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Nearly 60 percent of Germans feel that Chancellor Angela Merkel's bouts of uncontrolled shaking are a personal matter, according to a survey published on Saturday. A poll published in the Augsburger Allgemeinen newspaper found that 59 percent of those questioned felt that trembling seen three times in public in the past month concerns Merkel's "private" life, while 34 percent said it was a matter of public interest. Merkel will celebrate her 65th birthday next Wednesday and has been at the head of the German government for about 14 years.

Indian federal authorities arrested a top executive at the retail conglomerate Future Group, one of the largest retailers in the country, on customs fraud charges involving more than $2 million of unpaid customs duties on garment imports, a government statement said on Saturday. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, part of India's finance ministry, arrested Dinesh Maheshwari, executive director and chief financial officer of Future Enterprises Ltd, for flouting import rules that allow duty-free shipments of certain items under a free trade pact with Bangladesh.

While Sig Sauer, Inc. may have entered the battle rifle market recently, the original company—SIG, Schweizer Industrie Gesellschaft—produced a variety of them. SIG’s most famous was the SIG SG 510, otherwise known as the Sturmgewehr 57.Though the Sturmgewehr 57 was a very early battle rifle that retained many vestiges of Swiss bolt action rifles before it, it also featured many thoughtful features and is considered to be among the best battle rifles in the world.More than anything else, the Sturmgewehr 57 was built for accuracy. The standard Sturmgewehr 57 features a 23-inch long barrel, 3 inches longer than an M16. While this makes it rather unwieldy for close quarters combat or for mechanized troops that might need to enter and exit a vehicle, it suits the light infantry role most Swiss units were set up for at the time. The rifle also featured an integrated bipod, rifle grenade launcher, and excellent diopter sights.Unlike most rifles where sight adjustment increments remain the same across the range of adjustment, the Sturmgewehr 57 features finer range adjustment increments at extended ranges, where precise ranging matters far more because a fired bullet drops more rapidly the further it goes. Of course, the Sturmgewehr 57’s sights are still reliant on the soldiers knowing precise ranges to targets, but in the Swiss case, most infantry would likely be defending from positions with existing range tables, which would allow them to dial in their sights with great accuracy.

A federal appeals court has blocked Trump administration rules that would allow companies to deny insurance coverage for birth control if employers had religious or moral objections.The appeal was brought by the Democrat attorneys general of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and saw the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals uphold a lower court’s decision on Friday.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had described the rules - rolled out in 2017 - as an attempt to “sanction discrimination under the guise of religion or morality.”The Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) is expected to appeal.Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro called it a win for access to birth control across the United States.Louise Melling, the deputy legal director of the ACLU, said: “The Trump administration’s rules authorised employers and universities to strip women of birth control coverage — a benefit guaranteed to them by law, and meant to advance their health and equality. We applaud the order to enjoin the enforcement of these discriminatory rules.”An Obama-era mandate required employers to offer contraceptive health care coverage to employees with no co-pay.But some religious groups, charities, and opponents of abortion rights had criticised the mandate.Department of Justice spokeswoman Kelly Laco stood by the Trump administration push, saying: “Religious organisations should not be forced to violate their mission and deeply-held beliefs.”

Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Pete Buttigieg are the only 2020 candidates who have consistently polled viably.

