US Releases Aid To Egypt As Kerry Arrives

US Secretary of State John Kerry has paid a surprise visit to Egypt after Washington released almost $600m in aid for the country, which he said was in a "critical moment".

Mr Kerry was speaking as he met new foreign minister Sameh Shoukri before talks with president Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

"Obviously this is a critical moment of transition in Egypt, enormous challenges," Mr Kerry said.

He said the US was "very interested in working closely" with the new government "in order to make this transition as rapidly and smoothly as possible".

Mr Sisi was elected as president in May

After the talks Mr Kerry told journalists: "The United States remains deeply committed to seeing Egypt succeed. We want to see the people of Egypt succeed and we want to contribute to the success of Egypt."

Mr Kerry, the most senior US official to visit Egypt since Mr Sisi came to power, said he had emphasised to him "our strong support for upholding the universal rights and freedoms of all Egyptians, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association". 

Since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was toppled by Mr Sisi in July 2013, a government crackdown on his supporters has left more than 1,400 people dead in street clashes and at least 15,000 in jail.

Egypt's former president Mohamed Morsi

US officials have said Washington still has deep concerns about the government's "polarising tactics", even though there was a "recognition that Egypt has been going through a very difficult transition".

Mr Kerry's visit came a day after an Egyptian court confirmed death sentences for 183 Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, after a mass trial that sparked an international outcry.

"The Secretary will discuss a variety of issues covering our bilateral relationship as well as regional issues, including Iraq, Syria, Libya, Israeli-Palestinian relations and the extremist and terror threats we all face," said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki.

Mr Sisi's supporters celebrate his victory in the presidential vote

Mr Kerry's latest diplomatic mission, which will also see him visit Amman, Brussels and Paris, is expected to focus on uniting Iraq's fractious leaders and repelling the ISIS militants who have seized cities and towns across the country.

The US officials revealed the tranche of about $572m (£336m) in aid, which had been frozen since October, was released to Cairo about 10 days ago. It will mainly be used to pay existing defence contracts.

In April the US announced it was planning to resume some of the annual $1.5bn (£880m) in mostly military aid to Egypt, including 10 Apache helicopter gunships for counter-terrorism efforts in the Sinai Peninsula.

Mr Sisi won some 97% of the vote in elections held in May and installed an interim government.

Last week, a new Egyptian cabinet led by prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab was sworn in with most ministers from the interim government still in place.

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South Korean Troops In Gunfight With Soldier

South Korean troops have been involved in a gunfight with a soldier who earlier went on the run after killing five comrades.

The military has surrounded the army sergeant, identified only by his surname Yim, and was trying to get him to surrender.

His parents were also at the scene, pleading with him to give himself up.

Yim had opened fire on members of his own unit at a guard post in a base near the border with the North on Saturday, say officials.

The conscript, who also wounded seven others in the grenade and gun attack at the end of his shift, then fled with his K2 assault rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition.

He was discovered hiding near a school six miles from the base and as troops tried to capture him on Sunday, the soldier opened fire.

A platoon leader was reportedly injured in the arm.

The shooting happened at an outpost in Goseong close to the DMZ

Yim, who was scheduled to be discharged from the army in September, was described as an "introvert" and had difficulty adapting to life in the military.

And he was on a list of "those who require special attention", said an officer.

There had been concerns about his psychological health, but he was deemed fit to be deployed to the outpost after passing a test in November, according to an official.

The initial shooting happened at an outpost in Goseong, about 205 miles northeast of the capital Seoul.

It is located just outside the demilitarised zone (DMZ) - a buffer strip that runs the full length of the border with the North, and known as the world's last Cold War frontier.

Yim's victims included one staff sergeant, a sergeant, a corporal and two privates. Their identities were being withheld by the army.

The wounded soldiers were taken to nearby hospitals but their injuries were not life-threatening.

There was no indication North Korea was involved in the shooting, but tensions have been heightened recently, with Pyongyang staging a series of missile and artillery drills.

The South's ministry of national defence publicly said sorry for Saturday's attack.

"We sincerely apologise for causing trouble to the people," said spokesman Kim Min-seok.

"We pray that the soldiers who died from this unexpected accident rest in peace and offer our deep condolences to the families of those killed and injured.

"We will do all we can do to support them."

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Italy: Pope Denounces 'Evil' Crime Syndicate

Pope Francis has described an Italian crime syndicate as "the adoration of evil", adding Mafiosi "are excommunicated".

He was speaking about the 'ndrangheta group during a Mass in southern Italy.

