Thousands protest as Japan prepares nuclear plant restart
At least 10,000 people protested outside the Japanese prime minister's office on Friday in anticipation of a nuclear reactor that will soon be brought back online. People chanted “No to restart!” and blocked traffic outside Yoshihiko Noda's office, AP said. Ohi No. 3 reactor will be switched on Sunday for the first time since last year's tsunami disaster triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. All 50 of Japan's commercial reactors are offline for maintenance or safety checks. The government wants to bring some reactors online to avert power shortages during the summer.
10 killed in militant attack in eastern Afghanistan
Suicide bombers and gunmen stormed a government compound in the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan overnight, killing 10 people. Provincial Governor Tamim Nuristani said 17 militants launched the attack before dawn. Suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gate of the compound where police and government officials live in Kamdesh district, AP reports. Four women, three police officers and three members of a government-sponsored militia were killed. The fighting reportedly ended on Friday afternoon when the final attackers were killed.
Greek neo-Nazi party fails to get senior post in parliament
Greece's neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn failed to clinch a senior post in parliament for one of its deputies on Friday. Golden Dawn had nominated former army commando Polyvios Zissimopoulos as one of seven deputy speakers. The deputy secured 41 votes in his favor, but the required minimum was 75, AFP reports. The socialist Pasok party had called on its lawmakers this week to block the candidacy of Golden Dawn, which has 18 deputies in the 300-seat parliament.
Assange remains at Ecuadorian embassy, won’t report to police
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains at the Ecuadorian embassy in London after failing to present himself at a police station. Assange said he was within his rights to ignore an extradition notice presented to him on Thursday. British authorities want to begin his extradition process to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual abuse. Assange, who is seeking political asylum in Ecuador, fears he will be extradited to the US. He insists that asylum law in the UK takes precedence over extradition law.
Iran to equip Gulf ships with missiles – commander
Tehran expects to equip its ships in the Strait of Hormuz soon with short-range missiles, a Revolutionary Guards commander has said. “We have already equipped our vessels with missiles with a range of 220km and we hope to introduce missiles with a range of over 300km soon,” Reuters quoted Ali Fadavi as saying on Friday. “We could target from our shores all areas in the Persian Gulf region, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman,” he said. Tehran has threatened to shut the Strait in response to Western sanctions.
UK taxpayers’ funding for Prince Charles rises 11 per cent
Funding for Prince Charles from British taxpayers rose 11 per cent in the last financial year, according to annual accounts. He received almost 2.2 million pounds ($3.4 million) from government departments and grants in the year to March 31, compared to just under 2 million the year before, AP said. Revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall, a 55,000-hectare estate, rose 3 per cent to $28.6 million. The prince paid almost $7 million in tax. He receives the bulk of his income from the duchy's properties and investments.
Turkey choosing new air defense system amid tensions with Syria
Ankara will pick a new long-range air defense system soon, media and diplomats said on Friday. Companies vying for the $4 billion contract include Raytheon and Lockheed Martin of the US, Russia’s Rosoboronexport, CPMIEC of China and the French-Italian consortium, Eurosam, AFP reports. A shortlist could be announced on July 11 or 12. Ankara has started beefing up its forces along its border after Syria shot down a Turkish jet a week ago.
FBI arrests Bernard Madoff's brother
The FBI on Friday arrested Peter Madoff, the younger brother of convicted swindler Bernard Madoff. The arrest was expected as Peter Madoff is due in federal court in Manhattan later in the day to plead guilty to crimes related to his brother's fraud, Reuters said. Bernard Madoff was arrested on December 11, 2008 and is serving a 150-year prison sentence for his multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme. Peter Madoff was chief compliance officer at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Aid convoy attacked in Kenya, workers kidnapped
Attackers have ambushed an aid worker convoy in Kenya, AP reports. The ambush occurred at a refugee camp near the Somali border. International and Kenyan workers were kidnapped in the attack.
Gunmen kill 4 anti-Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq
Gunmen have killed four Sunni fighters in an attack on a security checkpoint in an eastern Iraqi province, security officials said. The attackers opened fire early Friday on members of the Sahwa or Awakening group at a checkpoint near the provincial capital of Baqouba, 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. Five other members of the movement were wounded in the attack, AP said. The Sahwa comprises Sunni Arabs who joined forces with the US military to fight Al-Qaeda.
China blames Uighurs for plane hijacking attempt
Chinese authorities have detained six ethnically Uighur citizens who tried to hijack a plane flying from a restive city in the far-western Xinjiang region on Friday. Crew members and passengers thwarted the attempt, and the Tianjin Airlines plane returned safely to the airport in Hotan city. “The six hijackers are Uighurs,” Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for the government of Xinjiang told AFP. The purpose of the hijacking was not immediately clear. Xinjiang is home to around nine million Uighurs, many of whom complain of religious and cultural repression by the authorities.
Myanmar leaders order Suu Kyi to stop calling country Burma
Myanmar's authorities have ordered opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop calling the country “Burma,” state media reported on Friday. Burma is the colonial-era name widely used to defy the former junta. The official name was changed two decades ago to Myanmar, as the term Burma was considered a legacy of British colonialism. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party opposed the symbolic step by the generals.
