The last reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was finally shut down Friday, marking the end of the operation of the site of the worst civilian nuclear accident in US history.
The plant's first reactor -- which went online in September 1974 -- was shut down at noon local time (1600 GMT), according to the plant's owner Exelon, and the site will be dismantled in the coming weeks.
On March 28, 1979, the second reactor experienced a cooling problem that -- coupled with a human error -- resulted in the partial melting of the reactor and the evacuation of 14,000 people.
There were no casualties, but the incident led to the definitive closure of the reactor and reopened the debate on the potential danger of civilian nuclear power.
Pennsylvania officials had unsuccessfully attempted a bailout, but Exelon decided to close ahead of the end of the license because the plant had been in deficit for many years.
"At a time when our communities are demanding more clean .

Reactor at worst US nuclear accident site finally closed

PTI Automatic

Iran denied on Saturday its oil infrastructure had been successfully attacked by a cyber operation, after reports of disruptions to the sector online.
"Contrary to Western media claims, investigations done today show no successful cyber attack was made on the country's oil installations and other crucial infrastructure," the government's cyber security office said.
The statement did not specify which reports it was addressing.
NetBlocks, an organisation that tracks internet outages, tweeted early Saturday that "network data show intermittent disruptions to internet connectivity in #Iran."
But it said the cause was unclear and impact limited, affecting "online industrial and government platforms" and specific providers.
"Data are consistent with a cyber attack or unplanned technical incident on affected networks as opposed to a purposeful withdrawal or shutdown incident," it added.
Iran's Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi has acknowledged in the past that Tehran .

Iran denies successful cyber attacks on oil sector

Over a hundred demonstrators were arrested at yellow vest protests in Paris on Saturday as about 7,500 police were deployed to quell any violence by the movement and its radical, anarchist "black blocs".
There were also fears that the demonstrators could try to infiltrate a march against climate change in the French capital.
The yellow vest movement erupted 10 months ago and blindsided President Emmanuel Macron, whom protesters accused of being out of touch with the needs of ordinary French people.
"What are we doing? We are assembling just to say that we can't make ends meet. (The protest) is not only against the president, it's against the system," said a woman protestor who did not give her name.
The weekly demonstrations -- Saturday was the 45th -- prompted Macron to loosen the state's purse strings to the tune of nearly 17 billion euros (18.8 billion) in wage boosts and tax cuts for low earners, but tapered off over the summer.
However, it remains to be seen whether the movement .

More than 100 arrested in Paris 'yellow vest' protests

Japanese tennis sensation Naomi Osaka beat Elise Mertens of Belgium on Saturday to reach the final of the Pan Pacific Open, thrilling her Japanese fans in the city of her birth.
Top seed Osaka dispatched No. 9 seed Mertens 6-4, 6-1 in Osaka, western Japan, to reach her first final since winning the Australian Open.
The pair both held their serves for the first set until Osaka broke Mertens in the 10th game.
Osaka, 21, rounded into form in the second, and after the pair traded early breaks, won the last four games of the match to sprint to victory in just over an hour.
"It's been kind of rough like the past couple of months so I'm really glad that I made it to the final," she said.
She tried to stay calm because the 23-year-old Belgian player is "an amazing player and it's so hard to hit her balls," she said.
Earlier in the day, Osaka saw off Yulia Putintseva in straight sets, even as she was tricked at times by the Kazakh player's slices and drop shots.
"For me, I learned a lot from ..

Osaka advances to Pan Pacific final in home city

China and the Solomon Islands established diplomatic relations Saturday, days after the Pacific island nation severed ties with Taiwan.
"We look forward to the quick development of bilateral relations between China and the Solomons," Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at a ceremony in Beijing alongside his Solomons counterpart Jeremiah Manele.
"We welcome this decision by the Solomon Islands and support the country to move forward in the development path it has chosen for itself."
Solomon's foreign minister said his country's decision to switch diplomatic recognition to China -- its largest trading partner -- was based on "national needs."
"The development challenges for our country are huge. We need a broader partnership with countries that also includes China," he said.
The switch is a major coup for Beijing just weeks before it celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
And it leaves Taiwan more isolated than ever with just 15 states left .

China, Solomon Islands establish diplomatic relations

Riot police and protesters in Hong Kong fought brief skirmishes near the Chinese border on Saturday, the latest clashes during huge pro-democracy protests that have battered the financial hub for more than three months.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at small groups of hardcore activists who had built barricades in the outlying town of Tuen Mun, some of them lobbing bricks and at least one Molotov cocktail.
Multiple protesters were seen being arrested in the clashes, which were less sustained than the intense battles of previous weekends.
The city has been convulsed by months of huge, sometimes violent rallies calling for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
The movement is the biggest challenge to China's rule since Hong Kong was handed back by Britain in 1997 and shows no sign of ending, with city leaders and Beijing taking a hard line.
Saturday's clashes were the 16th straight weekend of protests and skirmishes.
In a now familiar pattern, the day began ..

