Arab Idol: Assaf Win Sparks Palestinian Joy

Tens of thousands of people in Palestine are celebrating after a 23-year-old singer from a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip won the Arab Idol contest.

Fireworks lit up the sky over Gaza and the West Bank as Mohammed Assaf's victory was announced and chants of "Palestine! Palestine!" rang out.

Large crowds had gathered in the streets to watch the finale of the singing competition on outdoor screens.

"This shows that Palestinians don't just fight and struggle, but we rejoice and make great art," said Awad Najib, a government employee, after a mass viewing outside the Ramallah presidential palace.

Wedding singer Assaf was born to Palestinian parents in Libya and grew up in Gaza's Khan Younis refugee camp. However, he almost didn't get to compete.

Assaf's success has filled many Palestinians with pride

He says he had to plead with Hamas to let him leave Gaza, then bribe Egyptian border guards to let him enter the country en route to Lebanon where the show was held.

A fellow Palestinian gave up his slot during the audition phase because he believed Assaf had a better chance of winning.

Pride and excitement had grown as Assaf progressed through the talent show and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement after his victory calling it a "moment of pride and victory for our people, on the way to achieving the dream of establishing the independent state".

During his final performance, many in the audience in the Beirut studio jumped to their feet when he sang his signature anthem to Palestinian nationalism, Raise the kaffiyeh.

Thousands watched the result on large outdoor screens

Assaf's patriotic anthems and folk songs had proved a big hit with Palestinians but some religious leaders remained harshly critical of the show.

Mohammed Salim, delivering a sermon on Friday at Islam's third holiest shrine, the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, said Palestinians had lost sight of their struggle for independence by getting preoccupied with the show.

"Voting for songs and immorality, evil and sin is not only forbidden, it is a crime against the cause of our people," he said.

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Syria: 'Friends' Agree Urgent Rebel Support

Western and Arab countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar al Assad have agreed to give urgent military support to rebels fighting for his overthrow.

Ministers from the 11 main countries which form the Friends of Syria group agreed "to provide urgently all the necessary material and equipment to the opposition on the ground".

They also condemned "the intervention of Hizbollah militias and fighters from Iran and Iraq," demanding that they withdraw immediately.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague a the meeting in Doha

The support will be channelled through a Western-backed rebel military command, the ministers agreed during talks in Doha.

Guerrillas from Lebanon's Shiite pro-Iranian Hizbollah organisation spearheaded the recapture of the strategic border town of Qusair from mainly Sunni Muslim rebels two weeks ago.

Hizbollah and Shiite Iraqi gunmen have also been fighting around the shrine of Sayyid Zainab, south of Damascus, while Iranian military commanders are believed to be advising Mr Assad's officers on their counter-offensives against the rebels.

The ministers said the growing sectarian nature of the conflict and the foreign interventions "threaten the unity of Syria (and) broaden the conflict" across the region.

They also expressed strong concern at the increasing presence of "terrorist elements" and growing radicalisation in Syria.

Ministers from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States attended the talks in Doha.

Speaking at the meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the support for the rebels would help change the balance on the battlefield, where regime forces have scored recent victories.

Mr Kerry expressed concern about Iran and Hizbollah fighters in Syria.

"That is a very, very dangerous development. Hizbollah is a proxy for Iran ... Hizbollah in addition to that is a terrorist organisation."

Mr Kerry blamed Hizbollah and Mr Assad with thwarting efforts to diffuse sectarian rebels and to negotiate a settlement.

The two-year-long civil war in Syria has so far left 93,000 people dead.

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Gunmen Kill Tourists In Pakistan

Gunmen have killed nine foreign tourists after storming a hotel in a remote area of northern Pakistan, say police.

"Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire," said Ali Sher, a senior police officer in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan province.

The gunmen fled after the attack.

Five Ukrainians, three Chinese, a Russian and their guide were killed in the attack near the base camp for the snow-covered Nanga Parbat mountain, a popular destination for trekkers, officials said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

A senior government official said a large number of security personnel had been sent to the area.

