News in Brief
BEIJING (AFP) -- China on Wednesday ordered four U.S. news outlets to disclose details on their staff and financial operations in the country within seven days, as a media row escalates between Washington and Beijing. The Associated Press, United Press International, CBS and NPR must report the information -- as well as details of any real estate they hold in China -- in retaliation for Washington’s crackdown this month on four Chinese state media outlets, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. China’s actions are "entirely necessary countermeasures against the United States’ unreasonable oppression of Chinese media organizations in the U.S.”, Zhao said at a regular press briefing. The U.S. State Department on June 22 reclassified four Chinese state media outlets as foreign missions in the United States, adding to five others designated in February. After the first group of outlets were ordered to cut their Chinese staff working in the United States, Beijing hit back by expelling U.S. nationals working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
***
ROME (AFP) -- Italian police said Wednesday they have seized a world record 14-tonne haul of amphetamines made by the Daesh group in Syria. The drug, in the form of 84 million Captagon tablets, was worth about one billion euros, police said in a statement, describing the operation as "the biggest seizure of amphetamines in the world”. "We know that Daesh finances its terrorist activities mainly by trafficking drugs made in Syria which in the past few years has become the world’s largest producer of amphetamines,” the statement added. The shipment was hidden in three containers found in the port of Salerno, just south of Naples.
***
VIENNA (Reuters) -- Russia has told the UN atomic agency there have been no nuclear incidents on its territory that could explain elevated but still harmless levels of radioactive particles detected on the Baltic Sea last week, the UN agency said. A separate body, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which watches for nuclear weapon tests, said on Friday a monitoring station in Sweden had found higher-than-usual levels of caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103. The CTBTO said they were produced by nuclear fission. CTBTO chief Lassina Zerbo posted a borderless map online showing where the particles might have come from in the 72 hours before they were detected - an area covering the tips of Denmark and Norway as well as southern Sweden, much of Finland, Baltic countries and part of western Russia including St. Petersburg. All those countries except Denmark, which has no nuclear power plants and Russia, which has a history of not fully explaining incidents that emitted radioactive particles, told the International Atomic Energy Agency by Monday that there were no events on their territory that could explain the increase.
***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said, the latest Republican-led group coming out to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump. The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee - 43 Alumni for Biden - to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race, three organizers of the group told Reuters. Bush was the country’s 43rd president. The Super PAC will launch on Wednesday with a website and Facebook page, they said. It plans to release "testimonial videos” praising Biden from high-profile Republicans and will hold get-out-the-vote efforts in the most competitive states.
***
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -- At least 50 people were killed in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region in protests following the fatal shooting of a popular singer, a regional spokesman said on Wednesday. Musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was shot dead on Monday night in what police said was a targeted killing. Protests broke out the next morning in the capital and other cities in the Oromiya region. The dead included protesters and members of the security forces, spokesman Getachew Balcha said. Some businesses had also been set on fire. Haacaaluu’s songs provided a soundtrack to a generation of young protesters whose three years of street demonstrations culminated in the resignation of the previous prime minister and the beginning of an era with greater political freedoms. His funeral is due to take place on Thursday.
***
CORFU, Greece (AFP) -- Greece prepared to welcome tourist flights to its island destinations on Wednesday for the first time in months, as it raced to salvage a tourism season shredded by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 100 flights from other EU nations and a select group of non-EU ountries are expected at 14 regional airports including Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Crete, airport operator Fraport said. Flights from Britain, one of its most lucrative travel markets, are not due to restart until July 15 at the earliest, in line with EU recommendations. The same applies to the United States, Russia, Turkey and Sweden. Greece halted most flights three months ago as part of restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus, but the measures have seen the sector’s revenues plummet. All Greek airports are now receiving international flights and the ports of Patras and Igoumentsa will again receive ferries from Italy. Fourteen non-EU countries -- including Australia, Canada, Japan and Uruguay -- have been deemed safe enough for visitors to be allowed back.
***
ROME (AFP) -- Italian police said Wednesday they have seized a world record 14-tonne haul of amphetamines made by the Daesh group in Syria. The drug, in the form of 84 million Captagon tablets, was worth about one billion euros, police said in a statement, describing the operation as "the biggest seizure of amphetamines in the world”. "We know that Daesh finances its terrorist activities mainly by trafficking drugs made in Syria which in the past few years has become the world’s largest producer of amphetamines,” the statement added. The shipment was hidden in three containers found in the port of Salerno, just south of Naples.
***
VIENNA (Reuters) -- Russia has told the UN atomic agency there have been no nuclear incidents on its territory that could explain elevated but still harmless levels of radioactive particles detected on the Baltic Sea last week, the UN agency said. A separate body, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which watches for nuclear weapon tests, said on Friday a monitoring station in Sweden had found higher-than-usual levels of caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103. The CTBTO said they were produced by nuclear fission. CTBTO chief Lassina Zerbo posted a borderless map online showing where the particles might have come from in the 72 hours before they were detected - an area covering the tips of Denmark and Norway as well as southern Sweden, much of Finland, Baltic countries and part of western Russia including St. Petersburg. All those countries except Denmark, which has no nuclear power plants and Russia, which has a history of not fully explaining incidents that emitted radioactive particles, told the International Atomic Energy Agency by Monday that there were no events on their territory that could explain the increase.
***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said, the latest Republican-led group coming out to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump. The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee - 43 Alumni for Biden - to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race, three organizers of the group told Reuters. Bush was the country’s 43rd president. The Super PAC will launch on Wednesday with a website and Facebook page, they said. It plans to release "testimonial videos” praising Biden from high-profile Republicans and will hold get-out-the-vote efforts in the most competitive states.
***
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -- At least 50 people were killed in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region in protests following the fatal shooting of a popular singer, a regional spokesman said on Wednesday. Musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was shot dead on Monday night in what police said was a targeted killing. Protests broke out the next morning in the capital and other cities in the Oromiya region. The dead included protesters and members of the security forces, spokesman Getachew Balcha said. Some businesses had also been set on fire. Haacaaluu’s songs provided a soundtrack to a generation of young protesters whose three years of street demonstrations culminated in the resignation of the previous prime minister and the beginning of an era with greater political freedoms. His funeral is due to take place on Thursday.
***
CORFU, Greece (AFP) -- Greece prepared to welcome tourist flights to its island destinations on Wednesday for the first time in months, as it raced to salvage a tourism season shredded by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 100 flights from other EU nations and a select group of non-EU ountries are expected at 14 regional airports including Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Crete, airport operator Fraport said. Flights from Britain, one of its most lucrative travel markets, are not due to restart until July 15 at the earliest, in line with EU recommendations. The same applies to the United States, Russia, Turkey and Sweden. Greece halted most flights three months ago as part of restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus, but the measures have seen the sector’s revenues plummet. All Greek airports are now receiving international flights and the ports of Patras and Igoumentsa will again receive ferries from Italy. Fourteen non-EU countries -- including Australia, Canada, Japan and Uruguay -- have been deemed safe enough for visitors to be allowed back.