Six In The Morning

US jets target IS positions in Iraq

 Warplanes attack fighters in besieged northern town of Amerli and airdrop humanitarian aid to civilians trapped there.

 Last updated: 31 Aug 2014 06:34

The US military has attacked Islamic State positions in the besieged northern Iraqi town of Amerli and airdropped humanitarian aid to civilians trapped there, the Pentagon has said.

US aircraft delivered over a hundred bundles of emergency supplies and more aid was dropped from British, French and Australian planes, officials said on Saturday.

Iraqi army and Kurdish forces closed in on Islamic State fighters on Saturday in a push to break the Sunni fighters’ siege of Amerli, which has been surrounded by the fighters for more than two months.

US jets and drones have also attacked the Islamic State group’s positions near Iraq’s Mosul Dam.

Weary? In need of some sun? Relax and unwind with a trip to… Iraqi Kurdistan

In spite of Islamic State, a Wigan travel agency reports a surge in demand for its trips to the region

KATE YOUDE   Sunday 31 August 2014

A holiday in an area under threat from Islamic State militants is probably not most people’s idea of a relaxing break. Yet a UK tour company is reporting a “massive increase” in bookings for trips to Iraq.

Wigan-based Lupine Travel has had demand for its tours to Iraqi Kurdistan treble following the recent escalation of the threat to the region by IS, and has taken about 100 bookings in a few weeks.

The agency’s owner, Dylan Harris, has filled the forthcoming tour in October and two trips in May and October next year, each taking 30 people. As there are a further 40 people on a waiting list, he is thinking of running two additional tours in December and February.

Doubts over India’€™s ability to handle nuclear power expansion

August 31, 2014 – 10:00PM

Jason Koutsoukis South Asia correspondent at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald



New Delhi: With an agreement to allow the sale of Australian uranium to India expected this week, Indian scientists are questioning India’s ability to manage a rapid expansion of its nuclear power industry.

“Nuclear security and safety is a pressing concern in this country,” said Happymon Jacob, who teaches arms control and disarmament at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“India insists that enough security is in place, but my argument is that we need to look deeper, and when you look deeper you see that the regulation of nuclear materials is in the hands of government – and not in the hands of a totally independent regulator,” Dr Jacob said.

African, Somali troops recapture town from al Shabaab

Working toward the insurgent stronghold of Barawe, African peacekeeping troops and Somali forces have regained several towns this year, capturing Bulamareer on Saturday.

 By Abdi Sheik, Reuters

MOGADISHU – African peacekeeping troops and Somali forces recaptured a southern town from Islamist al Shabaab rebels on Saturday, bringing them a step closer to the insurgent stronghold of Barawe, commanders said.

The assault was part of the second phase of an offensive launched earlier this year to drive the rebels out of towns which they have continued to hold since losing control of the capital Mogadishu in 2011.

Bahrain arrests top human rights activist

Maryam al-Khawaja, who campaigns against abuse in Gulf state, charged with insulting king and assault on arrival.

Last updated: 31 Aug 2014 03:38

The prominent Bahrain human rights activist and critic of the ruling family, Maryam al-Khawaja, has been arrested by authorities on her arrival at the Gulf state’s airport.

Posts on the Twitter account of Khawaja said she had been had been charged with insulting the king, assaulting police officers, and faced charges for her involvement with the rights campaign, Wanted For Justice.

Khawaja, the co-director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, is the daughter of Shia Muslim activist Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja, who has been in custody in Bahrain since 2011 and is on hunger strike.

Fukushima fallout: Resentment grows in nearby Japanese city

 

 By Mari Saito and Antoni Slodkowski

IWAKI Japan  Like many of her neighbors, Satomi Inokoshi worries that her gritty hometown is being spoiled by the newcomers and the money that have rolled into Iwaki since the Fukushima nuclear disaster almost three and a half years ago.

“Iwaki is changing – and not for the good,” said Inokoshi, 55, who echoes a sentiment widely heard in this town of almost 300,000 where the economic boom that followed the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl has brought its own disruption.