Hong Kong police, protesters clash in 16th weekend of rallies

Most refugees fleeing persecution, famine or civil strife dream of one thing: going home some day.
But when rising seas displace hundreds of millions of people -- a near certainty, scientists say -- it will be an exodus with no hope of return.
"With sea level rise, we are talking about migrations without the option for a round-trip," Francois Gemenne, an expert on the intersection between geopolitics and the environment, and director of the Hugo Observatory in Liege, Belgium, told AFP.
The global ocean waterline has crept up 15 to 20 centimetres since 1900, a direct effect of climate change. Until recently, that added volume was mostly due to water expanding as it warms.
Today, however, meltwater from glaciers and especially ice sheets atop Greenland and Antarctica has become the main driver.
The pace of sea level rise has also picked up, increasing nearly three-fold in the last decade compared to the previous century, a landmark UN assessment of oceans and Earth's frozen spaces to be 

Refugees from rising seas: no place to call home

American racing driver Juan Manuel Correa, injured in the Formula 2 Grand Prix crash that killed French Anthoine Hubert in late August, is out of an artificially induced coma, his team said on Saturday.
Correa, just 20, broke both his legs and suffered spinal injuries and acute respiratory failure before being placed in the induced coma.
The Quito born racer was travelling at 170 mph (270 kph) at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on August 31 when a collision with Hubert's car left Correa needing an initial four hours of surgery at Liege hospital.
Correa, who grew up in Miami but is currently based in Barcelona, is now in "a race against time (for)  major surgery in order to minimise risk of irreversible injuries," his team Sauber said.
"The medical priority for Juan Manuel now shifts from the lungs to the leg injuries that were sustained more than two weeks ago," the statement said.
The accident happened as Hubert hit a wall at Spa and smashed into Correa at high speed, ...

Stricken racing driver Juan Manuel Correa out of coma

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned Saturday that any country that attacks the Islamic republic will see its territory turn into the conflict's "main battlefield".
"Whoever wants their land to become the main battlefield, go ahead," Guards commander Hossein Salami told a news conference in Tehran. "We will never allow any war to encroach upon Iran's territory.

Guards chief warns any country that attacks Iran will be 'main battlefield'

US President Donald Trump on Friday vigorously rejected a whistleblower's claim of wrongdoing, amid reports he used a call with Ukraine's president to pressure him to investigate the son of Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden.
The whistleblower's secret complaint has triggered a tense showdown between Congress, whose Democratic leaders are demanding to review the complaint, and the executive branch which has barred them from doing so.
It has also raised concerns Trump sought to strong-arm Ukraine into providing damaging information on the president's possible 2020 challenger, which would represent dangerous foreign meddling in the US election -- similar to the interference blamed on Russia in 2016, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
The Washington Post, citing two unnamed former US officials, said the complaint stemmed from Trump's communications with Ukraine, and a "promise" allegedly made by the president.
Trump slammed the "ridiculous" story, attacking the "partisan ...

Trump slams 'partisan' whistleblower, Biden pushes back

Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza could not hold back the tears when announcing to his players that Friday's match against Afghanistan would be his last in internationals.
The 36-year-old was given a guard of honour by both sides as he came in to bat in Chittagong and then hit 71 off 42 balls to take Zimbabwe to an impressive seven-wicket victory -- their first over Afghanistan -- in the Twenty20 match.
Masakadza ended his 18-year international career with a blistering five sixes and four fours.
"Obviously it was super special. To lead the team to the win was really special," he said late Friday.
Masakadza, who has played a key role in Zimbabwe's faltering progress in international cricket since making his debut in 2001, acknowledged the emotions got the better of him before the game had even started.
"I started tearing a little bit in the morning trying to get through the team talk with the boys," he said.
"I am not someone who wears his heart on his sleeve but I think this is the .

Tearful Masakadza quits cricket with no regrets

The United States announced Friday that it was sending military reinforcements to the Gulf region following attacks on Saudi oil facilities that it attributes to Iran, just hours after President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Tehran.
Trump said the sanctions were the toughest-ever against another country, but indicated he did not plan a military strike, calling restraint a sign of strength.
The Treasury Department renewed action against Iran's central bank after US officials said Tehran carried out weekend attacks on rival Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, which triggered a spike in global crude prices.
Those attacks, combined with an Iranian attack on an American spy drone in June, represented a "dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression," Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said.
The Pentagon chief announced that the United States would send military reinforcements to the Gulf region at the request of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"In response to the kingdom's ...

US sending more troops to Gulf, Trump announces Iran sanctions

Rare small protests broke out on Friday in Cairo and other Egyptian cities calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi but police quickly dispersed them, AFP journalists reported.
Dozens of people joined night-time demonstrations around Tahrir Square -- the epicentre of the 2011 revolution that toppled the country's long-time autocratic leader.
Such demonstrations are rare after Egypt effectively banned protests under a law passed following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi.
Amid a heavy security presence, including riot police and plainclothes police officers, protesters were rounded up.
AFP journalists saw at least five protesters being arrested and police firing tear gas at demonstrators around the square.
Under the rule of general-turned-president Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster, authorities have launched a broad crackdown on dissidents, jailing thousands of Islamists as well as secular activists and popular bloggers.
Footage of the ...