"Since the area is very remote with no roads or transport, their bodies will have to be retrieved by helicopter," the official said.

Gilgit-Baltistan province - famous for its natural beauty -  had been considered one of the more secure areas of Pakistan but in recent years has witnessed a spate of attacks by militants targeting members of Pakistan's Shi'ite minority.

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Brazil President Fails To Quell Mass Protests

By Jason Farrell, Sky Correspondent in Rio de Janeiro

Fresh protests have erupted in Brazil after President Dilma Rousseff addressed the nation and promised to improve public services and fight harder against corruption.

An estimated 250,000 people in more than 100 cities returned to the streets overnight, according to a police count published on the website of Brazil's Globo TV network.

In some areas, police and demonstrators clashed despite Ms Rousseff's plea for an end to the violence.

Across the nation, people gathered to denounce legislation, known as PEC 37, that would limit the power of federal prosecutors to investigate crimes - which many fear would hinder attempts to jail corrupt politicians.

In the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, more than 70,000 people chanting "The Cup for whom?" rallied outside the Mineirao stadium while Mexico and Japan took part in a Confederations Cup game, a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup.

Police fired tear gas when some of the demonstrators hurled stones and tried to break through the stadium's security barrier. Fifteen people were reported injured in the clashes.

Protesters tried to break through the security barrier at Mineirao stadium

During her pre-recorded TV address on Friday, Ms Rousseff promised she would always battle corruption and that she would meet with peaceful protesters, governors and the mayors of big cities to create a national plan to improve urban transportation and use oil royalties for investments in education.

Many Brazilians hoped that Ms Rousseff's words, after several days of silence from the leader, would soothe tensions and help avoid more violence, but not everyone is convinced by her promises of action.

Earlier, 500 footballs, each with a red cross painted on, have been planted into the sand of Rio's Copacabana beach to represent 500,000 murders in Brazil in the last decade.

It was a striking image used to portray a shocking statistic.

The use of footballs was another reference to the money that has been lavished on the World Cup - a growing theme of the mass protests that began over bus fares.

Protesters have planted 500 footballs in the sand at Copacabana beach

Mattheus Mendes Costa, a student who helped create the display, believes the spending on stadiums for the Cup is what awakened Brazilians to what the country could achieve elsewhere.

"It's frustrating that we have spent double what anyone else paid in preparing for the World Cup but our social projects don't get the same attention," he said.

"People want that to change now. We want hospitals, schools, and security all to Fifa standard."

The demonstration was set up by the non-governmental organisation Rio Paz (Rio Peace) which has been trying to deal with the homicide problem in the favelas, the precariously-built shanty towns that cling to the mountains around Rio.

The NGO's director, Antonio Costa, said: "We are the seventh biggest economy in the world but one of the most socially imbalanced.

"We have the fourth most crowded prisons, and just a few people have 60% of the country's wealth. They are the ones who influence all the political decisions."

This is another recurring theme from the demonstrators. They feel it's time a greater number enjoyed the wealth of the nation.

It's worth remembering that 40 million Brazilians have crossed the poverty line in the last decade.

The burial of the balls represents the murder of 500,000 Brazilians

And Ms Rousseff reminded her countrymen on Friday that she, as a Marxist revolutionary, had helped bring wealth and democracy to the people when she fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime.

As the President tried to appease protesters with the offer of various social reform policies, she also told Brazilians that her struggle had given them the right to demonstrate.

"My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard," Ms Rousseff said. "Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this."

The President's standing as a revolutionary is the thing that might just help her ride out this wave of protest, but there's a feeling on the streets that only now are the people taking political control.

"I think its going to be a time of big change in Brazil, because for the first time in 20 years we've frightened the political class," Antonio Costa said.

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Wing-Walker Dies In Ohio Plane Crash

Authorities say a plane carrying a wing-walker has crashed at an Ohio air show, killing the pilot and the stunt-walker.

