A Japanese court has blocked the restarting of two nuclear reactors in the western city of Takahama, after local people raised safety concerns. The plant had already obtained approval from the country’s nuclear watchdog. But locals had petitioned the court in Fukui prefecture, where
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The United Nations Security Council is due to vote Tuesday on a draft resolution that would impose an arms embargo on the leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebels and demand the group withdraw from Sana’a and other areas it has captured. The measure drafted by Jordan and Arab Gulf countries would also impose a travel […]
Saudi Arabia said Saturday that at least 500 insurgent Shi’ites have been killed along the Saudi-Yemen border since a Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes late last month against Houthi rebels seeking to gain control of neighboring Yemen. A Saudi Defense Ministry statement also said three Saudi border guards were killed in a mortar attack Friday in […]
A 65-year-old Berlin woman who already has 13 children is pregnant again with quadruplets, German media reported on Sunday. The Russian and English teacher’s pregnancy follows several attempts abroad at artificial insemination over the last year and a half, German RTL broadcaster said. The woman, Annegret Raunigk, decided to try to have another […]
A bomb explosion in a shopping mall parking lot in southern Thailand has triggered fears of more violence targeting the country’s highly lucrative tourism industry. Police and officials are intensifying investigations into possible links to Thailand’s fragile political climate or to Muslim insurgents from nearby southern provinces. The bomb blast in
U.S. President Barack Obama is back in Washington, following a historic face-to-face meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro and a first meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The talks with Castro in Panama were strongly criticized by some Republican presidential hopefuls. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said in a statement, “Keeping up a disturbing […]
A man opened fire in Milan’s courthouse on Thursday, killing a bankruptcy judge and reportedly hitting at least one other person, Italy’s ANSA news agency said. ANSA quoted the president of the appeals court, Giovanni Canzio, as identifying the slain judge as Fernando Ciampi. Sky TG24 reported that two people were killed, and that the […]
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that there is “no guarantee” of a final deal with world powers on its nuclear programme. Earlier, President Hassan Rouhani had said Iran would not sign a final deal unless sanctions were lifted “on the first day” of implementation. Last week Iran and world powers reached a framework […]
North Korea has accused Mexico of illegally holding one of its ships, after it ran aground last year. It said the Mu Du Bong was a legitimate commercial ship and its detention a “rampant violation” of sovereignty. But a UN expert says the ship belongs to North Korea’s Ocean Maritime Management, which is […]
The Islamic world is at risk of “disintegration” due to the current conflicts in the region between the Sunni and Shiite strands of the Muslim faith, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published on Thursday. Erdogan, who is increasingly touting himself as a leader of the Muslim world, said he would take steps […]
Fifteen police officers have been killed and five others wounded in an ambush in the Mexican state of Jalisco, prosecutors have said. Gunmen targeted the police convoy as it travelled along a highway towards the state capital of Guadalajara on Monday. Security Commissioner Alejandro Solorio called it a “cowardly attack”. The area […]
A white police officer in the southeastern U.S. state of South Carolina has been charged with murder after a video showed him firing repeated shots at a fleeing, unarmed black man and killing him after a traffic stop. The fatal shooting of 50-year-old Walter Scott last Saturday in the city of North Charleston occurred […]
A Palestinian man stabbed two Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank before being shot dead by one of them, the Israeli military says. The attack took place on Route 60, near the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Maale Levona and the Palestinian village of Sinjil. One of the soldiers was stabbed […]
Russia is pursuing costly state oil and platinum projects in Africa despite an economic crisis at home, hoping they will bolster sales, including of arms, for businesses hit by Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow has mostly focused on building ties with Asia since the U.S. and European Union sanctions came into force […]
The UN Security Council has demanded humanitarian access to the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, BBC reports. One UN official described the situation for the 18,000 refugees there as “beyond inhumane”. The situation has deteriorated since 1 April, when Islamic State launched an offensive. Palestinian militiamen opposed to the Syrian government
The former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, has made his first appearance in 14 months. He met a delegation of Venezuelan officials on a solidarity mission to Cuba at a local school. The 88-year-old revolutionary icon was described as “full of vitality” by local press. He was last seen in public in January 2014 at […]
Italian navy and coast guard ships have picked up about 1,500 migrants at sea in just 24 hours. Authorities said Sunday they received distress calls from three migrant vessels in trouble in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. On the way to the rescue site, they found two other foundering boatloads of migrants. […]
Powerful storms swept Bangladesh at the weekend leaving a trail of devastation in the country’s northwest and killing at least 35 people, officials said on Monday. Rescuers and villagers recovered the bodies of victims after storms flattened thousands of houses, uprooted trees and electricity poles and damaged paddy fields across a large area on Saturday […]
Malaysian authorities have arrested 17 people, including two who had recently returned from Syria, for allegedly plotting terror attacks in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar said in a Twitter message Monday that the 17 were arrested Sunday. He gave no further information, saying a statement would be issued later. The […]
Shelling and sporadic clashes struck a Palestinian refugee camp under attack by Islamic extremists in the Syrian capital on Monday, a situation that a UN official described as “beyond inhumane”. Hatem al-Dimashqi, an activist based in an area just south of Damascus, said the Yarmouk camp was under attack on Monday. Both al-Dimashqi and the […]
