BELGIUM
Iranian resistance still in danger, EU official warns
BRUSSELS - A European Parliament official warned Tuesday that members of the Iranian opposition living in Iraq remain in danger, and he will propose that they all be relocated to other countries.
An Iraqi army attack last month on the 3,400 residents of an enclave known Camp Ashraf killed 35 people and injured hundreds.
In email to European Union foreign ministers and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Scottish conservative Struan Stevenson warned that the crisis must be resolved “before another and perhaps even more catastrophic massacre takes place.”
The residents of Ashraf are members of the People’s Mujahedeen, an Iranian opposition group that is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States. The EU removed the group from its terrorist list two years ago.
FRANCE
Police arrest six in jihad recruiting probe
PARIS - French police arrested six men on Tuesday, including an Indian seized at the airport as he arrived from Algeria, as they investigated a recruiting network to train jihad fighters in Pakistan.
Police swept into homes in a search for clues and were holding the suspects after the arrests north of Paris at Charles de Gaulle Airport and in the towns of Stains and Garges-les-Gonesse.
Those arrested are thought to have links with two Frenchmen arrested in January in Pakistan who are suspected of wanting to train for a holy war.
JAPAN
Prime minister pushes power alternates over nuclear
TOKYO - Japan will scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and will instead promote renewable energy and conservation as a result of its ongoing nuclear crisis, the prime minister said Tuesday.
Naoto Kan said Japan needs to “start from scratch” on its long-term energy policy after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was heavily damaged by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami and began leaking radiation.
Nuclear plants supplied about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity, and the government had planned to raise that to 50 percent by 2030.
UNITED KINGDOM
London to open new embassies to promote trade
LONDON - Britain will open five new embassies and send more diplomats to China, India and Brazil under a plan to secure new trading ties with emerging powers, an official said Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary William Hague is expected announce to Parliament on Wednesday his plans to send ambassadors to new posts in El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan, South Sudan - and when it is judged safe - Somalia and Madagascar.
SOUTHERN SUDAN
Rebels kill 80 people in attack on cattle herders
JUBA - At least 80 people were killed when rebels attacked cattle herders in Southern Sudan, officials said Tuesday.
Nyandeng Malek, the governor of Warrap state. said rebels loyal to a high-ranking commander who defected from the southern army in March attacked a village of cattle herders in the remote southern state on Sunday.
“They didn’t manage to take away cattle,” she said.
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