It was the strongest attack on organised crime since the late Pope John Paul hit out at the Sicilian Mafia in 1993.

Francis made the comments after meeting the father and two grandmothers of a murdered three-year-old in the courtyard of a prison in the town of Castrovillari.

Coco' Campolongo was shot along with one of his grandfathers and the grandfather's companion in an attack blamed on drug turf wars in the nearby Cassano allo Ionio.

The father was in prison at the time of the killings in January. 

The Pope greets residents of Cassano allo Ionio

The gunmen also torched the car with the three victims inside. The Pope publicly expressed his horror at the attack and promised to visit the town.

Francis embraced the father, who asked him to pray for the boy's mother, who was said to be under house arrest.

According to a Vatican spokesman, Francis told him: "May children never again have to suffer in this way."

"The two grandmothers were weeping like fountains," the spokesman added.

Calabria is the power base of the 'ndrangheta, a global drug trafficking syndicate whose activities also include extortion and blackmail.

After greeting 200 male and female inmates at the prison, Francis met patients at a hospice and had lunch with underprivileged people and drugs addicts at a rehabilitation facility.

The 77-year-old appeared to be coping well despite the hectic schedule and scorching temperatures.

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World Cup Divides Nation Of Football Lovers

By Alex Rossi, Senior News Correspondent

The Brazilian government had hoped nationwide protests against the cost of staging the event would die out as the World Cup got under way - but that has not happened.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the country's largest cities to demonstrate about the billions of pounds spent on building stadiums and hosting the event.

Millions of Brazilians think the money would have been better spent improving public services like education and health.

Protests have continued to take place across Brazil since the Cup began

Although the rallies have been much smaller than the authorities feared since the tournament started, they are a constant sideshow to the football - often bringing traffic to a standstill in cities like Rio de Janeiro where many football fans have based themselves. 

Human Rights groups claim brutal police tactics such as the heavy use of tear gas and rubber bullets have deterred many protesters from turning out.

One demonstrator, who was dressed as Batman but did not want to give his name, said the tournament is tainted as it symbolises the corruption which is preventing Brazil from modernising.

A protester, disguised as Batman, opposes the cost of the tournament

"Its absurd! A country that doesn't have health, has no education, no security, no proper popular homes and yet they invested 30 billion Reias in a World Cup which brings nothing to us."

His views are not isolated but are ironic in a country where football is much more than a game - its place in the culture runs very deep.

Brazil has a dark past in the slave trade and dictatorship but football was always a unifying force.

It managed to transcend inequality and injustice and brought together rich and poor like nothing else.

The World Cup though has divided the country.

Young supporters of the World Cup in one of Rio's favelas

In the favelas overlooking Ipanema, people are watching the games but there's anger - and with some tickets costing more than a month's wages, they question who the tournament benefits.

Resident Tiago Alves thinks the event has been a failure as it has highlighted Brazil's failures not its achievements.

"I think that Brazilians already suffer so much with money laundering away from public services. A lot of people think this money has gone straight to the World Cup."

Brazilians have not fallen out of love with football - but the affair with Fifa is souring.

Many feel its not so much a cup for the world as a tournament to be enjoyed by the elite.

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Fifa Bosses 'Secretly Doubled Their Salaries'

Blood On Dancefloor As Sepp Faces European Critics

Updated: 4:00am UK, Wednesday 11 June 2014

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent, Rio de Janeiro

When Sepp Blatter shimmied onto stage at the Fifa Congress alongside Brazilian model Fernanda Lima he did not look much like a man under pressure.

As he jigged about like a man at his granddaughter's wedding, Blatter was in his element, playing to type at the opening ceremony of an event he has long choreographed to his own ends.

You certainly would not have guessed this was a man who started the day facing an open challenge to his leadership from inside the "football family" of which he imagines himself patriarch.

Blatter is well used to criticism from beyond the gates. This is a man, after all, who has not been able to risk a speech at a World Cup finals since he was booed at the 2002 Japan-South Korea World Cup.

But he is certainly not used to being criticised so openly and directly on his own turf as he was on Tuesday.

FA chairman Greg Dyke is new to "Fifaland" and had little to lose, and much to gain domestically, from taking Blatter on. But his message was unarguable.

The allegations against Qatar are not the result of a conspiracy, or racism. Rather they are the product of a competitive, engaged media worrying away at a questionable decision made by a demonstrably flawed organisation.

To suggest otherwise is to admit, as many within Uefa believe, that Blatter does not really believe in cleaning up Fifa or the work of US attorney Michael Garcia, commissioned to investigate the Qatar allegations.

