsp;Sciara&nbsp;is the&nbsp;president of Tethys Research Institute in Milan&nbsp;that is a non-profit&nbsp;organisation&nbsp;supporting&nbsp;marine conservation through science and public awareness,. &quot;The news about whales and dolphins washing up dead in India in increasing numbers is worrisome. In India, it is clear that there isn&#39;t a single agent at work, but multiple causes, and each event has its own story,&rdquo;&nbsp;di&nbsp;Sciara&nbsp;said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{102}" paraid="1559345755"> 
&quot;We humans are forgetting that all our activities conducted in unsustainable ways at sea are destroying not only the animal&nbsp;world,&nbsp;but our world as well,&quot;&nbsp;di&nbsp;Sciara&nbsp;added.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{119}" paraid="327036382"> 
Human disruptions also cost lives with dolphins getting caught-up in fishing lines and dying. A&nbsp;baby dolphin&nbsp;died after it&nbsp;was&nbsp;scooped out of shallow water by a swimmer&nbsp;and passed around at a beach in&nbsp;Argentina by a mob intent on clicking selfies with it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{134}" paraid="46539843"> 
In&nbsp;2015, scientists made a grim discovery in Patagonia, southern Chile: 337 dead&nbsp;Sei&nbsp;whales. This is the world&#39;s biggest mass whale stranding event ever recorded. A year on, investigators still have no explanation. Professor di&nbsp;Sciara&nbsp;speculated&nbsp;that the large number of dead whales in Chile must have a single cause, whereas it&nbsp;was&nbsp;&ldquo;very likely&#39; that the increase of dead whales in India is due to human activities, like plastic waste disposal in the sea,&nbsp;overfishing&nbsp;and underwater sonar&rdquo;.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{157}" paraid="969082255"> 
In 2004, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission&nbsp;concluded &ldquo;there is now compelling evidence that military sonar has a direct impact on&nbsp;beaked whales&rdquo;.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{166}" paraid="374851407"> 
In 2001, the U.S. Navy acknowledged that its active sonar played a role in the stranding deaths of 14 beaked whales, two&nbsp;minke&nbsp;whales, and a dolphin in the Bahamas in 2000. Autopsies of the&nbsp;beaked whales revealed that the animals had suffered acoustic trauma resulting in hemorrhaging around the brain, in the inner ears, and in the acoustic fats located in the head that are involved in sound transmission.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{186}" paraid="1217454194"> 
Dr. N&nbsp;Ramaiah, chief scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography,&nbsp;however,&nbsp;felt&nbsp;behavioral patterns could be a possible factor in the mass stranding of 45&nbsp;pilot whales in India this year. &quot;As these&nbsp;pilot whales move in large groups, each pod has a leader. Sometimes they land up on the shore while following their leader&nbsp;that may have lost its way due to disorientation,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{206}" paraid="794908400"> 