Hong Kong protesters clashed with police on Saturday in a town near the boundary with mainland China where thousands rallied against the presence of Chinese traders, seizing on another grievance following major unrest over an extradition bill. The demonstration in the Hong Kong territorial town of Sheung Shui, not far from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, began peacefully but devolved into skirmishes and shouting. Protesters threw umbrellas and hardhats at police, who retaliated by swinging batons and firing pepper spray. Later in the day Hong Kong police urged protesters to refrain from violence and leave the area. The protest was the latest in a series that have roiled the former British colony for more than a month, giving rise to its worst political crisis since its 1997 handover to China. Sometimes violent street protests have drawn in millions of people, with hundreds even storming the legislature on July 1 to oppose a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to China to face trial in courts under ruling Communist Party control. Critics see the bill as a threat to Hong Kong's rule of law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam this week said the bill was "dead" after having suspended it last month, but opponents vow to settle for nothing short of its formal withdrawal. Protests against the bill had largely taken place in Hong Kong's main business district, but demonstrators have recently begun to look elsewhere to widen support by taking up narrower, more domestic issues. A supporter begs police officer not to attack protesters Credit: AP In Sheung Shui, protesters rallied to oppose small-time Chinese traders who make short trips into the territory to buy goods that they then haul back to China to sell. The demonstrators chanted demands in Mandarin, China's official language, for the Chinese traders to go home. Many street-level shops were shuttered during the march. The traders have long been a source of anger among those in Hong Kong who say they have fuelled inflation, driven up property prices, dodged taxes and diluted Sheung Shui's identity. "Our lovely town has become chaos," said Ryan Lai, 50, a resident of Sheung Shui, where so-called "parallel traders" buy bulk quantities of duty-free goods to be carried into mainland China and sold. "We don't want to stop travel and buying, but please, just make it orderly and legal. The extradition bill was the tipping point for us to come out. We want Sheung Shui back." When Britain returned Hong Kong to China 22 years ago, Chinese Communist leaders promised the city a high degree of autonomy for 50 years. But many say China has progressively tightened its grip, putting Hong Kong's freedoms under threat through a range of measures such as the extradition bill. Hong Kong's lack of full democracy was behind the recent unrest, said Jimmy Sham of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organised protests against the extradition bill. "The government, Carrie Lam, some legislators in functional constituencies are not elected by the people, so there are many escalating actions in different districts to reflect different social issues," he said. "If political problems are not solved, social well-being issues will continue to emerge endlessly." Major demonstrations in the past month against a proposal to change extradition laws have reawakened other movements in Hong Kong Credit: AP One protester said Saturday's scuffles started when demonstrators charged the police after the latter came to the assiatcne of mainland traders who had assaulted demonstrators. "Some people were attacked and got injured in a stampede. I tried to save some girls so I was also attacked by pepper spray by police. Now I feel so bad. The cops are dogs," said the man, who would only give the name Ragnar. Protesters ripped up median barriers and fences to set up roadblocks and defences. A young man was treated for a bloody head wound metres from where surrounded police were hitting activists armed with umbrellas. A baton charge by police in riot gear cleared the street minutes later to free trapped officers. "We have no weapons and we were peaceful. When we saw them taking photos of us in the crowd we had to react," said another protester, surnamed Chan, who declined to give his full name. "We are all scared now. How can they hit us with batons?" he said, staring at a pool of blood where one of his peers was treated. Last week nearly 2,000 people marched in the Tuen Mun residential district to protest against what they saw as the nuisance of brash singing and dancing to Mandarin pop songs by middle-aged mainland women. On Sunday, tens of thousands marched in one of Kowloon's most popular tourist shopping areas, trying to persuade mainland Chinese tourists to back opposition to the extradition bill. "We want to raise awareness in Washington that the United States has to do more now to help Hong Kong become fully democratic," said a resident of the nearby town of Fanling, who was one of five people in Saturday's crowd carrying U.S. flags. "They are the most important power left that can stand up to China," added the 30-year-old man, who gave his name only as David. Anti-extradition protesters plan another demonstration on Sunday in the town of Sha Tin, in the so-called New Territories between Hong Kong island and the border with China.

Residents of a city in Siberia don't need to fly off to tropical locales for picturesque selfies taken by pristine turquoise waters. The lake is blue, however, due to a chemical reaction between toxic waste elements from a local power station. "We can compare it only with photos of the Maldives," said Sergey Griva, a local who visited the lake, adding he's never been to the Maldives and couldn't find it on a map.