The crash occurred at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton at 12.45pm local time. No spectators were injured.

The show was cancelled for the remainder of the day.

A video posted on WHIO-TV showed the plane turn upside-down as the wing-walker sits on top of the wing.

The wing-walker sits on the plane shortly before the crash

The plane then tilts and crashes to the ground, exploding into flames as spectators scream.

"All of a sudden I heard screaming and looked up and there was a fireball," spectator Stan Thayer told WHIO-TV.

Another spectator, Shawn Warwick, told the Dayton Daily News that he was watching the flight through binoculars.

"I noticed it was upside-down really close to the ground. She was sitting on the bottom of the plane," he said.

"I saw it just go right into the ground and explode."

In 2007, veteran stunt pilot Jim LeRoy was killed at the Dayton show when his biplane slammed into the runway while performing loop-to-loops and caught fire.

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Daredevil To Cross Grand Canyon On Tightrope

A US daredevil is preparing one of his most ambitious feats yet when he tries to cross the Grand Canyon on a tightrope 1,500ft up.

Nik Wallenda, 34, will attempt the quarter-mile crossing above the Little Colorado River Gorge on Sunday night - without wearing a safety harness.

The last thing he will do before setting out on the two-inch steel cable is kiss his wife and three children and tell them he will see them later, he revealed.

The stunt comes a year after he traversed the Niagara Falls - becoming the first to cross since 1896.

It will be broadcast live by The Discovery Channel

A group of Navajo people are reportedly planning to protest at the event, claiming it is a gamble on one man's life.

Mr Wallenda, a member of America's Flying Wallendas circus family, said the only thing that will prevent him taking on the crossing is a lightning strike within a 15-mile radius.

He said: "I respect deeply what I do and realise there's a lot of danger in it.

"I absolutely will look down. And I'll enjoy the view."

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Sex Offender Charged With Girl's Murder

A registered sex offender recently released from jail has been charged with murder over the death of an eight-year-old girl abducted while shopping with her mother.

Donald James Smith, of Jacksonville, befriended Charish Perriwinkle and her mother on Friday night at a dollar store and offered to buy them clothes at Wal-Mart, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.

He took them to the store, then told the girl's mother he would buy them a snack outside. Authorities said Smith then walked out with the little girl.

Authorities had put out an Amber Alert with details of Smith's van on Saturday, hours after the missing girl's mother called 911.

A tip led investigators to a wooded area where they found Charish's body on Saturday.

The little girl was abducted from this WalMart

Smith, 56, was taken into custody after an officer recognised his vehicle on Interstate 95 and he was pulled over.

On Sunday, Judge Roberto Arias denied him bail. He will reappear in court on July 16.

He has been a registered sex offender since a 1993 conviction in Duval County for attempted kidnapping and selling obscene materials.

He has been arrested several times since then, most recently in 2009 on a charge of child abuse after making obscene phone calls to a 10-year-old girl.

Smith pleaded guilty to impersonating a social worker with the Florida Department of Children and Familes where he claimed to be investigating the girl's family.

He was released from jail on May 31 and met with police on Friday morning when officers visited to check his address, as required by state law.

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Philippines: 'Al Qaeda' Snatches Sisters

Al Qaeda-linked gunmen are feared to have abducted two sisters working on a film in the Phillipines.

Nadjoua and Linda Bansil were taken by a gang of around 10 militants from Sulu province's Patikul town, where they were filming coffee farmers, police and military sources said.

Police said at least three colleagues of the sisters, who were in a van, fled on a motorcycle or were left behind by the gunmen.

Patikul police senior inspector Christopher Gutierrez said: "We're trying to track down the abductors and the victims and possibly launch a rescue operation with the help of the military."

Marines stationed in Patikul have been battling al Qaeda militants

Marine Colonel Jose Cenabre said the gunmen belong to the Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and other atrocities.

But Mr Gutierrez said police were still checking if the abductors were from an allied group of young gunmen behind several kidnappings.