Mass&nbsp;strandings&nbsp;may not even be a true indicator of what&#39;s going on in the ocean. Clare&nbsp;Embling,&nbsp;lecturer of Marine Ecology at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom,&nbsp;said&nbsp;stranding&nbsp;&quot;is always difficult to place in context, because only a small number that die will strand. Many big mammals sink, and where they die in relation to ocean currents, can influence how many strand. Seeing 30 sperm whales strand is upsetting, but it is difficult to know whether it is a fluke climatic event that caused it, or something more alarming.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{226}" paraid="1390480577"> 
One major factor, however, is plastic.&nbsp;It&nbsp;is found floating in all the world&rsquo;s oceans.&nbsp;Among 10 species of baleen whales, 60 per cent have been found to be tangled in ocean debris, while 20 per cent have ingested plastic or other waste by mistake. The study of 65 different species of toothed whales by&nbsp;environmental&nbsp;group&nbsp;Greenpeace reveals&nbsp;that&nbsp;8 per cent managed to entangle themselves in ocean waste, another 32 per cent ended up ingesting plastic&nbsp;dumped in the ocean.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{e20761c3-5ece-4734-9b3d-a84b8441cdad}{244}" paraid="1987002615"> 
Kumaran&nbsp;Sathasivam, coordinator of the Marine Mammal Conservation Network of India, said:&nbsp;&quot;Whales and dolphins consume plastic in the ocean thinking it is food. The ocean is already so&nbsp;polluted&nbsp;and it will take a lot of time for all this plastic to deteriorate.&quot;&nbsp;But to reduce all cetacean&nbsp;strandings&nbsp;to one cause is difficult without proper statistics, experts say.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{f8fb269c-e177-4ca3-8947-a18c6761d825}{8}" paraid="557921561"> 
Independent marine ecologist,&nbsp;Dipani&nbsp;Sutaria, says, &quot;A concerted effort to document and&nbsp;publicise&nbsp;these [stranding] events has begun only since 2013. We now have researchers or interested individuals all along the&nbsp;west coast.&quot;&nbsp;Sutaria points out that&nbsp;11 Baleen whales were found stranded&nbsp;in 2015&nbsp;on the west coast of India --&nbsp;eight in Maharashtra and three in Gujarat.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{f8fb269c-e177-4ca3-8947-a18c6761d825}{17}" paraid="1377072721"> 
Sutaria believes&nbsp;the number of cases reported is directly proportionate to the response network on the coasts. There are fisher-folk, tourists, forest department staff, independent researchers, and local&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;that pass on information in case a marine mammal washes ashore.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{f8fb269c-e177-4ca3-8947-a18c6761d825}{31}" paraid="931235265"> 
While this mysterious uptick of beached&nbsp;whales is&nbsp;recent, the phenomenon itself is surprisingly old. Evidence of mass&nbsp;beaching&nbsp;has puzzled scientists as far back as 300 BC. &ldquo;It is not known why they sometimes run aground on the seashore,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Greek philosopher&nbsp;Aristotle. &ldquo;It is asserted that this happens when the fancy takes them and without any apparent reason.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<div paraeid="{f8fb269c-e177-4ca3-8947-a18c6761d825}{34}" paraid="1428470953"> 
&nbsp;</div>