Dyke's Dutch counterpart Michael Van Praag, meanwhile, said plainly what many have long believed; Fifa cannot be credibly reformed with Blatter at the helm because the scandals of the last decade occurred on his watch.

And yet Fifa being Fifa, there is always a political dance going on, and so it was here.

Uefa's opposition at least makes them look like they speak for the interests of players, clubs and the fans they ultimately represent.

But Dyke and Van Praag, no matter how well-intentioned, were really doing someone else's dirty work. Michel Platini, Uefa President, one-time advisor to Blatter and for a while his most credible opponent, was silent. Uefa wants change - and many support them - but their leader kept his head down.

Perhaps it is because he is compromised over Qatar having openly voted for them. Or perhaps he believes that no matter how uncomfortable Uefa made one afternoon for Blatter, their opposition is unlikely to prevent him winning another term as president.

That is the reality of Blatter's grip over Fifa. He commands a majority of the 209 member nations, and his announcement this week of increased bonuses from World Cup profits to all of them will ensure he keeps it.

Uefa has six months to change the music by finding a candidate capable of taking him on and winning. If they don't, Blatter will waltz on to a fifth term.

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Pakistan 'Gang Rape': Arrest Over Hanged Woman

The boyfriend of a woman found hanging from a tree after she was allegedly gang raped has been arrested in Pakistan.

The violent death of Muzammil Bibi, 20, bears a chilling resemblance to a spate of sex crimes that sparked outrage and protests in neighbouring India.

Police in Punjab province said the woman's boyfriend of six months, named by police as Muhammad Saqib, was taken into custody after he confessed to the rape and murder.

Saqib admitted he tried to force the victim to have sex with two of his friends at a wholesale vegetable shop where he worked but she refused, according to police. 

In May, two teen girls were raped and hanged from a tree in India

She was then allegedly raped and killed. Police said Saqib had confessed to the attack, adding that they were still investigating if the woman had been raped by the other men as well.

Police are still looking for the two alleged accomplices.

"The incident occurred in Layyah district (in Punjab province) on Thursday night and was reported to the police on Friday when the local people saw a woman hanging from a tree," senior police official Ghazi Salahudin told AFP.

The murders in Uttar Pradesh sparked angry protests in the region

He said the woman was raped and strangled, and then her body was hanged to make it look like a suicide.

The woman was the eldest of eight siblings - the children of blind parents - and made a living by farming a small piece of land.

The incident echoes an attack in India last month, in which two teenage girls were found gang-raped and hanged from a mango tree in Uttar Pradesh state.

That attack sparked protests over police apathy, and was the latest to highlight India's dismal record on preventing sexual violence.

Amina Bibi, 17, died after setting herself on fire in March

There was further outrage when a lawmaker from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party described rape as a "social crime", saying "sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong".

Though the issues of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence are not as high-profile in Pakistan as they have been in India in recent years, they are widespread in the deeply conservative country.

In March a 17-year-old Pakistani gang rape victim, Amina Bibi, died after setting herself on fire in protest at a police decision to set a key suspect free.

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PM 'Will Force Europe To Vote On Juncker'

Juncker A Wily Politician Who Enjoys The Game

Updated: 2:56pm UK, Friday 06 June 2014

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Jean-Claude Juncker is a familiar fixture in the 'Brussels bubble', known and admired for his political longevity, if not his charisma.

He was born in 1954 in Luxembourg as the continent was still stumbling from the rubble of the Second World War. His father, a steel worker and trade unionist, had been forced to serve in the Wehrmacht.

Juncker Jr. studied law at university but never practiced, honing his political skills by joining the centre-right Christian Social People's Party which fast-tracked him to a deputy's position (similar to a British MP) when he was just 30.

It was the last European Commission president to hail from Luxembourg, Jacques Santer, who took Juncker under his wing, helping him to secure influential ministerial positions including Minister of both labour and finance.

So, few were surprised when he assumed the top job as Prime Minister in 1995. What is extraordinary is how long he held the post: 18 years, leaving in 2013, making him the longest-ever serving EU leader.

As his grip loosened in Luxembourg, he maintained a firm toe-hold in Brussels, chairing from its inception the so-called Eurogroup of nations which use the single currency. It was Juncker who steered its members through some particularly choppy waters.

So why does the UK oppose his ascension to the Commission's top job?

