For years, Japan's government has sought to convince consumers that food from Fukushima is safe despite the nuclear disaster. But will it serve the region's produce at the Tokyo Olympics? It's a thorny subject for the authorities.
They pitched the Games in part as a chance to showcase the recovery of areas affected by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Government officials tout strict checks on food from the region as evidence that the produce is completely safe, but it remains unclear whether athletes and sports teams from around the world will be convinced.
In the Fukushima region, producers are keen to see their products served at the Olympic village and have submitted a bid to the organisers.
"The Fukushima region has put forward food from 187 producers and is second only to Hokkaido when it comes to meeting the specified criteria in terms of range of products," said Shigeyuki Honma, assistant director general of the local government's agriculture and forestry planning ...

Japan grapples with serving Fukushima food at Olympics

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Global health charity Marie Stopes said Wednesday it had recalled hundreds of thousands of faulty condoms on sale in Uganda, where HIV rates are among the highest in the world.
The recall followed a warning from Uganda's National Drug Authority (NDA) that the Life Guard brand condoms had failed manufacturing "quality tests" because they contained holes and may burst.
The affected condoms were manufactured by India-based MHL Healthcare in April 2019 and have an expiry date of April 2024, the government regulator said.
Marie Stopes Uganda spokesman David Kamu told AFP on Wednesday that the two affected batches each contained "around 400,000" condoms.
Earlier reports had suggested millions of condoms could have been involved but NDA spokesman Fred Ssekyana told AFP the figure was below one million.
Marie Stopes Uganda said more than half of the condoms of concern had been recalled.
"While the LifeGuard brand follows strict quality controls, unfortunately two recent batches have fallen ...

Condoms recalled in Uganda over quality concerns: charity

Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi will head up a delegation to the UN's top court to counter a case accusing the mainly Buddhist state of genocide against its Rohingya Muslims, the government said Wednesday.
The State Counsellor will "lead a team to The Hague, Netherlands, to defend the national interest of Myanmar," according to a statement posted on the Facebook page of her office.

Aung San Suu Kyi to lead Myanmar defence against ICJ case: gov't

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday the country's people had defeated an "enemy conspiracy" behind a wave of violent street protests and were celebrating their victory.
He blamed the days of unrest on "armed anarchists" who took to the streets "based on a plot that the region's reactionary, the Zionists and Americans had hatched," referring to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US.
The demonstrations erupted in the sanctions-hit Islamic republic on Friday after an announcement the price of petrol would be raised by as much as 200 percent with immediate effect.
Motorists blocked major roads in Tehran before the unrest spread rapidly to at least 40 urban centres, with petrol pumps torched, police stations attacked and shops looted.
Officials have confirmed five deaths, including of three security personnel stabbed by "rioters".
Thousands of mourners chanted "Death to America" at the funeral procession Wednesday for one of those killed, a Revolutionary Guard commander, in Shahriar, 

Protest-hit Iran says 'enemy conspiracy' defeated

Saudi Arabia's King Salman urged arch rival Iran on Wednesday to abandon an expansionist ideology that has "harmed" its own people, following violent street protests in the Islamic republic.
"We hope the Iranian regime chooses the side of wisdom and realises there is no way to overcome the international position that rejects its practises, without abandoning its expansionist and destructive thinking that has harmed its own people," he told the consultative Shura Council, according to the foreign ministry.

Saudi king urges Iran to quit 'harmful' expansionism

Turkish police questioned two local staffers from a US consulate in Turkey on Wednesday over a Halloween party video accused of "denigrating religious values/", news agency DHA reported.
The pair, who work at the consulate in the southern city of Adana, were taken in for questioning and later released, the local prosecutor told DHA.
It followed a video, which spread online, showing a women mocking "Zamzam" water, which is considered holy because it is drawn from a well in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
A man, dressed as a pious Muslim, advises her to drink a cocktail.
The prosecutor said those detained were two employees from the consulate aged 30 and 38.
A number of issues have strained relations between Ankara and Washington, including Turkey's offensive last month against Kurdish militants in Syria, who were a close ally of the US against the Islamic State group.
There was also a row over the arrest of several Turks working for US diplomatic outposts following the attempted coup of 2016.
One 