Dead whales, dolphins wash up on beaches from India to California and nobody knows why. Can anything save them?

On March 23, Abhishek Jalalabad spent the day practically praying that he did not see a whale in the waters of Palolem beach in South Goa. A day earlier a local branch of the conservation group, World Wild Fund, got in touch with him. It was a distress call. They wanted help rescuing an eight-foot dwarf sperm whale. Jalalabad, a marine scientist, rushed to Palolem beach. By then, tourists and lifeguards had managed to release the whale into the Arabian Sea. But he stayed back on a hunch and his worst fears came true at about midnight. The eight-foot whale returned to the shore in the dark of the night. Roughly 20 minutes after Jalalabad and his colleague, assisted by tourists, sent it back into the water, the whale beached again. This time, it lay still, dead. This was one of the roughly 90 reported cases of whale and dolphin strandings along the Indian shores in the past 16 months. More than 13,000 kilometres away from Goa is California’s Pacifica Beach. Nicole Strasser was heading home from working the night shift at the hospital, but in the parking lot she noticed a nasty stench. Something was afloat on the beach. To her dismay it was a dead whale -- the second she saw in a matter of weeks. When WION spoke to Strasser, she was anxious. Last year she had spotted hundreds of whales in the sea. This year she has only seen dead ones. More and more mass whale and dolphin strandings are being reported the world over. Once beached, they face the risk of injury and death from dehydration. However, January was especially baffling for marine scientists in India. More than a hundred short-finned pilot whales – a species of dolphins – were found stranded along a 15-kilometre stretch on a beach on the East coast of which 45 died. N Vasudevan, a conservationist for the Indian state of Maharashtra that flanks the western coast, told WION, "The numbers are unusually high. Earlier, we rarely saw so many whales being washed ashore. We cannot say what is causing this.” No marine scientist can pinpoint the exact cause behind cetacean stranding. Giuseppe Notabartolo di Sciara is the president of Tethys Research Institute in Milan that is a non-profit organisation supporting marine conservation through science and public awareness,. "The news about whales and dolphins washing up dead in India in increasing numbers is worrisome. In India, it is clear that there isn't a single agent at work, but multiple causes, and each event has its own story,” di Sciara said. "We humans are forgetting that all our activities conducted in unsustainable ways at sea are destroying not only the animal world, but our world as well," di Sciara added. Human disruptions also cost lives with dolphins getting caught-up in fishing lines and dying. A baby dolphin died after it was scooped out of shallow water by a swimmer and passed around at a beach in Argentina by a mob intent on clicking selfies with it. In 2015, scientists made a grim discovery in Patagonia, southern Chile: 337 dead Sei whales. This is the world's biggest mass whale stranding event ever recorded. A year on, investigators still have no explanation. Professor di Sciara speculated that the large number of dead whales in Chile must have a single cause, whereas it was “very likely' that the increase of dead whales in India is due to human activities, like plastic waste disposal in the sea, overfishing and underwater sonar”. In 2004, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission concluded “there is now compelling evidence that military sonar has a direct impact on beaked whales”. In 2001, the U.S. Navy acknowledged that its active sonar played a role in the stranding deaths of 14 beaked whales, two minke whales, and a dolphin in the Bahamas in 2000. Autopsies of the beaked whales revealed that the animals had suffered acoustic trauma resulting in hemorrhaging around the brain, in the inner ears, and in the acoustic fats located in the head that are involved in sound transmission. Dr. N Ramaiah, chief scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography, however, felt behavioral patterns could be a possible factor in the mass stranding of 45 pilot whales in India this year. "As these pilot whales move in large groups, each pod has a leader. Sometimes they land up on the shore while following their leader that may have lost its way due to disorientation,” he said. Mass strandings may not even be a true indicator of what's going on in the ocean. Clare Embling, lecturer of Marine Ecology at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom, said stranding "is always difficult to place in context, because only a small number that die will strand. Many big mammals sink, and where they die in relation to ocean currents, can influence how many strand. Seeing 30 sperm whales strand is upsetting, but it is difficult to know whether it is a fluke climatic event that caused it, or something more alarming." One major factor, however, is plastic. It is found floating in all the world’s oceans. Among 10 species of baleen whales, 60 per cent have been found to be tangled in ocean debris, while 20 per cent have ingested plastic or other waste by mistake. The study of 65 different species of toothed whales by environmental group Greenpeace reveals that 8 per cent managed to entangle themselves in ocean waste, another 32 per cent ended up ingesting plastic dumped in the ocean. Kumaran Sathasivam, coordinator of the Marine Mammal Conservation Network of India, said: "Whales and dolphins consume plastic in the ocean thinking it is food. The ocean is already so polluted and it will take a lot of time for all this plastic to deteriorate." But to reduce all cetacean strandings to one cause is difficult without proper statistics, experts say. Independent marine ecologist, Dipani Sutaria, says, "A concerted effort to document and publicise these [stranding] events has begun only since 2013. We now have researchers or interested individuals all along the west coast." Sutaria points out that 11 Baleen whales were found stranded in 2015 on the west coast of India -- eight in Maharashtra and three in Gujarat. Sutaria believes the number of cases reported is directly proportionate to the response network on the coasts. There are fisher-folk, tourists, forest department staff, independent researchers, and local organisations that pass on information in case a marine mammal washes ashore. While this mysterious uptick of beached whales is recent, the phenomenon itself is surprisingly old. Evidence of mass beaching has puzzled scientists as far back as 300 BC. “It is not known why they sometimes run aground on the seashore,” said Greek philosopher Aristotle. “It is asserted that this happens when the fancy takes them and without any apparent reason."

Sharp rise in whale, dolphin stranding deaths in India

Gunmen marched into a remote mountain village in Mexico on Friday and killed 11 members of a family, including two children, apparently over &quot;personal conflicts&quot;, authorities said. 
 