Prime Minister David Cameron would like to see a reformer in the role, someone prepared to get his can-opener and prise open the lid of the tin marked "worms". The UK Government needs support from Europe's institutions – and its leaders - if it wants to negotiate looser ties to the mother ship, which it could then sell in a referendum

But Juncker is far from a reformer: Nigel Farage described him to me as an "arch federalist" which roughly translates into him wanting more Europe rather than less.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Juncker's corner, as her party is in the European People's Party grouping, of which Juncker is the leader, but his candidacy is also opposed by Italy, Netherlands and Hungary (albeit for a variety of different reasons).

All 28 leaders will vote on the next commission president, but the German Chancellor believes a "qualified majority" will be enough to annoint Jose Manuel Barroso's successor - that means a weighted majority to represent the lion's share of EU citizens.

There is no set time frame on the process, which changed in 2009 after the Lisbon Treaty, to ensure the Euopean Council took note of the results of European elections.

The UK is threatening to walk from the union if Juncker is elected, but all sides of this spat can see the political advantages, at home and in Brussels, of playing this down to the wire.

Mr Juncker, as an experienced and wily politician, will appreciate the game.

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Lots To Talk About On Kerry's Diplomatic Tour

Pity John Kerry. The marathon man of international diplomacy has embarked on yet another tour of global capitals in what looks like an increasingly vain attempt to stop nations at the heart of the Middle East and Europe from pulling themselves to pieces.

His first stop Cairo. Now ruled by Field Marshall Abdel Fatteh al Sisi.

Once a vital US ally in the Middle East, Egypt saw its democratic hopes shattered by a military coup which deposed an erratic Muslim Brotherhood government.

Now the new regime has jailed secular activists, sentenced hundreds to death for "terrorism" and is holding international journalists in jail on absurdist charges having shot hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood dead on the streets last year.

No wonder Mr Kerry said when he arrived: "We have a lot to talk about".

A stable Egypt is now essential to an unstable region. So Mr Kerry is likely to put aside principle in the name of realpolitik.

His next stop is Amman, Jordan's capital, but his eyes will be on Baghdad. Jordan's King Abdullah II will need reassuring that the US will stand by him, as he has by them, in the face of a burgeoning threat from Sunni militancy across his borders in Syria and Iraq.

In Iraq he will be trying to persuade Nouri al Maliki to reform his style of government. To bring Sunnis closer into the political process, rely less on unqualified loyalists in key positions in the armed forces and intelligence services, and draw the poison out of the Iraqi body politic before it spins off into separatist enclaves of Sunni, Shia and Kurd.

John Kerry arrives in Cairo to meet the new government

He is likely to be ignored. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said just as Mr Kerry landed in Cairo that the US pressure should be resisted.

Mr Kerry was snubbed on his last visit to Baghdad when he asked Mr Maliki to stop Iranian arms shipments to Assad's Syria from using his airspace.

With no movement from Mr Maliki, even though he faces bitter criticism from influential Shia party leaders, there is unlikely to be much American support, and the prospect of US air strikes to stop the advance of ISIS and its allies dwindles to almost zero.

Mr Kerry will leave the Middle East and head to Europe, where he will meet with Nato leaders to discuss Ukraine - another country fighting its own centrifugal forces.

He'll be pushing for further sanctions against Russia, which has moved more troops to the border with Ukraine and continues to foment violence in the country's east.

He may get more traction there.

But Vladimir Putin has shown no signs of moderating his policies - neither in the face of sanctions that have already bitten into the Russian economy nor after a unilateral ceasefire offer from Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president.

The dangers of widening war in both regions loom large with the attendant disruptions to trade, commodity prices and humanitarian disasters.

Mr Kerry may return to the US having solved little but will be shaking his head at the inability of leaders to avoid their own suffering.

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Iraqi Troops 'Withdraw' In Face Of ISIS Offensive

Islamist militants have captured four towns in western Iraq, according to Sky sources.

Haditha, Anah, Rawa, Rotba - along with a number of villages- were taken as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) swept east from the Syrian border, where it captured a border crossing on Saturday, in its latest offensive.

The group was also reported to have seized two more border crossings - the Turaibil crossing with Jordan and the al-Walid crossing with Syria. 

Speaking from Baghdad, Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said: "This offensive coming from the west is very significant as it appears the Iraqi army has folded-up without a fight.

Potential recruits are given a medical check in Baghdad

"These are major strategic prizes, not necessarily big towns but all of them on the main route to Syria and on the Euphrates river.

"The big prize appears to be Haditha. There are conflicting reports whether it has fallen, but its collapse looks imminent.

