AP, Jerusalem
Israeli authorities have granted preliminary permission for the planning of new Israeli homes in the city of Hebron, a flashpoint between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank, confirmed on Monday that permission was given for planning infrastructure.
Hagit Ofran of the anti-settlement group Peace Now says the land was requisitioned from the Palestinian-run municipality for military use and will be converted to residential construction.
Typhoon shuts Tokyo’s Narita airport
AP, Tokyo
Strong winds from a typhoon forced air traffic controllers to temporarily abandon the control tower at Narita International Airport on Monday, shutting down one of Tokyo’s two main airports for about an hour. Hundreds of domestic flights were canceled at the city’s other major airport. Narita was closed at 2:20 p.m. after the controllers left the tower when wind speeds reached 126 kilometers (78 miles) per hour, said a Transport Ministry official at the airport who would give only his surname, Matsumoto. The airport reopened around an hour later.
Two French aid workers killed in Madagascar
Reuters, Paris
Two French people working for an environmental organization in Madagascar have been killed, authorities said. The French foreign ministry, in a statement late on Sunday, said they were killed “in an odious crime” on the small island of Sainte Marie, off the northeast coast of Madagascar.
China stages drills in Tonkin Gulf
AP, Beijing
China’s coast guard launched live-firing exercises in the Tonkin Gulf on Monday, the latest in a series of military drills that come amid renewed tensions among disputants to territory in the South China Sea. The Maritime Safety Administration said ships and boats were barred from the area between its southern island province of Hainan and the northern coast of Vietnam from Monday to Wednesday.
