OKUMA, Japan (AP) — The tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday — a controversial step that prompted China to ban seafood from Japan. People inside and outside the country protested the wastewater release, with Japanese fishing groups fearing it will further damage the reputation of their seafood and groups in China and South Korea raising concerns, making it a political and diplomatic issue. In response to the wastewater release, Chinese customs authorities banned seafood from Japan, customs authorities announced Thursday.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s defense ministry on Friday urged the United States to stop “arming” Taiwan, after the U.S. State Department approved a possible $500 million sale to the island of infrared search and track systems for F-16 fighter jets, as well as other equipment. “China urges the U.S. side to effectively fulfil its commitment not to support the independence of Taiwan, to immediately stop arming Taiwan, and to stop enhancing U.S.-Taiwan military ties,” ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said in a statement.

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LONODN (Middle Eat Eye) - Devastating wildfires ravaging Greece have fuelled mob attacks against refugees and migrants, who are being blamed for causing the fires. Many are being assaulted and/or pushed back from Greek borders by the police. The vigilante violence and spike in racist, anti-refugee rhetoric comes despite the fact 19 of 20 people who died from the fires this week are believed to be asylum seekers.

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former U.S. president Donald Trump was arrested at a Georgia jail Thursday on racketeering and conspiracy charges and released on a $200,000 bond after having a historic mug shot taken. Trump, who is accused of colluding with 18 other defendants to overturn the 2020 election result in the southern state, spent less than 30 minutes inside Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail before leaving in a motorcade for the airport.

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GENEVA (AP) - The top UN humanitarian official on Friday voiced concern about the spread of violence in Sudan and said a lasting conflict could tip the entire region into “humanitarian catastrophe”. “This viral conflict and the hunger, disease and displacement left in its wake now threatens to consume the entire country,” said Martin Griffiths in a statement sent to journalists on Friday, mentioning specific concerns about the safety of civilians in the country’s breadbasket Gezira State. “Hundreds of thousands of children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death if left untreated,” he added.

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PARIS (AFP) - Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be tried in 2025 over allegations he took money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund one of his election campaigns, prosecutors said Friday. The trial is set to hear explosive evidence that the rightwinger, along with 12 other co-defendants, conspired to take cash from the Libyan leader to illegally fund his victorious 2007 bid for the presidency.