Heavy rains hinder flood clean-up in Japan
Fears of more landslides have hampered a flood clean-up operation in Japan, as more torrential rains hit the country’s south-west on Monday. If it rains again, the clean-up work may be put on hold, authorities say. Before a short break, heavy rains had been pouring on Kyushu Island for four days, leaving at least 32 people dead or missing. Electricity remains cut off to 2,100 houses in the northern part of Kyushu, while 6,000 of the 400,000 locals previously evacuated are still being instructed to stay away from their homes.
US ship fires on boat off UAE coast, killing 1
A US vessel has fired on a boat off the coast off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, US and Emirates officials said. No further details were given, though the US ship apparently mistook the boat for a threat. The Bahraini-based US Navy’s Fifth Fleet said it was investigating the incident. The accident took place in the Persian Gulf, which has seen a rise in tensions with escalating animosity between Iran on one side, and the United States and its allies on the other.
Israel to free Hamas parliament speaker
Israel has agreed not to renew its detention order for Palestinian parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik, his lawyer said on Monday. Fadi Qawasmi told AFP Israel will free the Hamas member on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Services has not yet confirmed the statement. Dweik was detained at an Israeli army checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem on January 19. A military court then handed him a six-month administrative detention order. The army said it suspected him “of being involved in the activities of a terrorist group,” but the speaker was never charged.
Special investigator dies in Palestinian custody – officials
A senior Palestinian official suspected of embezzling public funds fell to his death from the third-floor window of a West Bank security compound, officials said on Monday. They said Osama Mansour jumped during the interrogation, AP reports. Mansour tracked Palestinians who sold land to Israelis. Settlers from Israel often try to buy Palestinian-owned land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to strengthen their hold on the territories. Those convicted of selling land to Israelis face the death penalty, and Palestinians view such acts as treason.
Syria refuses visas to Western aid workers – UN
The Syrian government has refused entrance visas to aid workers from Britain, Canada, France and the US, the UN humanitarian office's operations director has said. John Ging mentioned “tremendous political obstruction” by Damascus, hindering the UN and other international organizations' aid efforts, AP said. He added on Monday, however, that a written deal with the Syrian government “is being implemented” to allow aid workers and supplies to enter four hard-hit provinces - Daraa, Deir el-Zour, Homs and Idlib. Much of the help for the provinces is held up by visa delays and other bureaucratic hurdles, according to Radhouane Nouicer, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria.
Greenpeace target Shell petrol stations in UK over Arctic plans
Greenpeace campaigners have targeted Shell petrol stations over the company’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. The activists want to shut off petrol to at least 12 petrol stations in Edinburgh. Around 100 petrol stations in London will be also targeted. Greenpeace said that Shell “is preparing, for the first time, to unleash a drilling fleet of huge vessels upon the fragile and beautiful Arctic, home of the polar bears.” It’s time “to draw a line in the ice and tell Shell to stop,” the group’s Sara Ayech said. A spokesman for Shell noted the company “recognizes that certain organizations are opposed to our exploration program Offshore Alaska.”
Egypt prosecutor general orders Mubarak back to prison
Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered convicted former leader Hosni Mubarak back to prison. Abdel Meguid Mahmud “has issued an order to transfer former President Hosni Mubarak from the Maadi Armed Forces Hospital to Tora prison hospital after an improvement in his health,” his office said on Monday, as cited by AFP. The former president was moved to a military hospital in Cairo after reportedly suffering a stroke nearly a month ago.
Berlusconi to rename party ‘Forza Italia’
Silvio Berlusconi will rename his center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party with its original title “Forza Italia” (Go Italy). “I will never let my People of Freedom party down,” the former premier he said in an interview published by Germany's Bild daily on Monday. Berlusconi did not confirm that he will run for premier in elections next year. He created Forza Italia when he became prime minister for the first time in 1994. It was merged with other conservative groups to become the PDL in 2008.