"It contains a very important power-generating plant for Baghdad. If you combine that with the shut down of supply from the main oil refinery and power stations in Baiji, you can see the ISIS have a tactic of putting the squeeze on power supplies to Baghdad.

"That will further weaken the extremely fragile position of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki who is getting criticism from all sides and seems incapable of mustering any spirit in his army or making any political concessions that could shore up support among his critics."

Some two million volunteers have enlisted to fight against the ISIS

Dozens of Iraqi tanks, armoured vehicles and special forces troops were being sent to Haditha in an attempt to regain control and protect a dam across the Euphrates, according to Sky sources.

Lieutenant General Qassem Atta of the Iraqi army said the government's forces had made a "tactical" withdrawal from three of the towns in Anbar province.

"The military units' withdrawal was for the purpose of redeployment," he said.

ISIS had already taken control of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in predominantly Sunni Anbar province before it seized Iraq's second city Mosul, and Baiji, home to the country's largest oil refinery, in an aggressive offensive in the north.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in the region for talks aimed at healing some of the differences between Iraq's leaders and ending the crisis.

In Cairo, he said: "This is a critical moment when we must urge Iraq's leaders to rise above sectarian considerations ... and speak to all people."

Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith has said the UK could provide logistical support if the US were to begin its own bombing raids.

"The Government has said it's not going to be doing any airstrikes or putting soldiers into Iraq but I think there are lots of other things we can do to help support them," he said.

He suggested Britain could "make sure they get the right spare parts and support in maintaining those kind of aircraft and equipment and also support the Americans where they need it in terms of supply, et cetera."

Meanwhile, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani warned that any country funding or arming the ISIS could become the group's next target.

Although Rouhani did not specifically name particular countries, officials in Iran have suggested Saudi Arabia and Qatar could be channelling funding to the group.

Young Iraqis have been flocking to recruitment centres at the weekend to join the counter-offensive against the ISIS. According to official records, some two million young men have volunteered in the past seven days.

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Jihadist's Mother Pleads For Him To Return Home

Faith Lost In Iraq PM Amid Political Limbo

Updated: 5:46pm UK, Friday 20 June 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor, in Baghdad

The US President, Shia politicians, Sunni chieftans and none other than the Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani has joined the clamour for Iraq's Prime Minister to move fast and form a government.

The nation has languished since elections on April 30 in a political limbo that arguably undermined faith in the central government, even among the Shia-dominated armed forces.

That might, partly, explain their rapid collapse in the face of far fewer forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) plus their allies.

But now that Iraq's supreme court has ratified the results of the elections what possible reason could Nouri al Maliki have for delay?

One explanation may simply be political.

His stewardship over previous years has entrenched sectarian divisions and seen an explosion in corruption.

His party bloc won 92 of the 328 seats in Iraq's parliament and he'll need 165 to form a coalition administration.

He, therefore, has to get involved in some serious horse trading with other Shia parties to build his coalition.

But they are now losing faith in him. Particularly in his apparent refusal to reach out to Sunni parties and offer them stakes in the central government - such as a security portfolio and a ministry which would give them access to patronage systems such as an education or public works - so that they feel both secure and that they have an investment in the future political structures.

A more conspiratorial thesis, fuelled by the conspiratorial utterances of lame duck ministers left over from the previous administration, is that Iraq's latest travails are the fault of external forces.

Jordan, Saudi Arabia (both Sunni countries), the US and others are being blamed for manipulating the Middle East and somehow creating ISIS.

There is evidence of Saudi individual, and possible state funding, for extremist militant groups in Syria, which may include ISIS.

And Jordan has played a significant role in trying to boost the fortunes of the non-extremist Free Syrian Army.

But Mr al Maliki may have calculated that he can either weather the latest storm - or let ISIS form an impoverished caliphate in the desert north of his country which would leave the Shia with Baghdad and the south.

It's the south, after all, that holds the lion's share of the world's second largest oil reserves.

It can ship its oil out through the Gulf, via Kuwait, or via Iran.

A Shia state or semi-state would not only be self-sufficient - it would be spared the burden of sharing Iraq's spoils with other sectarian groups like the Sunni and the Kurds (who already have their own autonomy and oil industry).

Such a move, or allowing events to drift to this reality, would place the south of Iraq firmly inside Iran's imperial embrace.

That is not something that Saudi Arabia would be able to tolerate in the long term as it vies with Iran for influence in the Middle East.

Nor is it anything that a rump Sunni 'caliphate' would be able to live with - the extremists within it would forever plot how to steal it back by force.

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