Five women, four men and two girls were killed in the pre-dawn attack in El Mirador, a community in central Puebla state, near Oaxaca. 
 
Two other girls were wounded in the attack and were taken to a hospital. 
 
Witnesses identified two assailants and recognised one of them as a man who allegedly sexually abused one of the dead women nine years ago, resulting in the birth a boy, according to the state prosecutor&#39;s office. 
 
The woman&#39;s current partner, who was killed, was stabbed several times and had &quot;more wounds than the other&quot; victims, the office said in a statement. 
 
The two assailants fled toward neighboring Oaxaca state. Authorities in both states are searching for them but the hamlet is so remote that it is only accessible on foot. 
 
&quot;It was an act of revenge,&quot; said Vicente Lopez de la Vega, mayor of Coxcatlan, the municipality that oversees El Mirador. 
 
&quot;To kill 11 people like that, you don&#39;t have feelings. It&#39;s alarming,&quot; Lopez de la Vega said. 
 
The prosecutor&#39;s office said the gunmen &quot;arrived on foot where the family was located, fired several times and left on foot.&quot; 
 
Pistol and rifle bullet casings were found at the scene. 
 
Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they was not authorized to speak publicly, said the attack took place inside one home. 
 
Two witnesses have been placed under state protection. 
 
An official at the prosecutor&#39;s office had earlier said that authorities were investigating whether the crime was related to organized crime or a family dispute. 
 
The village is inhabited by Evangelicals who broke away from another community of Catholics, El Potrero. But the mayor said the two villages respected each other. 
 
&quot;It&#39;s a community in harmony, but things change. There&#39;s immigration. Many go north of the country and to the United States. Sometimes when people come back the harmony is lost,&quot; Lopez de la Vega said. 
 
Recent violence 
 
It is the latest murder to rock Puebla, a region that has been relatively spared the drug violence that has plagued other parts of Mexico. 
 
In March, an undetermined number of human remains were found in various acid containers in a rural area. 
 
In April, four bodies were found inside a burnt car near Veracruz, an eastern state beset by murders and disappearances linked to drug cartels. Two of the bodies belonged to sisters of a jailed Zetas drug cartel member, Veracruz authorities said. 
 
That same day, three other bodies were found in the same area near a facility of state-run oil firm Pemex. 
 
Late last month, four people died when gunmen linked to fuel thefts opened fire in the village of La Purisima, a region where rival gangs seek to control such illegal pipeline taps. 
 
Puebla has also seen a spate of mob lynchings of crime suspects.

The two assailants fled towards neighbouring Oaxaca state after killing 11 of a family including two children in a pre-dawn attack

Gunmen marched into a remote mountain village in Mexico on Friday and killed 11 members of a family, including two children, apparently over "personal conflicts", authorities said. Five women, four men and two girls were killed in the pre-dawn attack in El Mirador, a community in central Puebla state, near Oaxaca. Two other girls were wounded in the attack and were taken to a hospital. Witnesses identified two assailants and recognised one of them as a man who allegedly sexually abused one of the dead women nine years ago, resulting in the birth a boy, according to the state prosecutor's office. The woman's current partner, who was killed, was stabbed several times and had "more wounds than the other" victims, the office said in a statement. The two assailants fled toward neighboring Oaxaca state. Authorities in both states are searching for them but the hamlet is so remote that it is only accessible on foot. "It was an act of revenge," said Vicente Lopez de la Vega, mayor of Coxcatlan, the municipality that oversees El Mirador. "To kill 11 people like that, you don't have feelings. It's alarming," Lopez de la Vega said. The prosecutor's office said the gunmen "arrived on foot where the family was located, fired several times and left on foot." Pistol and rifle bullet casings were found at the scene. Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they was not authorized to speak publicly, said the attack took place inside one home. Two witnesses have been placed under state protection. An official at the prosecutor's office had earlier said that authorities were investigating whether the crime was related to organized crime or a family dispute. The village is inhabited by Evangelicals who broke away from another community of Catholics, El Potrero. But the mayor said the two villages respected each other. "It's a community in harmony, but things change. There's immigration. Many go north of the country and to the United States. Sometimes when people come back the harmony is lost," Lopez de la Vega said. Recent violence It is the latest murder to rock Puebla, a region that has been relatively spared the drug violence that has plagued other parts of Mexico. In March, an undetermined number of human remains were found in various acid containers in a rural area. In April, four bodies were found inside a burnt car near Veracruz, an eastern state beset by murders and disappearances linked to drug cartels. Two of the bodies belonged to sisters of a jailed Zetas drug cartel member, Veracruz authorities said. That same day, three other bodies were found in the same area near a facility of state-run oil firm Pemex. Late last month, four people died when gunmen linked to fuel thefts opened fire in the village of La Purisima, a region where rival gangs seek to control such illegal pipeline taps. Puebla has also seen a spate of mob lynchings of crime suspects.

