AFP, Paris
Warnings mounted on Wednesday over potential terrorist attacks just two days before the start of Euro 2016, with France on high alert as it readies to host two million foreign football fans.
The French government was set to launch a smartphone app which would warn visitors of any “major crisis”, a day after Britain warned that fans could be targeted during the month-long tournament.
Migrant death toll in Mediterranean ‘hits 10,000’
AFP, Strasbourg
More than 10,000 people have died crossing the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, the UN said on Tuesday, as the EU unveiled fresh plans to stem the migrant flow from Africa.
Following a rash of deadly shipwrecks in recent weeks which claimed the lives of hundreds of people, the UN refugee agency said the number of deaths at sea had risen sharply this year, with a record 2,814 people drowning since January. And over the past few days, the overall number who have died since the start of 2014 has reached 10,085, the UNHCR said on Tuesday.
Israel to build 82 new homes in Jerusalem
Agencies, Jerusalem
Israeli authorities have approved building permits for 82 new homes in the illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo, a neighbourhood near Shuafat in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli NGO has said.
“On Monday, June 6, the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved two building permits for 82 housing units in Ramat Shlomo,” Ir Amim, a group that opposes settlement construction, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Road accident kills 15 in Saudi Arabia
AP, Riyadh
A Saudi Red Crescent spokesman says a road accident involving a bus and a truck killed 15 people and left 60 injured.
Abdullah al-Moreibedh says the accident took place on the road between the capital, Riyadh, and al-Qassim on Monday evening. The crash also set off a fire on the bus.
Turkey car bomb kills three police officers
AFP, Ankara
Three people were killed and dozens injured in a car bombing Wednesday at a police station in southeast Turkey, a day after 11 people were killed in an attack on police in Istanbul.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the attack on the “killer PKK”, referring to the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Obesity rate in US women increases
AP, Washington
A report released by US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday said more than 40 per cent of US women are obese compared to 35 per cent of men.
The new figures published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA) showed a further increase in the obesity rate compared to a decade ago when the rate was 38 per cent among women and 34 per cent among men, Efe news reported.
Bomb threat forces
EgyptAir jet to land
BBC Online
An EgyptAir plane that was forced to land in Uzbekistan due to a hoax bomb threat has been cleared to resume its journey from Cairo to Beijing.
All 118 passengers and 17 crew on board the Airbus A330-220 were evacuated at Urgench International Airport.
