Flag flap delays Spain's Pamplona bull run

A RED-AND-WHITE ocean of revellers erupted in cheers to launch Spain's annual San Fermin bull-running festival on Saturday but only after a 19-minute delay caused by a giant Basque flag that blocked the starting rocket.

The nine-day mix of alcohol-soaked partying and fleeing huge, sharp-horned fighting bulls is supposed to start at noon each year with a traditional shout of "Viva San Fermin!" and the launch of a firecracker known as the "chupinazo".

But just 10 minutes before the firework was to be set off from the city hall of the northern city of Pamplona, a massive Basque flag was hoisted in front of the building.

City officials struggled to remove the flag, strung up between buildings on either side of the Consistorial square, before the firecracker could be set off.

"I am not going to tolerate setting off the chupinazo with a flag that is not the flag of Pamplona," said the city's mayor, Enrique Maya.

"We have to do it the right way, and not with the indignity some want to impose on us," he told Spain's public television.

Pamplona lies in the Spanish Basque Country, where some favour creating an independent nation in northern Spain and southern France.

When the firework finally flew above the square, masses of people squeezed into the streets broke into cheers, danced and sprayed each other with sangria and cheap wine, turning white shirts pink.

"It's one of those big things you need to get done before you die," said Alison Windsor, a 27-year-old Australian who came just for the festival.

"I needed to come once in my life," she said.

"I am not sure I will run with the bulls."

The highlight of the festival is a bracing, daily test of courage against a pack of half-tonne fighting bulls.

Each day hundreds of people race with six huge bulls, charging along a winding course through the narrow streets to the city's bull ring, where the animals will be killed in a bullfight.

Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records started in 1911.

The most recent death took place four years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.

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Pakistan train accident kills 14: official

AT least 14 people, including two children, were killed when a train collided with a packed motorcycle rickshaw in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, officials say.

The passenger train travelling from the country's financial hub Karachi to Punjab capital Lahore on Saturday crushed the rickshaw on a road crossing which had no barrier.

"The accident occurred in Khanpur town of district Sheikhupura, around 40km northwest of Lahore," Salim Niazi, a local police official, told AFP.

Officials said at least two children were among the dead.

"Twelve people died on the spot. Four people with critical injuries were taken to hospital, of whom two expired," Muhammad Asim, a senior doctor at the local hospital, told AFP.

"Two of them were children under 12 years old," he said adding that many bodies were mutilated and unable to be identified.

Police said the rickshaw was over-capacity and drove onto the train track moments before the Lahore-bound train passed through, smashing into it.

"There was no gate at this crossing, (nor) a man to stop the traffic to clear a way for the train," said Niazi.

Pakistan has a poor railway system with a track dating back to British rule and old coaches. Many Pakistanis avoid travelling by train due to low safety standards and poor facilities.

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Heavily armed Islamists attack in Cairo

RESIDENTS of Cairo's Manial neighbourhood are recovering from a bloody night of clashes with armed supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood who killed at least seven people and left dozens injured, they've told AFP.

The violence erupted when residents tried to stop hundreds of Islamists passing through Manial to reach protests being staged in the iconic Tahrir Square against toppled president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The Brotherhood attacked the area with all kinds of weapons," said resident Mohammed Yehya, who lost three of his friends in the mayhem.

Inhabitants of the Nile island of Manial reported seeing dozens of bearded Islamists armed with machineguns, machetes and sticks on Friday night before the deadly clashes broke out.

Snipers were spotted on rooftops, and medics told AFP they treated some residents of the normally quiet middle-class neighbourhood for bullet wounds with a downward trajectory.

Buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes. Rocks carpeted the floor and charred tyres showed the ferocity of the violence.

The clashes in Manial and elsewhere came two days after the army toppled Morsi, underlining the determination of his Muslim Brotherhood to disrupt the military's plan for a political transition until new elections.

Residents say the attack began just minutes afer the Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, gave a fiery speech to Morsi supporters camped out in Cairo's Nasr City, which was broadcast live on television.

"The attack came minutes after Badie's speech. They treated us like infidels. They were chanting 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) as they were shooting us," said Ahmed Fattouh.

On the door of one shop hung a sign announcing that the owner, 26-year-old Abdallah Sayyed Abdelazim, had been killed.

Parts of Manial were a ghost town on Saturday, with businesses shuttered and residents devastated by the night's violence.

"Their ammunition just didn't run out. They are trying to terrorise us and take over the country," said Khaled Tawfik.

Shopkeeper Mohammed Fekry, 29, who was wounded by birdshot said at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured.

"We have 10 people dead in this area, including six people who died with single bullets in the head. There were snipers on the roof of the Salaheddine mosque," Fekry said.

The overall toll for Friday's violence across Egypt was 30, but casualties are likely to rise.

Ihab al-Sayyed, a doctor at Qasr al-Aini hospital, told AFP that seven people he treated for injuries from the Manial clashes had died.

"I think the death toll will be much higher.

"The injuries were all from live bullets, most of them automatic weapons. Three of the dead and dozens of the injured were shot at from a height," the doctor said.

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Iraq bombings kill five

A suicide attacker and a car bombing have killed at least 19 people in separate attacks in Iraq. Source: AAP

BOMBINGS north of Baghdad have killed five people, including a police officer, a day after attacks across the country left 23 dead.

A roadside bomb killed four people west of the northern city of Kirkuk, while another bomb in Tikrit, also north of the Iraqi capital, killed a police officer and wounded two others.

The attacks come a day after 23 people died in a string of attacks across the country, including the bombing of a Shi'ite religious hall.