Gunmen attack family in Mexico, kill 11

Music superstar&nbsp;Prince, who was found dead in his home in a Minneapolis suburb in late April,&nbsp;died&nbsp;of an&nbsp;accidental, self-administered&nbsp;overdose&nbsp;of an opioid painkiller, the county&nbsp;medical&nbsp;examiner&nbsp;said in a death report on Thursday.

The Midwest&nbsp;Medical&nbsp;Examiner&#39;s Office in Anoka County, Minnesota, had been investigating the 57-year-old&nbsp;singer&#39;s death since he was discovered in an elevator in his home and studio on April 21.

&quot;The decedent self-administered fentanyl,&quot; the&nbsp;medical&nbsp;examiner&#39;s report said,&nbsp;listing cause of death as &quot;fentanyl toxicity&quot;, and noting it was&nbsp;accidental.

The investigation into&nbsp;Prince&#39;s death has centered on&nbsp;painkillers after prescription opioid medication was found at the scene and after reports he had been struggling with an addiction and had been scheduled to meet with a doctor who specializes in treating dependency.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive opiate that is more powerful than morphine and is used to treat patients with severe pain, often after surgeries. It took weeks for officials to release the cause of death because they were waiting for the results of toxicity tests.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune said it was not clear whether fentanyl had been prescribed to Prince&nbsp;and if so, which doctor prescribed it.

Fentanyl is often sold illegally and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has said that rising drug overdose&nbsp;deaths in the United States are linked to increased use of illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

The local prosecutor, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz, said the county sheriff&#39;s office continues to investigate&nbsp;Prince&#39;s death, assisted by federal authorities, but at this point has not handed over the results of the probe to prosecutors.

&quot;They will be looking at many different things,&quot; Metz told Reuters by telephone.

Prince, whose full name was&nbsp;Prince&nbsp;Rogers Nelson, did not leave a will, and his multimillion-dollar estate including royalties from his more than 30 albums is being handled by a court. The songwriter&#39;s hits include &quot;Purple Rain&quot; and &quot;When Doves Cry.&quot;

Music superstar?Prince, who was found dead in late April,?died?of an?accidental, self-administered?overdose?of an opioid painkiller, the county?medical?examiner?said in a death report on Thursday

Music superstar Prince, who was found dead in his home in a Minneapolis suburb in late April, died of an accidental, self-administered overdose of an opioid painkiller, the county medical examiner said in a death report on Thursday. The Midwest Medical Examiner's Office in Anoka County, Minnesota, had been investigating the 57-year-old singer's death since he was discovered in an elevator in his home and studio on April 21. "The decedent self-administered fentanyl," the medical examiner's report said, listing cause of death as "fentanyl toxicity", and noting it was accidental. The investigation into Prince's death has centered on painkillers after prescription opioid medication was found at the scene and after reports he had been struggling with an addiction and had been scheduled to meet with a doctor who specializes in treating dependency. Fentanyl is a highly addictive opiate that is more powerful than morphine and is used to treat patients with severe pain, often after surgeries. It took weeks for officials to release the cause of death because they were waiting for the results of toxicity tests. The Minneapolis Star Tribune said it was not clear whether fentanyl had been prescribed to Prince and if so, which doctor prescribed it. Fentanyl is often sold illegally and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has said that rising drug overdose deaths in the United States are linked to increased use of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The local prosecutor, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz, said the county sheriff's office continues to investigate Prince's death, assisted by federal authorities, but at this point has not handed over the results of the probe to prosecutors. "They will be looking at many different things," Metz told Reuters by telephone. Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson, did not leave a will, and his multimillion-dollar estate including royalties from his more than 30 albums is being handled by a court. The songwriter's hits include "Purple Rain" and "When Doves Cry."