Israel clears West Bank settlement outpost Ulpana
Israel has finished evacuating some 30 settler families from an illegal West Bank outpost. Police and the military said they encountered little resistance on Friday as the evacuation was carried out in two phases. The second set of families left Ulpana peacefully on Thursday night, AP reports. However, 15 settlers from outside the outpost barricaded themselves inside one apartment to protest the eviction. Israel's Supreme Court earlier ordered that the outpost, built on privately owned Palestinian land, be dismantled by July 1.
Two members of Basque group ETA arrested in London
British police arrested two members of the Basque separatist group ETA in London on Friday, Spain's Interior Ministry said. The men are Ignacio Lerin Sanchez and Antonio Troitino. The later was convicted of 22 murders in the 1980s while operating as part of ETA's Madrid cell, AP said. Troitino was sentenced to over 2,000 years in prison but was freed in 2011 after serving 24 years of his sentence. Sixteen suspected ETA members have been arrested this year, mostly in France and Spain.
Tanker truck crash kills 20 in China
A tanker truck filled with gasoline collided with a truck in southern China on Friday. A massive fire following an explosion left 20 people dead and 14 others hurt, AP said. The tanker, carrying 40 tons of gasoline, had crashed into another vehicle early in the morning on an expressway in Guangzhou city, the capital of Guangdong province.
Plane hijacking foiled in China's Xinjiang
An attempted hijacking of an aircraft was foiled on Friday noon in China's far west Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, police said. Six people tried to hijack Tianjin Airlines’ Flight GS 7554 just 10 minutes after it took off from Hotan Airport. The plane was en route to the provincial capital Urumqi. Crew members and passengers overpowered the alleged hijackers, the region's Public Security Bureau said. The plane flew back and safely landed at Hotan.
S. Korea, Japan delay signing military pact
Japan and South Korea put an intelligence sharing pact on hold less than an hour before it was to be formally signed on Friday. The first military agreement between the states since World War II has caused an uproar in South Korea. The country was ruled by Japan as a colony for several decades until 1945. Japan's Cabinet approved the pact on Friday, and South Korea did it earlier in the week, AP said. But Seoul backtracked on Friday, citing concerns among South Koreans.
Indian forces kill 17 Maoist rebels in gun fight
At least 17 Indian Maoist rebels were killed during a gun battle with security forces on Friday in the central state of Chhattisgarh, police say. The gunfight erupted in the early hours in a forested area of the Bastar region, about 295 kilometers south of the state capital Raipur. Six Maoists and six members of the security forces were reportedly wounded. The Maoists have been fighting a war against authorities for decades, saying they are defending the rights of tribal people and landless farmers. The government has described the guerrillas as the most serious internal security threat.
Obama issues disaster declaration for Colorado over wildfires
US President Barack Obama has issued a disaster declaration for the state of Colorado to release federal funds to help those areas affected by wildfires. The declaration makes federal funds available for emergency protective measures against the High Park fire in northern Colorado and the Waldo Canyon fire near Colorado Springs. Residents in El Paso and Larimer counties will also get assistance, AP reports. The Waldo Canyon fire has left one person dead and destroyed an estimated 346 homes, officials say. The High Park fire has killed one person and has destroyed 257 homes.
US exempts China from Iran oil sanctions
The United States has given China a six-month exemption from its Iran oil sanctions. Thursday’s move helps Washington avoid a diplomatic conflict with the world’s second-largest economy, which is becoming increasingly influential in international politics. Singapore has also been granted a reprieve from the US sanctions, which are designed to put pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear program. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said both China and Singapore had earned the reprieve by cutting imports of Iranian crude. She argued the reductions by Iran's customers showed that Iran was paying a high price for its nuclear activity, Reuters reports. "
Their cumulative actions are a clear demonstration to Iran's government that Iran's continued violation of its international nuclear obligations carries an enormous economic cost,
" Clinton said.
Algeria sentences Al-Qaeda regional chief to death
An Algerian court has sentenced Al-Qaeda’s North African branch chief to death in absentia, AFP reports. Abdelmalek Droukdel has already been sentenced to death in absentia by an Algerian court for a string of 2007 attacks. Seven other Islamists were also sentenced to death on Thursday, though most of them in absentia.
Female bear kills 72 sheep in Montana
A female grizzly bear has been captured after killing 72 sheep and injuring at least four more around the US state of Montana between June 16 and June 22, Fox News reports. At one site, 50 sheep were killed in only two nights. The four-year-old mother bear and her cub were eventually captured by a team of biologists and relocated 160 miles away at Frozen Lake, near British Columbia in Canada.
Flash floods kill 27 in India
Flash floods have hit north-eastern India, killing at least 27 people and displacing some 900,000, AFP reports. Officials in the Indian state of Assam said 21 of 27 districts had been hit by the floods, which were caused by monsoon rains. "So far, 27 people have died in separate incidents, including five who were killed when their boat sank," Assam’s agriculture minister, Nilamoni Sen Deka, told AFP in Guwahati, the state's largest city. In neighboring Bangladesh, the death toll from a series of flash floods and landslides rose above 100 on Thursday.
Iraq bombings death toll rises to 21
At least 21 people have been killed as a result of a series of bomb attacks in and around the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday, Reuters reports, citing health and security officials. More than 100 people were injured. The deadliest incident was a car bombing in a Baghdad market, which claimed eight lives and injured 30. Two cars blew up outside a government office at dawn on Thursday in the Sunni city of Taji, killing five people and wounding 18, AP said. A police patrol later hit a roadside bomb in a Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad. Violence continues to rock Iraq following the withdrawal of US troops, with almost 200 people killed across the country so far in June.
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