Police said the women, who were guests of a Sulu-based sultan, did not liaise with them before their trip to the dangerous Patikul mountains.

They reportedly visited Mount Sinumaan, a rugged area where the Abu Sayyaf maintains a camp, and were on their way back to the provincial capital of Jolo when they were stopped by the gunmen.

The sisters were born in Algeria to an Algerian mother and a Filipino father but grew up in the Philippines, where they have been involved in recent years in producing independent films.

Abu Sayyaf militants have been holding a number of hostages in the jungles of Sulu, including two European bird watchers and a Jordanian journalist who were kidnapped last year.

The militants are active in Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 590 miles (950km) south of Manila, where they have survived in their jungle encampments despite years of US-backed offensives.

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Newborn Baby Rescued From Drains In Alicante

A baby boy, just two-days, old, has been rescued from inside a building's drains in the eastern Spanish city of Alicante.

The newborn's 26-year-old mother has been arrested on charges of attempted murder, according to the Interior Ministry.

The boy, who still had his umbilical cord attached, was found wrapped in plastic bags.

He had been trapped at a point where the building's drains converged into a one-square-metre manhole in a courtyard.

The baby, who weighed 2.1kg (4.6 pounds), was reported in a serious but not life-threatening condition in hospital.

He had suffered a fracture to a bone in one arm. The baby had other injuries which have yet to be detailed.

A baby boy was found in a sewer pipe last month in China

According to investigators, the woman had been admitted to Alicante's General Hospital on June 21 where she told medical staff she had suffered a miscarriage.

She told police, who went to the hospital to question her, that she had tried to get rid of the baby but had not had enough money to pay for an abortion.

Investigators were also trying to determine whether she acted alone or if a third party could have been involved in the ditching of the baby in the building's communal drains.

Last month, rescue workers in eastern China had to extract a newborn baby boy who had become stuck in a sewer pipe when his mother tried to give birth in secret.

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Edward Snowden Requests Asylum In Ecuador

The whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked details about snooping carried out by the US government, has requested asylum in Ecuador after he landed in Moscow from Hong Kong.

The whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, which says it is now representing Snowden, said he is using Moscow as a transit point to the country.

Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino said on his Twitter account that "the government of Ecuador has received a request for asylum on the part of Edward Snowden".

The country's ambassador to Russia arrived at a hotel near Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, where Snowden's flight touched down at 5.05pm.

A spokesman for Wikileaks said: "Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives at his final destination his request will be formally processed."

A twitter picture of Snowden's plane in Moscow. Credit @Russian_Market

Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange added: "The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person.

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people".

WikiLeaks said he was being accompanied by Sarah Harrison, described by them as a UK citizen, journalist and legal researcher.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said there is a flight ticket in his name from Moscow to Cuba and that he will then fly on to Caracas. It said that his flight to Havana from Moscow would take place on Monday.

Snowden's route since leaving Hawaii and his possible next destinations

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been granted asylum in the South American country.

Assange is currently in the Ecuador embassy in London. He is unable to leave without being arrested as he is wanted for questioning by Sweden over alleged sexual offences.

From the delegation which had arrived at the airport to meet him, it appears most likely he is heading to Ecuador.

Assange confirmed his organisation's involvement to Australian newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald.

He said: "Mr Snowden is ... accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisers.

A still picture of Sarah Harrison taken from a video put out by WikiLeaks

"He ... will be met by diplomats from the country that will be his ultimate destination. Diplomats from that country will accompany him on a further flight to his destination."

Snowden left Hong Kong after The White House asked the autonomous Chinese territory to extradite him. He had earlier been charged in the US with espionage.

The Hong Kong government has said that although the US had sought his extradition, the request did not fully comply with requirements. It said that as a result, he was free to leave.

Snowden was revealed earlier this month to have been the man who leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers information about monitoring by America's National Security Agency.

Snowden claimed the NSA has been keeping details of millions of phone calls by Americans and monitoring the use by foreigners of internet sites including Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

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