Singer Prince died of accidental painkiller overdose: Medical examiner

After shooting dead a&nbsp;gorilla&nbsp;at the&nbsp;Cincinnati&nbsp;Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death.

Officials at the main U.S. body that oversees breeding of zoo animals, however, said it was highly unlikely&nbsp;that the Western lowland&nbsp;gorilla&#39;s contribution to the nation&#39;s &quot;frozen zoo&quot; of&nbsp;genetic material of rare and endangered species would be used to breed.

&quot;Currently, it&#39;s not anything we would use for reproduction,&quot; Kristen Lukas, who heads the Association of Zoos and Aquariums&#39; (AZA) Gorilla&nbsp;Species Survival Plan, said on Wednesday. &quot;It will be banked and just stored for future use or for research studies.&quot;

Lukas&#39; statement undercuts a weekend statement by&nbsp;Cincinnati&nbsp;Zoo director Thane Maynard that the death of the 17-year-old young silverback, who had been too young to breed, was &quot;not the end of his gene pool.&quot;

Zoo officials did not respond to calls on Wednesday seeking more detail on their plans for Harambe&#39;s sperm.

There are currently 350&nbsp;gorillas of Harambe&#39;s species in US&nbsp;zoos, according to the AZA, which accredits zoos, including&nbsp;Cincinnati&#39;s and approves breeding plans. That population is large enough to maintain a breeding program so robust that many female gorillas&nbsp;of child-bearing age are given hormonal contraceptives.

Zoo officials have stood by the decision to shoot Harambe dead on Saturday, saying the 450-pound (200-kg) animal could have easily&nbsp;slain&nbsp;or grievously injured the toddler.

But their decision to kill the&nbsp;gorilla&nbsp;has drawn criticism online and sparked a&nbsp;Cincinnati&nbsp;police investigation into the boy&#39;s family.

The highly charismatic animals are closely related to humans, making them popular zoo attractions. Major US&nbsp;zoos from New York&#39;s Bronx Zoo to the San Diego Zoo rely on&nbsp;gorillas as a major draw for visitors.

&nbsp;

INTO THE &#39;FROZEN ZOO&#39;

Harambe&#39;s sperm will&nbsp;likely&nbsp;go into a collection of samples taken from&nbsp;gorillas and other animals that are preserved in liquid nitrogen and typically viable for hundreds of years, said the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians director Robert Hilsenroth.

&quot;We call it the frozen zoo,&quot; said Hilsenroth. &quot;It&#39;s nice to have that in your pocket just in case.&quot;

Given the numbers of&nbsp;gorillas in captivity, Harambe&#39;s&nbsp;genetic&nbsp;material would&nbsp;likely&nbsp;be drawn on only in the event of some new disease that took a heavy toll on the population, the AZA&#39;s Lukas said.

&quot;In a dire situation like that, we would then be able to continue the population,&quot; Lukas said.

There are about 175,000 of the&nbsp;gorillas in the wild, but habitat destruction, hunting and disease are resulting in a rapid decline in the population.

The practice of breeding&nbsp;gorillas in captivity has been criticized by animal rights groups.