US consular staff in Turkey quizzed over video that 'mocked Islam'

The format for UEFA's continent-wide Euro 2020 has been labelled "a scandal" by Belgium star Kevin De Bruyne as European football's governing body faces a headache to ensure all host nations who qualify get to play at home.
For the first time, next year's European Championship will be played in 12 different host cities in 12 different nations, with Wembley staging the semi-finals and final.
The draw for what will be the second 24-team Euro will be held in Bucharest on Saturday, November 30.
Wales became the 20th nation to secure their spot when they beat Hungary 2-0 in Cardiff on Tuesday, with the remaining four places going to the winners of play-offs to be held next March.
However, with UEFA having to ensure that host nations play group games on home turf while also keeping certain teams apart for geopolitical reasons, much of the suspense has already been removed from the draw.
For example, Ukraine and Russia cannot face one another due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. That ...

Euro 2020 format blasted a 'scandal' as UEFA deals with draw headache

Zinedine Zidane faces another crossroads in his handling of Gareth Bale, who appeared to mock Real Madrid after Wales' 2-0 victory over Hungary on Tuesday.
After sealing qualification for Euro 2020 with a wild win in Cardiff, an ecstatic Bale celebrated next to his team-mates behind a flag that read "Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order".
The flag was taken from the crowd after Welsh fans made a slogan out of comments made by former Real Madrid player Predrag Mijatovic during an interview with the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser last month.
"Bale thinks first about the Wales national team, then about golf and then about Madrid," said Mijatovic.
"I have not talked to him but that is the impression I get."
Zidane must now decide whether to punish Bale and what form that punishment should take.
Bale is due to return to Madrid on Wednesday before joining up with the team again on Thursday at Valdebebas, ahead of Real Madrid's La Liga game at home to Real Sociedad on Saturday.
In between, ..

Bale's latest act of rebellion poses new problem for Zidane

Saudi Arabia's King Salman said Wednesday that oil giant Aramco's planned IPO will attract investment and create thousands of jobs, in his first comments on the blockbuster stock market listing.
The IPO "will allow investors inside and outside the kingdom to contribute to this leading company, allowing for investments and creating thousands of jobs," he said in his annual address to the consultative Shura Council, according to the foreign ministry.

Saudi king: Aramco IPO will bring investments, jobs

Greece announced a plan Wednesday to massively overhaul its overcrowded migrant camps on islands facing Turkey and make borders 'air-tight' against a feared new surge of asylum-seekers.
"Decongesting the islands is a priority at this stage," the government's special coordinator for migration Alkiviadis Stefanis, a former army general and chief of staff, told a news conference.
"These actions are designed to show our determination in dealing with the migrant-refugee crisis," said Stefanis, who is also deputy defence minister.
The government wants to make borders "air-tight" and will hire 400 additional guards for the land border with Turkey and 800 for the islands, he said.
Three camps are to be closed, on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos, currently housing over 27,000 people under terrible conditions which have been repeatedly castigated by rights groups. They have a nominal capacity of just 4,500.
The Greek government said it would replace the camps with new closed facilities ..

Greece to overhaul migrant camps and achieve 'air-tight' borders

Israeli kingmaker Avigdor Lieberman refused to back either Benjamin Netanyahu or rival Benny Gantz for prime minister Wednesday, pushing the country closer to holding its third elections in a year.
The nationalist, whose Yisrael Beitenu party has enough seats to put either right winger Netanyahu or centrist Gantz's coalitions into power, said neither had done enough to convince him ahead of a midnight deadline for Gantz to form a government.
"Both are responsible," he said. "As things stand, we are on our way to new elections.