Anti-Sisi protests break out in Egypt, several arrested

Masses of children skipped school to join a global strike against climate change that teen activist Greta Thunberg said was "only the beginning," ahead of a UN youth summit she will participate in Saturday.
Some four million people filled city streets around the world, organisers said, in what was billed as the biggest ever protest against the threat posed to the planet by rising temperatures.
Youngsters and adults alike chanted slogans and waved placards in demonstrations that started in Asia and the Pacific, spread across Africa, Europe and Latin America, before culminating in the United States where Thunberg rallied.
"Change is coming whether they like it or not," said Thunberg, hitting out at skeptics as she wrapped up the massive day of action in New York, where she said that 250,000 protested.
Strike organisers 350.org said Friday's rallies were the start of 5,800 protests across 163 countries over the next week.
From Berlin to Boston, Kampala to Kiribati, Seoul to Sao Paulo, ...

'Millions' protest in youth-led global climate strike

Jurgen Klopp warned Liverpool on Friday to brace for a fierce fight with the Chelsea youngsters that remind him of the thrilling Borussia Dortmund sides that took Germany and Europe by storm.
Klopp, whose Premier League leaders take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, built a dynamic team in his seven years at Dortmund fuelled by gifted prodigies including Mario Goetze, Nuri Sahin, Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski.
He sees more than a few similarities between Dortmund teams that won the Bundesliga in consecutive seasons and reached the Champions final in 2013, and the way Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has put his faith in the Blues's kids.
"It's a really exciting team, it reminds me a little bit of my team at Dortmund years back when they were really young, even younger than this Chelsea team," Klopp said.
"People always talked about how young they are but they only played because they were that good, they didn't play because they were that young.
"They brought in Christian ...

Klopp braces for test from 'exciting' Chelsea young guns

NBA club owners on Friday announced they have approved new langauge in the league rule book clarifying traveling violations so officials can better apply the regulations in games.
The NBA board of governors also approved a new rule requiring starting lineups be submitted 30 minutes before tipoff rather than 10 minutes in advance, that and the traveling rule change both being recommended unanimously by the league's competition committee.
"One of the most misunderstood rules in our game is how traveling is interpreted and appropriately called," said Byron Spruell, NBA president of league operations.
"Revising the language of certain areas of the rule is part of our three-pronged approach to address the uncertainty around traveling.
This approach also includes an enforcement plan to make traveling a point of emphasis for our officiating staff, along with an aggressive education plan to increase understanding of the rule by players, coaches, media and fans."
The text of the rule will ...

NBA tightens traveling violations with new language

More than 7,000 police officers are to be deployed for rallies in Paris on Saturday over fears that yellow vest protesters and their radical, anarchist "black blocs" could try to infiltrate a march against climate change in the French capital.
The yellow vest movement erupted 10 months ago and blindsided President Emmanuel Macron, who protesters accused of being out of touch with the needs of ordinary French people.
Their weekly demonstrations prompted Macron to loosen the state's purse strings to the tune of nearly 17 billion euros ($18.8 billion) in wage boosts and tax cuts for low earners, but tapered off over the summer.
Fresh yellow vest rallies are planned for Saturday but it remains to be seen whether the movement will regain the momentum of the winter and early spring, when the protests often descended into violent clashes with security forces, especially in Paris.
Macron on Friday called for "calm", saying that while "it's good that people express themselves", they should not 

Thousands of Paris police deployed over 'yellow vest' clash fears

At least four people were killed and up to 15 others were critically injured when a bus transporting Chinese tourists crashed near Bryce Canyon National Park in the US state of Utah, local authorities said.
The Utah Highway Patrol posted a picture of the mangled bus, with its roof partly caved in, lying on the side of the main highway leading to the park entrance.
Local news reports said the crash took place in the morning on Friday about seven miles from the park entrance, forcing the road to be shut as ambulances and rescue vehicles rushed to the site.
Thirty people, including the driver, were reportedly on board the bus when it crashed.
"The bus was travelling east bound when it ran off the road and rolled into the guardrail," the Garfield County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook message that described the crash as "horrible." "There is confirmed four deceased and the rest were transported with injuries to many area hospitals," it said.
Bryce Canyon is one of the most visited ...

At least four dead after bus carrying Chinese tourists crashes in Utah

Protesters took to the rain soaked streets of Madrid and dozens of other cities across Spain to raise the alarm against violence against women and demand tougher action.
Chanting "They are murdering us" and carrying signs reading "There is no justification" or "Women's lives matter", several thousand protesters, mainly women, took to the the central Puerta del Sol square despite a thunderstorm for the rally organised by various women's rights groups.
Many of them were decked out in purple, the colour of the feminist movement, or held candles, lanterns, torches and mobile phones to honour the memory of domestic violence victims.
Similar protests were held in cities and towns across the country from San Sebastian in the north to Seville in the southwest, as well as in Spain's Canary Islands in the Atlantic.
The demonstrations were called on Friday after a series of high-profile rape cases and a rise in the number of women killed at the hands of their partners or ex-partners.
"This ...

AFP

AFP

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