&quot;In theory, conserving is great but without a habitat what&#39;s the point,&quot; said Julia Gallucci, primatologist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

After shooting dead a?gorilla?at the?Cincinnati?Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm for future use

After shooting dead a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death. Officials at the main U.S. body that oversees breeding of zoo animals, however, said it was highly unlikely that the Western lowland gorilla's contribution to the nation's "frozen zoo" of genetic material of rare and endangered species would be used to breed. "Currently, it's not anything we would use for reproduction," Kristen Lukas, who heads the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Gorilla Species Survival Plan, said on Wednesday. "It will be banked and just stored for future use or for research studies." Lukas' statement undercuts a weekend statement by Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard that the death of the 17-year-old young silverback, who had been too young to breed, was "not the end of his gene pool." Zoo officials did not respond to calls on Wednesday seeking more detail on their plans for Harambe's sperm. There are currently 350 gorillas of Harambe's species in US zoos, according to the AZA, which accredits zoos, including Cincinnati's and approves breeding plans. That population is large enough to maintain a breeding program so robust that many female gorillas of child-bearing age are given hormonal contraceptives. Zoo officials have stood by the decision to shoot Harambe dead on Saturday, saying the 450-pound (200-kg) animal could have easily slain or grievously injured the toddler. But their decision to kill the gorilla has drawn criticism online and sparked a Cincinnati police investigation into the boy's family. The highly charismatic animals are closely related to humans, making them popular zoo attractions. Major US zoos from New York's Bronx Zoo to the San Diego Zoo rely on gorillas as a major draw for visitors. INTO THE 'FROZEN ZOO' Harambe's sperm will likely go into a collection of samples taken from gorillas and other animals that are preserved in liquid nitrogen and typically viable for hundreds of years, said the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians director Robert Hilsenroth. "We call it the frozen zoo," said Hilsenroth. "It's nice to have that in your pocket just in case." Given the numbers of gorillas in captivity, Harambe's genetic material would likely be drawn on only in the event of some new disease that took a heavy toll on the population, the AZA's Lukas said. "In a dire situation like that, we would then be able to continue the population," Lukas said. There are about 175,000 of the gorillas in the wild, but habitat destruction, hunting and disease are resulting in a rapid decline in the population. The practice of breeding gorillas in captivity has been criticized by animal rights groups. "In theory, conserving is great but without a habitat what's the point," said Julia Gallucci, primatologist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Slain Cincinnati gorilla likely to live on in genetic 'frozen zoo'

Thai wildlife authorities found 40 tiger cub carcasses in a freezer in Thailand&#39;s infamous Tiger Temple on Wednesday as they removed live animals in response to international pressure over suspected trafficking and abuse.

The Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province west of Bangkok had become a tourist destination where visitors snapped selfies with bottle-fed cubs.

But the temple has been investigated for suspected links to wildlife trafficking and abuse. A raid that began on Monday is the latest move in a tug-of-war since 2001 to bring the tigers under state control.

Tiger parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The 40 dead tiger cubs were found in a freezer in a kitchen area, said Adisorn Nuchdamrong, deputy director-general of the Department of National Parks.

&quot;They must be of some value for the temple to keep them,&quot; he said. &quot;But for what is beyond me.&quot;

Officials wearing protective masks displayed the bodies of the cubs to media at the temple. Also on display was the body of a Binturong, a protected species commonly known as a bearcat, which the authorities found with the cub carcasses.

Monks at the temple were not immediately available for comment.

Officials have moved 52 live tigers from the temple since Monday, Adisorn said, leaving 85 still there.

Thailand has long been a hub for the illicit trafficking of wildlife and forest products, including ivory. Exotic birds, mammals and reptiles, some of them endangered species, can often be found on sale in markets.

On Tuesday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group said the temple was &quot;hell for animals&quot; and called on tourists to stop visiting animal attractions at home and abroad.