Kingmaker Lieberman refuses to back Netanyahu or Gantz as Israel PM

Malta police on Wednesday arrested a businessman in connection with the 2017 murder of investigative journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, a police source said.
Maltese national Yorgen Fenech was detained on his yacht at dawn as he tried to leave Malta the day after an alleged middleman was offered a pardon if he identified the assassination's mastermind, the source said.
"We have arrested a man as part of our investigations into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia," a high-ranking police source told AFP.
"He was on his boat at the time of arrest," the source said, defining Fenech as "a person of interest" in the case.
Fenech is the director and co-owner of Electrogas, which won a multi-million euro contract from the Maltese state in 2013 to build a new gas power station on the tiny Mediterranean island.
Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit also identified him as the owner of a company based in Dubai called 17 Black.
Journalist Caruana Galizia, killed by a car bomb, .

Malta businessman arrested over journalist murder: police source

Jose Mourinho, the new man in the Tottenham hot seat, is back in the Premier League with a point to prove.
The Portuguese is a serial winner across Europe but his reputation was badly tarnished in the final few months of his Manchester United reign, which ended late last year.
The man who charmed English football when he arrived as a fresh-faced manager at Chelsea in 2004, labelling himself the "Special One", left Old Trafford last December under a dark cloud.
Now Mourinho has a chance to prove his doubters wrong at a club without any silverware since 2008 but with a sparkling new stadium and a squad of players who reached the Champions League final in June.
"I am excited to be joining a club with such a great heritage and such passionate supporters," said the 56-year-old, hours after Mauricio Pochettino was shown the door.
"The quality in both the squad and the academy excites me. Working with these players is what has attracted me."
Mourinho's arrival in English football from ...

Jose Mourinho: Miracle worker or busted flush?

Dozens of pro-democracy protesters stood firm within a besieged Hong Kong university on Wednesday, where an "SOS" sign was laid out as supporters took up calls to distract police surrounding the campus by disrupting city transport.
The four-day standoff between demonstrators and police at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) rippled overseas, with the UN's human rights office urging a peaceful resolution, while the US senate passed new legislation supporting protesters' demands.
The epicentre of nearly six months of increasingly savage anti-China protests has shifted to the PolyU campus, a stone's throw from the city's harbour, where hardcore protesters have held off riot police with Molotov cocktails, bricks and arrows.
The confrontation has been the most intense and prolonged in nearly six months of unrest that began over a now-shelved bill to allow extraditions to China, which revived fears that Beijing was slicing into the city's freedoms.
Millions of angry citizens have hit ..

SOS: Diehards hold out at Hong Kong campus as foreign pressure rises

A fractured spine, paralysed leg, hole in the back: Hamza took to the streets of Iraq's capital to demand a better life but now he has even less than ever.
"This is my sacrifice for Iraq," said the 16-year-old, his strained voice barely audible over the phone in Baghdad.
"If I could walk, I would be back in the protests now."
Hamza is one of at least 3,000 people who have been maimed in Baghdad and southern Iraq since anti-government protests erupted on October 1, according to the NGO Iraqi Alliance for Disabilities Organisation (IADO).
The staggering number is the latest burden for a country already struggling with one of the highest disability rates in the world, according to the United Nations.
After decades of back-to-back conflicts, Iraq is in the thick of its largest and deadliest grassroots protest movement, with more than 300 people dead and 15,000 wounded.
To disperse protesters, security forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets, flash bangs, live rounds and even machine-gun 

'This is my sacrifice': Thousands maimed in Iraq protests

Next week's Hong Kong Open, one of the biggest golf tournaments in Asia, was postponed on Wednesday following months of anti-government protests in the city.
"Regretfully the European Tour, in conjunction with our tournament co-sanctioning partner at the Asian Tour, has taken the decision to postpone next week's Hong Kong Open," a European Tour statement said.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said he hoped the event, whose winners include Rory McIlroy, Colin Montgomerie and Peter Thomson, could be rescheduled for early next year.
"The decision has been taken due to the ongoing level of social unrest in Hong Kong," Pelley said.
"As the safety of our players, staff, stakeholders and everyone involved in each and every one of our tournaments around the world is our top priority, we feel this is the correct, but unfortunate, course of action."
Asian Tour commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant said: "It is regrettable that the Hong Kong Open has to be postponed due to the ongoing ...