A police officer who was charged with murder for shooting an unarmed man in a hotel hallway was reportedly rehired temporarily so he could collect a pension, local media reports.Philip Brailsford, who killed Daniel Shaver at La Quinta hotel in Arizona in 2016, reportedly came to the agreement last year with the Mesa city manager's office. This allowed him to apply for a disability pension on the basis of a medical retirement in a reversal of his firing by the department after the shooting.He will receive a lifetime pension of around $30,000 per year.The agreement was first reported by local news outlets in Arizona, which obtained the settlement agreement that the city reached with Mr Brailsford last August.Mr Shaver's shooting captured media attention across the US when it happened in 2016, and again after Mr Brailsford's trial when his body camera video was released.Police were called to the hotel in January 2016 following a complaint about a man with a rifle in one of the rooms. Mr Shaver, 26, had been showing a legal pellet gun that he used in his job in pest control, to a woman in the room with him.Body camera footage begins with the confrontation between Mr Brailsford, other officers, and Mr Shaver and the woman. Mr Shaver complies with a series of confusing commands from the responding officers, putting his hands up and lying down on the ground.They threaten to kill him multiple times for not complying with their orders."If you move, we're going to consider that a threat and we are going to deal with it and you may not survive it," one officer says. "Please do not shoot me," Mr Shaver says at one point, his hands in the air. But Mr Brailsford opened fire after Mr Shaver appeared to reach behind himself while crawling towards the officers. He was struck five times.Mr Brailsford, who was carrying an AR-15 rifle with the phrase "You're F****d" etched into the weapon, according to a police report, was charged with murder for the shooting and fired from his job soon after.He testified in court that he believed Mr Shaver was reaching for a gun and would have done the same thing again.He was acquitted in November 2017 after a six-week trial on both second-degree murder and reckless manslaughter charges.The settlement notes that Mr Brailsford has been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Michael Piccarreta, his lawyer, told ABC 15 his PTSD stemmed from the shooting incident and criminal prosecution. Mesa City manager Chris Brady told ABC 15 that Mr Brailsford's PTSD claim dates to before his trial. "So in fairness he was given the opportunity to make that appeal to the board," he said. The shooting prompted a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by Mr Shaver's family, which is still pending.Washington Post

Markets and wholesale merchants across Pakistan closed on Saturday in a strike by businesses against measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund to crack down on tax evasion and bolster the country's depleted public finances. In Karachi, the country's main commercial city, around 80% of markets dealing in bulk goods were closed, said Atiq Mir, president of the All Karachi Traders Alliance, which represents hundreds of markets in the city. "Government policies have created mistrust in trade and industry," said Mir, who added that traders were already struggling with corrupt tax officials demanding bribes.

Taliban insurgents stormed a commercial building housing a hotel in western Afghanistan, killing three security officials and injuring 10, officials said on Saturday, the latest in a surge of attacks despite reported progress in peace talks. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks by three militants and said their fighters had positioned themselves in a building and were firing at the police headquarters. The militants assaulted the building containing a hotel, several eateries and shops situated near the police headquarters and the governor's house in Qala-e-Naw, the capital city of Badghis province.

The airline's CEO said it was a "close call" to pass on the plane, which has been grounded after two lethal crashes in five months.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with TIME correspondents in Jerusalem on June 25. Here's a transcript of what he said.

What did Neil Armstrong really say when he took his first step on the moon? During a 30th anniversary gathering in 1999, the Apollo 11 commander acknowledged that he didn't hear himself say it either when he listened to the transmission from the July 20, 1969, moon landing. NASA has also stood by the moonwalker.