Wildlife authorities found 40 tiger cub carcasses in a freezer in Thailand's infamous Tiger Temple on Wednesday as they removed live animals in response to international pressure over suspected trafficking and abuse

Thai wildlife authorities found 40 tiger cub carcasses in a freezer in Thailand's infamous Tiger Temple on Wednesday as they removed live animals in response to international pressure over suspected trafficking and abuse. The Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province west of Bangkok had become a tourist destination where visitors snapped selfies with bottle-fed cubs. But the temple has been investigated for suspected links to wildlife trafficking and abuse. A raid that began on Monday is the latest move in a tug-of-war since 2001 to bring the tigers under state control. Tiger parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine. The 40 dead tiger cubs were found in a freezer in a kitchen area, said Adisorn Nuchdamrong, deputy director-general of the Department of National Parks. "They must be of some value for the temple to keep them," he said. "But for what is beyond me." Officials wearing protective masks displayed the bodies of the cubs to media at the temple. Also on display was the body of a Binturong, a protected species commonly known as a bearcat, which the authorities found with the cub carcasses. Monks at the temple were not immediately available for comment. Officials have moved 52 live tigers from the temple since Monday, Adisorn said, leaving 85 still there. Thailand has long been a hub for the illicit trafficking of wildlife and forest products, including ivory. Exotic birds, mammals and reptiles, some of them endangered species, can often be found on sale in markets. On Tuesday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group said the temple was "hell for animals" and called on tourists to stop visiting animal attractions at home and abroad.

Dead tiger cubs found in Thai temple amid trafficking fears

Four people died and several more were injured in southern Germany after violent storms with torrential rains caused severe flooding, authorities said on Monday. 
 
One of those killed was a 13-year-old girl who was hit by a train Sunday while seeking shelter from the rains under a railway bridge. 
A boy, 12, who was with her was not physically injured but had to receive trauma counselling, said police in the southern city of Aalen.&nbsp; 
 
In Schwaebisch Gmuend near the city of Stuttgart, a volunteer firefighter died on Sunday trying to rescue a man trapped in a shaft of a flooded railway station, municipal authorities said. 
The man who was trapped was also presumed dead although neither body has been recovered, according to local police. 
 
In Weissbach, just to the north, a 60-year-old man died in a flooded underground garage on the same day.&nbsp; 
 
The regional authorities in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg put the number of injured at around 10. 
 
A number of people had to be rescued from cars trapped in the floods. 
 
National news agency DPA said a river broke its banks in Braunsbach, destroying one house and damaging several others. 
Eyewitnesses posted videos on social network sites showing cars being carried away by the floods and crashing into shop windows. 
&nbsp; 
The head of one rural district in Schwaebisch Hall, Michael Knaus, said that more rain fell in the space of a few hours than normally falls over several months.&nbsp; 
 
State authorities said that as many as 7,000 firefighters, police and rescue workers were called out in some 2,200 incidents.&nbsp;

Four people died and several more were injured in southern Germany after violent storms with torrential rains caused severe flooding, authorities said on Monday.

Four people died and several more were injured in southern Germany after violent storms with torrential rains caused severe flooding, authorities said on Monday. One of those killed was a 13-year-old girl who was hit by a train Sunday while seeking shelter from the rains under a railway bridge. A boy, 12, who was with her was not physically injured but had to receive trauma counselling, said police in the southern city of Aalen. In Schwaebisch Gmuend near the city of Stuttgart, a volunteer firefighter died on Sunday trying to rescue a man trapped in a shaft of a flooded railway station, municipal authorities said. The man who was trapped was also presumed dead although neither body has been recovered, according to local police. In Weissbach, just to the north, a 60-year-old man died in a flooded underground garage on the same day. The regional authorities in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg put the number of injured at around 10. A number of people had to be rescued from cars trapped in the floods. National news agency DPA said a river broke its banks in Braunsbach, destroying one house and damaging several others. Eyewitnesses posted videos on social network sites showing cars being carried away by the floods and crashing into shop windows. The head of one rural district in Schwaebisch Hall, Michael Knaus, said that more rain fell in the space of a few hours than normally falls over several months. State authorities said that as many as 7,000 firefighters, police and rescue workers were called out in some 2,200 incidents.

Four dead in Germany floods

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