Hong Kong Open golf postponed as protests grip city

Emirates Airline on Wednesday slimmed down its purchasing plans with Boeing amid delays in delivering an order of 156 of the new long-range 777X aircraft, substituting instead 30 of its 787-9 Dreamliners.
The Middle East's largest airline in 2017 signed an initial agreement to buy 40 Boeing 787-10s in a deal worth USD 15.1 billion, but the overhaul reduces that to 30.  At the same time, Emirates is cutting its 156-strong order of the larger 777X to 126 planes.
The restructuring means that the carrier now has just 156 aircraft ordered from Boeing, compared to 196 previously in both firm orders and initial agreements, an airline spokeswoman confirmed to AFP.
"Emirates reduced its 777X order of 156 to 126 and substituted them with the Dreamliners," Emirates president Tim Clark told a news conference at the Dubai Airshow.
Boeing said the airline will update its order book "by exercising substitution rights and converting 30 777 airplanes into 30 787-9s".
Emirates said in a statement that .

Emirates slims Boeing purchase plans amid 777X delays

The billionaire frontman of Thailand's anti-military parliamentary bloc was stripped of his MP status on Wednesday over a media shareholding case, a court ruling that could lead to him being banned from politics and jailed for up to 10 years.
"The MP status of Thanathorn (Juangroongruangkit) has ended," said Judge Worawit Kangsasitiam from the constitutional court.

Thai court strips opposition frontman of MP status: Judge

Teenage bowling sensation Naseem Shah will become one of the youngest cricketers to play a Test after Pakistan captain Azhar Ali confirmed Wednesday the 16-year-old will make his debut at the Gabba.
Shah, who opted to remain on tour after his mother died last week, made the grade for Thursday's first Test after impressing with an eight-over spell against Australia A in Perth.
"We are definitely looking to play him -- he is bowling really well," Azhar said ahead of the series opener in Brisbane.
Only handful of players have made their debut aged 16, including Sachin Tendulkar who went on to become an Indian batting legend.
The youngest Test player is listed by Cricinfo as Pakistan's Hasan Raza, who was 14 on his 1996 debut, though his date of birth was later disputed Azhar said he had faith in Shah's abilities through a high-pressure five-day game.
"He's very fit, I have captained him in first-class matches and he has overs under his belt," he said.
"I'm sure that he can do that in ...

Pakistan 16-year-old to make Test debut against Australia

Jose Mourinho was on Wednesday appointed Tottenham's new manager to replace the sacked Mauricio Pochettino, with the club languishing 14th in the Premier League.
The Portuguese former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United manager signed a contract until the end of the 2022/23 season, the north London club said in a statement.
Pochettino, 47, transformed Spurs' fortunes after arriving from Southampton in 2014 and although he failed to win a trophy he took the club to the Champions League final for the first time in their history just six months ago.
But the Argentine was sacked on Tuesday, with Tottenham struggling in the league after picking up just three wins from their opening 12 games.
This season they were knocked out of the League Cup by fourth-tier Colchester United and suffered an embarrassing 7-2 defeat at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
- Exciting 'quality' -
======================
"I am excited to be joining a club with such a great heritage and such ...

Mourinho appointed Spurs boss after Pochettino sacking

The Israeli army carried out a "wide-scale" attack against Iranian forces and Syrian army targets in Syria Wednesday, killing at least 11 fighters, the Israeli army and a monitoring group said.
In a rare confirmation of their operations in Syria, the Israeli army said they carried out dozens on strikes against the Iranian elite Quds Force and the Syrian military, in response to four rockets fired at Israel a day before.
At least eleven "fighters" were killed in the strikes, said Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Seven were foreigners, its head Rami Abdel Rahman said, though he could not confirm whether they were all Iranian. Four civilians were also wounded, he added.
Iran has fought alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's eight-year civil war, heightening Israeli concern over the presence of its arch foe along its border.
"Whoever hurts us, we will hurt him," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a .

AFP

AFP

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