Blasts kill 2 senior cops near Egypt Prez palace
Cairo, June 30
Three homemade bombs went off near Egypt's presidential palace in Cairo today, killing two senior police officers and injuring 10 other persons on the anniversary of the mass protests that led to the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. 

China slams Hong Kong reform poll
Hong Kong, June 30
China today condemned an unofficial Hong Kong referendum on democratic reform in which almost 800,000 people voted, calling it "illegal and invalid" on the eve of huge pro-democracy protests in the city.

Over 50 killed in Nigeria church attacks
Kano, June 30
An attack on churches in northeast Nigeria blamed on Boko Haram killed more than 50 persons, an official said today, overshadowing festivities ahead of a last-16 World Cup match against France.

Baghdad, June 30
Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an Al-Qaida splinter group from the city of Tikrit on Monday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

Alarming regional and world powers, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed universal authority, declaring its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was now caliph of the Muslim world, a medieval title last widely recognised in the Ottoman sultan deposed 90 years ago after World War I.

"He is the imam and caliph for Muslims everywhere," group spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in an online statement on Sunday, using titles that carry religious and civil power. The move, at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, follows a three-week drive for territory by ISIL militants and allies among Iraqi's Sunni Muslim minority.

The caliphate aims to erase colonial-era borders and defy the US and Iranian-backed government of Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad. It also poses a direct challenge to the global leadership of Al-Qaida, which disowned ISIL, and to conservative Gulf Arab Sunni rulers, who already view the group as a security threat.

The Iraqi government has appealed for international help and has accused Sunni neighbours, notably Saudi Arabia, of having fostered Islamist militancy in Syria and Iraq. Iraqi army spokesman Qassim Atta said declaring a caliphate could backfire by showing that Baghdadi's group posed a risk to other nations:

"This declaration is a message by Islamic State not only to Iraq or Syria but to the region and the world. The message is that Islamic State has become a threat to all countries," he said. "I believe all countries, once they read the declaration, will change their attitudes because it orders everybody to be loyal to it." The fighting in Iraq, the second biggest oil producer in OPEC, has contributed to a rise in analysts' forecasts for the global price of crude, a Reuters poll found. The consensus view of the average 2014 price of a barrel of Brent rose more than $2 to $108 in the course of the past month. — Reuters

• The term caliph indicates a successor to the Prophet Mohammad with temporal authority over all Muslims. Traditionally it denotes a political and military leader with religious elements. Rival claims to the succession lie at the root of the 7th century schism between Sunnis and Shias
• Following Turkey's defeat in World War I and the carving up of its Middle East empire by Britain and France, new Turkish nationalist rulers in 1924 formally abolished the caliphate that Ottoman sultans had held for nearly five centuries.
• For many Islamists, who see a decline in religious observance and divisions among Muslims as causing many problems, the restoration of the caliphate has been an important goal

A member of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces on a patrol duty in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, south of Baghdad. Reuters

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant renamed itself simply the Islamic State and declared its shadowy frontman the leader of the world's Muslims, in a clear challenge to Al-Qaida for control of the global jihadist movement

The caliphate aims to erase colonial-era borders and defy the US and Iranian-backed government of Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad

It also poses a direct challenge to the global leadership of Al-Qaida, which disowned ISIL, and to conservative Gulf Arab Sunni rulers, who already view the group as a security threat

Iraq has appealed for international help and has accused Sunni neighbours, notably Saudi Arabia, of having fostered Islamist militancy in Syria and Iraq

Explosive investigators search for possible bombs in front of the presidential palace in Cairo on Monday. Reuters

Cairo, June 30
Three homemade bombs went off near Egypt's presidential palace in Cairo today, killing two senior police officers and injuring 10 other persons on the anniversary of the mass protests that led to the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The devices were planted less than 20 metres away from the walls of the Ittihadiya palace in the upscale Heliopolis district in eastern Cairo, in what appeared to be a serious security breach in the heavily policed area.

It was not immediately clear whether President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who as army chief ousted Morsi, was inside the palace when the explosions occurred.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militant groups sympathetic to Morsi. A militant group that has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on police said in a statement dated June 27 that it had planned to plant bombs around Ittihadiya but aborted the attack earlier this month.

Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, said it planted explosives near the palace on June 18 to hit its security contingent. But it said it aborted the attack because civilians came close to the explosives. It said its operatives were unable to retrieve the devices but have been diverting civilians away from them. The statement's claims could not be verified and it was not clear if the devices were connected to the blasts. — AP