Iraq is grappling with a protracted political standoff within its national unity government and months-long protests among its Sunni Arab minority.

Analysts and diplomats worry that the stand-off is unlikely to be resolved at least until general elections due next year.

With the latest violence, attacks have killed more than 160 people and wounded more than 400 in the first six days of July, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

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British PM's hopes for sporting weekend

DAVID Cameron says he hopes Andy Murray will add the Wimbledon title to the British and Irish Lions' "superb" series win over Australia to give the country a "perfect sporting weekend".

The Prime Minister was quick to congratulate the rugby union players after they roared to a 41-16 victory in the third Test in Sydney to end 16 years of hurt in unforgettable fashion.

"A superb result for the British and Irish Lions," the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter.

"Hoping Andy Murray can make it the perfect sporting weekend."

Mr Cameron is expected to be among the spectators at Wimbledon's Centre Court tomorrow when Murray takes on the world's number one tennis player Novak Djokovic in the final in a bid to end Britain's 77-year wait for a men's champion.

Downing Street will fly the Scottish Saltire to mark the occasion.

The Lions put in an awesome display of scrummaging power to build an unshakeable victory foundation, with England prop Alex Corbisiero scoring an early try, fly-half Jonathan Sexton, wing George North and centre Jamie Roberts also touching down and brilliant full-back Leigh Halfpenny kicking 21 points.

Australia, 19-3 behind just before half-time, rallied to within three points six minutes into the second period courtesy of a James O'Connor try and 11 points from goalkicking centre Christian Leali'ifano.

But the Lions were not to be denied as they took the series 2-1, savouring a triumph they last experienced against South Africa in 1997

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China supports people's 'choice' in Egypt

CHINA says it supports the "choice of the Egyptian people" and called for dialogue after the army toppled democratically-elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, detaining him and his top aides.

But foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying sidestepped questions on Thursday as to whether her comments offered "hope" to the Egyptian leader overthrown after only a year in office.

Western powers had earlier called for a swift return to democracy.

"China respects the choice of the Egyptian people," Hua told reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

"We also hope that all parties concerned in Egypt can avoid using violence and properly solve their disputes through dialogue and consultation and realise reconciliation and social stability."

China is generally suspicious of intervention in the internal affairs of other nations.

Beijing was rattled by the wave of mass protests that swept the Arab world in 2011, eventually bringing Morsi to power.

Morsi's first official trip outside the Arab world was to Beijing last August, a fact highlighted by state media.

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Egypt seeks arrest of Brotherhood leaders

THE authorities in Egypt have issued an arrest warrant for the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme leader Mohammed Badie and his first deputy Khairat El-Shater, a judicial source says.

The two are wanted on charges of inciting the killing Sunday of protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo's southern neighbourhood of Mokattam, the source tolD AFP on condition of anonymity.

The warrants come a day after the military toppled president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood, following bloodshed and mass protests calling for his ouster.

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Female Afghan police officer shot dead

GUNMEN have shot dead one of the most high-profile female police officers in Afghanistan, underlining the threat to women who take on public roles in the country.

Lieutenant Islam Bibi was a well-known face of female advancement but admitted to receiving regular death threats from people who disapproved of her career - including from her own brother.

"She was shot by unknown assailants when she was being driven to work by her son in the morning," Helmand provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

"She was badly wounded and taken to hospital, and later died in emergency care. Her son was also injured."

Bibi, aged 37 and a mother of three, was seen as an example of how opportunities for women have improved in Afghanistan since the repressive Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.

She was the most senior female officer serving in Helmand, a hotbed of the Islamist insurgency that was launched against the US-backed Kabul government after the fall of the Taliban.

"My brother, father and sisters were all against me. In fact my brother tried to kill me three times," Bibi told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper earlier this year.

"He came to see me brandishing his pistol trying to order me not to do it (serve in the police), though he didn't actually open fire. The government eventually had to take his pistol away."

Bibi, a former refugee in Iran, returned to Afghanistan in 2001 and joined the police force nine years ago, saying she signed up for the salary and for the love of her country.

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Man dead, two in hospital after Qld crash

THREE children have escaped serious injury from a two vehicle crash in central Queensland that left a man dead and two others in hospital.

The man died at the scene on Thursday night at Avondale, northwest of Bundaberg, where the three children were treated for minor injuries, police say.

A seriously injured man and a woman with non life-threatening injuries were taken to Bundaberg Base Hospital.

The forensic crash unit is investigating.

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Electricity could prevent battle deaths

PULSES of electricity could be the key to saving lives on the battlefield, if research results in rats are able to be replicated in humans.

Scientists at Stanford University in the United States carried out experiments using the electrical stimulation of the veins and arteries of rats, using microsecond pulses.

After cutting through femoral and abdominal arteries of the rodents, a series of electrical pulses were administered and shown to induce vasoconstriction, or narrowing, of blood vessels within seconds.

The blood vessels dilated back to their original size within a few minutes, and with a stronger current, a complete and permanent blocking of the blood vessels occurred.

"Further research is needed to establish whether the technique would be effective in human patients, but the technique might potentially be helpful for controlling non-compressible haemorrhages in traumatic injury or during surgery," the study concluded.

The treatment reduced the blood loss from the femoral artery by a factor of seven compared to untreated animals, researchers said.

And in contrast to research in the 1970s, the authors observed no damage to the tissue up to 3.5 hours after the vasoconstriction.

"Non-compressible haemorrhages are the most common preventable cause of death on battlefield and in civilian traumatic injuries," the study noted.

"This new treatment modality offers a promising approach to non-damaging control of bleeding during surgery, and to efficient haemorrhage arrest in trauma patients."

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