French Islamic militant attacks church while under house arrest
A French Islamic militant who was under house arrest on terror charges took part in a church attack in which a priest was killed, further inflaming tensions over security failures in the violence-weary nation.
Adel Kermiche, 19, was one of two attackers who stormed a Catholic church in the northern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during morning mass, slitting the throat of an 86-year-old priest and leaving a worshipper with serious injuries, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.
The carnage, the third major strike on France in 18 months, prompted a bitter political spat over alleged security failings and revelations over the church attack were likely to raise further questions.
Apple quarterly profit slides 27 per cent to $10.6 billion
Apple said its quarterly profit slumped 27 per cent from a year ago to US$7.8 billion (S$10.6 billion) on a sharp drop in iPhone sales.
Apple sold 40.4 million iPhones in the quarter ending June 25, down from more than 51 million a year earlier, highlighting concerns over growth for the company's iconic smartphone and key profit driver.
It was the second straight quarter of slumping iPhone sales for the company, which until then had been seeing uninterrupted growth.
'Twins' of Dolly the cloned sheep are alive and kicking: Study
Four genetically-identical copies of Dolly the famous cloned sheep, which suffered ill health and died prematurely in 2003, are going strong at the advanced age of nine, a study said.
Debbie, Denise, Dianna and Daisy - identical sisters of Dolly, though born 11 years later - were "in pretty good health", according to researchers who studied whether cloned animals can live long, healthy lives.
The quadruplets were made from the same mammary gland cell line that yielded Dolly - the first mammal cloned using a technique called somatic-cell nuclear transfer.
Tennis: Roger Federer to miss Olympics and rest of season
Roger Federer has pulled out of the Rio Olympics and will miss the rest of the season, including the US Open, because he needs "more extensive rehabilitation" after knee surgery earlier this year as he bids to prolong his career.
Last month, he described how "one stupid move" sparked a chain of bad luck - which resulted in left knee surgery in February and sitting out the French Open with a back injury - culminating in Tuesday's decision to end his wretched season.
"Considering all options after consulting with my doctors and my team, I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year," he said on his Facebook page
Beyonce dominates MTV video nominations, Taylor Swift shut out
Beyonce's critically-praised visual album Lemonade earned the R&B singer a career-best 11 nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards, in a list that included multiple nods for Adele and rapper Kanye West but nothing for Taylor Swift.
Adele's YouTube-shattering video for her 2015 comeback single Hello notched seven nominations, while the sultry British singer earned an eighth mention for Send My Love (To Your New Lover).
The controversial video for West's Famous - which features portrayals of 12 nude celebrities including Swift sleeping next to the rapper - got two nominations, including the top award of video of the year.
