Russia ‘needs new weapons’
Moscow President Putin said that Russian nuclear forces must remain capable of guaranteeing the destruction of any potential aggressor. He said at a top-level military meeting that Russia needed to build “principally new strategic weapons systems” to maintain the balance of forces: “In the modern world, the quality of weapons is more important than the number of nuclear warheads.” (AP)
Dying of the heat
Nairobi Rising temperatures threaten migratory species such as dolphins, whales and turtles, a report by the UN Environment Programme says. The mass deaths of marine mammals have increased because they cannot adapt to changed habitats. (AFP)
Anti-Islam attack
Copenhagen Vandals painted anti-Muslim graffiti on the Islamic Culture Centre in Norrebro, central Copenhagen, and tried to set fire to it. No one was hurt. It was the third such attack in a week and the seventh in the past year. (AFP)
Headlines scream
Budapest A district mayor is hiring town criers to call out the news after Socialist-Liberal councillors suspended the local paper and TV station, accusing them of bias. Tamas Derce, the Mayor of Újpest, said he was reviving the medieval tradition in protest. (Reuters)
Election shooting
Dhaka Gunmen opened fire at the home of Hasan Mansur, an election commissioner in Bangladesh, which goes to the polls in January. The country, which is being run by an interim government, has been hit by street protests calling for electoral reform. (AP)
Help for migrants
Berlin The Central Council of Jews has produced a book to help recent Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who lack German language skills and knowledge of their religion. More than half of the 105,000 German Jews are from former Soviet countries. (AP)
Guwahati More than 200 Indians have emigrated to Israel after being recognised as Jews. Six thousand members of the Bnei Menashe tribe in the northeastern state of Mizoram are regarded as descendants of one of the ten lost tribes. (AFP)
Smell ends flight
Berlin A man who was ordered off an aircraft after complaints about his body odour has lost his claim for compensation. A Düsseldorf court said British Airways had acted within its rights because passengers at Los Angeles were upset by the man’s smell. (Reuters)
Briton’s killer is locked up
A teenager who admitted murdering an aspiring British politician has been put in juvenile custody until he is 21 by a court in Washington, DC.
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to juvenile charges of murdering Alan Senitt, 27, of Pinner, London. He was killed as he escorted a woman friend home. Mr Senitt was a worker for the potential presidential campaign of Mark Warner, the former Virginia Governor.
Iraq atrocity
Fort Campbell, Kentucky Specialist James P. Barker, 23, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to rape Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, 14, an Iraqi girl, and kill her and her family. He is one of four soldiers accused of the atrocity, committed in March. (AP)
Genocide row
Ankara Turkey has suspended military relations with France after the Lower House of the French parliament passed a Bill making it a crime to deny that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians. France said it would have no impact. (AP)
Laptop arrest
Detroit An aircraft passenger arrested for trying to conceal $78,883 (£42,000) in cash was also found to have data about nuclear materials and cyanide on his laptop computer. Sisayehiticha Dinssain, an unemployed US citizen, was travelling from Nigeria. (AP)
Farm payout
Harare The Zimbabwean Government has offered more than 1,000 white farmers compensation for the property seized during President Mugabe’s land reforms. A white farmers’ union said that there had been little response from its members. (AFP)
Voting riots
Nuku’alofa Tonga has bowed to the demands of democracy protesters after crowds set fire to shops and stoned government buildings in the capital. Tonga-Now, a news website, said the Government had agreed to reform the voting system. (Reuters)
Open all hours
Berlin The German capital changed its century-old trading laws to let shops stay open 24 hours, six days a week. But they must stay shut on all but a few Sundays each year. Before shops had to close at 6.30pm on weekdays and 2pm on a Saturday. (Reuters)
Third trial for terror suspect
Berlin Germany yesterday signalled a new tough line on terror suspects by ordering a third trial against a Moroccan engineering student who was a member of the Hamburg cell that plotted and carried out the 9/11 terror attacks.
In 2004 a 15-year jail term for Mounir el Motassadeq, for abetting mass murder, was quashed because the US had refused to supply testimony from suspects in custody. A retrial in 2005 found him guilty only of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Now the supreme appeals court says he should again face murder conspiracy charges.
Court proposal
New York The UN revealed its plan for an international court to try political assassins in Lebanon, despite President Lahoud’s opposition. It will try those accused of killing Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister, last year, and 14 apparently related attacks.
Soprano’s cancer
New York The soprano Dawn Upshaw has begun treatment for early-stage breast cancer, cancelling her engagements until the end of January next year, her manager said. She is due to appear at the Barbican Centre in London in July.
Murder convicton
Barnstable, Massachusetts Christopher McCowen, 34, a former bin man, has been convicted of the murder and rape of Christa Worthington, a fashion writer. Her daughter, 2, was clinging to her body when it was found at their home in Cape Cod. (AP)
Fans arrested
Skopje A group of 16 Russian and three Serb football fans were arrested and several injured after clashing with Macedonian police in Kosovo-related violence during Russia’s 2-0 win in a Euro 2008 qualifier match at the Gradski Stadium. (AFP)
007 declassified
Los Angeles James Bond’s latest adventure, Casino Royale, has been approved for viewing in China, the first time the spy has passed the censors there. Chinese authorities have previously dissaproved of 007’s maverick values, said Variety. (AFP)