US vice president Mike Pence has defended the Trump administration's treatment of migrants on a tour of detention facilities at the country's southern border. Mr Pence visited two detention centres on Friday following reports of inhumane conditions. He started with a border station in Donna, a vast collection of air-conditioned, interconnected tents built in May to temporarily handle 1,000 migrants and currently holding 800.Later in the day, the US vice president visited an outdoor portal at the McAllen border station, where 384 single men were being held in cages with no beds.When reporters toured the facility before Mr Pence, the men said that they had been held there 40 days or more.They said they were hungry and wanted to brush their teeth. It was sweltering hot, but the only water was outside the fences and they needed to ask permission from the border patrol agents to drink."I was not surprised by what I saw," Pence said later at a news conference. "I knew we'd see a system that was overwhelmed."He added: "This is tough stuff."The vice president's office said it specifically instructed the border patrol agents not to clean up or sanitise the facility beyond what is routine so the American people could see the overcrowding and scarce resources, and and see how serious the crisis is at the border."That's the overcrowding President [Donald] Trump has been talking about. That's the overwhelming of the system that some in Congress have said was a manufactured crisis," Mr Pence said during a news conference after visiting the second facility."But now I think the American people can see this crisis is real."Mr Pence's comments were at odds with recent statements from Republicans, as well as Donald Trump, who have accused Democrats who have visited similar facilities of exaggerating the poor conditions.Mr Trump called recent media reports and comments from Democrats about poor conditions "phony".And earlier this month, the US president downplayed concerns about how migrants are being treated at the facilities."Many of these illegals aliens are living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions," Mr Trump tweeted on 3 July. Mr Pence said the tough conditions are why the administration recently requested and Congress approved $4.6bn in aid for the border, and he accused Democrats of not supporting more funding for additional beds at facilities for migrants.He also defended the job being done by the employees at the detention centres."I was deeply moved to see the care that our Customs and Border Protection personnel are providing," Mr Pence said."Coming here, to this station, where single adults are held, I've equally been inspired by the efforts of Customs and Protection doing a tough job in a difficult environment."Mr Pence's visit was the latest move by both political parties to use border trips to highlight their case for who is at fault for the border crisis caused by a surge in Central American migrants and what should be done to remedy it. Republicans have accused Democrats of failing to get on board with legal changes to the asylum system that would make the flow of migrants easier to handle, while Democrats have accused Mr Trump's policies and rhetoric of making a bad situation worse.The political fight over the border is likely to only intensify as both parties prepare for the 2020 presidential race, in which immigration will be a top issue.Border officials sought to counter some of the men's claims at the second facility Mr Pence visited.Michael Banks, the patrol agent in charge of the McAllen facility, said the men there are allowed to brush their teeth once a day and are given deodorant after showering. But he conceded that many of the men had not showered for 10 or 20 days because the facility previously did not have showers. There were no beds for them to sleep on because there wasn't room, Mr Banks said. Instead, they are each given a Mylar blanket. He said they are also given three hot meals a day, along with juice and crackers. After he toured the first facility, Mr Pence described a much better situation than the one that has been relayed by Democrats and in news reports. He said Mr Trump wanted him there with media cameras to see for themselves how people were being treated. "Every family I spoke to said they were being well cared for, and that's different than some of the harsh rhetoric we hear from Capitol Hill," Mr Pence said. "Customs and Border Protection is doing its level best to provide compassionate care in a manner the American people would expect."Mr Pence first toured the cavernous facility built in May to handle overcrowding, where 800 people are living. Most were lying on napping mats on the floor, covered with thin, tinfoil blankets. In another room, children, all under 8 years old, were seated in front of a television watching an animated Spanish film. Mr Pence asked the children if they had food and were being taken care of. They all nodded, and some said "sí." A few children shook their heads no when asked if they had a place to "get cleaned up".As Mr Pence toured the facilities, a House committee was having a contentious, partisan debate back in Washington over how migrants have been treated. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez requested to be sworn in when appearing as a witness before the panel to show she was telling the truth when she retold a story about a migrant woman who said she had to drink water from the toilet because her sink broke. Congressman Chip Roy accused her of playing to her millions of Twitter followers.Some Democrats have described the detention centres as "concentration camps" and say the US government is holding children in "cages". Several children have died after crossing the border and being taken into federal custody. Mr Pence said it was "heartbreaking" to hear from children who had walked two or three months to come to America and cross the border illegally, but he ultimately blamed Congress for failing to pass legislation that would deal with the influx of migrants at the southern border.Washington Post

Special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony to Congress has been delayed until July 24 under an agreement that gives lawmakers more time to question him. Under the new arrangement, Mueller will testify for an extended period of time with the House Judiciary and intelligence committees.

An earthquake of 5.5 magnitude struck northern Mindanao in the south of the Philippines early on Saturday, injuring 25 people and causing damage to several houses, buildings and infrastructure, Philippine authorities said. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake, which was initially reported as being of 5.8 magnitude by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), occurred at 4:42 a.m. local time and its epicentre was situated in Carrascal, in the Surigao Del Sur area. There was no tsunami warning from the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center immediately after the quake.

Turkey ignored US warnings as it continued Saturday to take delivery of Russia's S-400 missile defence system near Ankara, a defence minstry statement indicated. "Delivery of S-400 Long Range Air and Missile Defence Systems resumed today," the statement said. "The fourth Russian plane carrying S-400 parts landed at Murted Airport outside Ankara," it added.

Zimbabwe's energy regulator has raised petrol and diesel prices by up to 16%, the fourth increase this year, after the finance minister said fuel was considerably cheaper than in neighbouring countries. President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the biggest fuel price hike in January, a 150% increase, which sparked deadly protests by financially struggling Zimbaweans that left more than a dozen people dead after an army clampdown. The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority said late on Friday that effective Saturday, petrol would cost 6.10 Zimbabwe dollars ($0.70) a litre, up from 5.26, while the price of diesel had been increased 13% to 5.84 Zimbabwe dollars.