Hedge fund manager Barton Biggs dies
Hedge fund manager Barton Biggs has died aged 80, CNBC reports, citing a memo from Morgan Stanley. Biggs ran the hedge fund Traxis Partners. Prior to the post he was a top strategist of Morgan Stanley. Biggs was also the author of the book Hedgehogging, read beyond the hedge fund industry.
Montenegro wildfires near ancient forest
Firefighters in Montenegro are trying to contain wildfires that are threatening an ancient pine forest in the northeast. Fires have destroyed hundreds of acres of forests and about a dozen houses and stables, AP reports. The blaze has reached the outer rim of the Crna Poda forest, where some of the pine trees are 400 years old. The forest is located within the UNESCO-protected Tara River canyon. Firefighters will stay to protect the forest “until the rain falls,” Emergency official Radomir Scepanovic said on Monday. Fires have erupted as high temperatures reached around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Montenegro in the past weeks.
Morocco expels Syria's ambassador
Syria's ambassador to Morocco has been asked to leave the country, the country's communications minister said on Monday. Mustapha Khalfi told AP that Ambassador Nabih Ismael must leave the country. Morocco is the latest Arab nation to expel its Syrian diplomats. No decision has been made yet to withdraw Morocco's ambassador to Damascus. Tunisia was the first Arab country to withdraw its ambassador from Syria in February following the crackdown on the opposition. It was followed shortly by the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Three Algeria diplomats kidnapped by Islamists in Mali freed
Three of Algeria's seven diplomats kidnapped by Islamist extremists in neighboring Mali have been released. The diplomats, including the consul, were seized in April after a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda's branch stormed the consulate in the northern Mali town of Gao, AP said. Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci refused late Sunday to give details about the remaining four for reasons of “their own security.”
Palestinians from Gaza to visit relatives jailed in Israel
Israel has allowed 40 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to visit relatives held in Israeli jails on Monday. The first such visits in five years are part of a deal reached in May that ended a prisoners' hunger strike. Families of 24 prisoners arrived a short while ago at the Ramon prison, a Prisons Service spokeswoman said, as cited by Reuters. Visits from prisoners' relatives in Gaza would now be held on a weekly basis. Israel banned family visits to prisoners from Gaza in 2007, after Palestinian militants abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Head of Libya's Olympic Committee kidnapped in Tripoli - official
The president of Libya's Olympic Committee Nabil al-Alam was kidnapped by gunmen in the center of Tripoli, a committee official said on Monday. Alam's office chief Arafat Juwan told AFP that “nine gunmen posing as members of the Libyan army removed the Olympic chief from his car” and took him to an unknown location. The army and Interior Ministry were not aware of any arrests. The abduction comes a few days before the planned departure of Libya's five representatives to the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, due to begin on July 27.
Car bomb kills one, wounds six in Somali capital
A car bomb exploded on Monday in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, police said on Monday. “The driver of the car was killed,” police Colonel Ali Mohamed said. Six civilians walking nearby were injured, some of them seriously, AFP reports.
Clinton meets Israeli leaders on last leg of 8-nation tour
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held top-level talks on Monday with Israeli leaders. They discussed changes in the Middle East, Iran and the stalled peace process. Clinton was also to brief Israeli leaders on a weekend trip to Egypt, AP reports. She met on Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Clinton was also due to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have been on hold since late September 2010 following a dispute over settlements.
Two NATO service members killed in Afghanistan
Two service members with the NATO coalition have been killed in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan, the alliance said on Monday. The coalition did not disclose any more details about Monday's deaths in the south, AP said. So far this year, 237 international service members have been killed in Afghanistan. At least 168 of them were Americans.
Japan ambassador returns to Beijing amid territorial tensions
Japan's ambassador to China returned to Beijing on Monday after Tokyo summoned him over the weekend. He returned to Tokyo amid escalating tension over a group of islands. But Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba denied that the summoning of the ambassador, Uichiro Niwa, was meant as a protest to Beijing, Reuters reports. Last week, Chinese patrol boats entered disputed waters near the islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
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