Iran welcomes EU envoys: Iran's new Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Sunday that ambassadors from the European Union, who were recalled by their governments in April, were welcomed to return to Tehran "any time," AFP reports from Tehran.
The announcement follows talks in Iran this week between a special European Union envoy and Iranian foreign Ministry officials aimed at ending the political crisis between the Islamic republic and the EU, the official IRNA news agency reported.
19 arms smugglers held in China: Chinese authorities have smashed an arms trafficking ring, arresting 19 people, a newspaper in Hong Kong said yesterday, AFP reports from Hong Kong.
The suspects, in Shantou, in southeastern coastal Guangdong province, were believed to have smuggled in 15 pistols and 1.000 rounds of ammunition from Vietnam, the Chinese language newspaper Apple Daily said.
The weapons were smuggled from Vietnam through the bor der with Guangxi province, and intended for sale to organised criminal gangs operating along China's southern coastal regions, the report said, without specifying when the arrests were
Israeli F-16 jet crashes in desert: a,, Israeli F-16 fighter plane crashed on Sunday in the Negev Desert during an instruction flight, injuring two pilots, Xinhua reports from Jerusalem.
Israel Radio quoted military investigators as saying that the cause of the crash was that the plane might have collided with a flying bird.
The pilot, an instructor, was seriously injured in the crash, and his student moderately wounded. They were taken to a hospital in the southern city of Beersheva for treatment.
Strong quake shakes TokycK A strong earthquake rocKed Tokyo yesterday morning, registering 5.2 on the Richter scale, with its focus located just beneath Tokyo Bay, the Meteorological Agency said. AFP reports from Tokyo.
A minor jolt was immediately followed by a bigger and longer pitch-and-roil movement at 8:40 am (2340 GMT Sunday).
Then: were no immediate reports of major property damage
14 pc HK people living in poverty:
About 14 per cent of Hong Kong's 6.4 million people are living in poverty despite the territory’s status as one of the world's richest and most expensive cities a research report showed yesterday, Reuter reports from Hong Kong
More than 856,000 of Hong Kong's population were eking out a living on HK dollar 2,732 (US dollar 353) or less a month, the survey showed.
The number living below the poverty line had almost tripled during the past 25 years, the period when Hong Kong emerged as one of the world's richest cities, famed for superlatives such as the highest per capita ownership of Rolls Royce cars and the biggest consumption of French Cognac.
Prasad sickens 160 pupils in India: About 160 students of Kuanramunda Upper Primary School about 10 km from Rourkela, were taken ill after consuming prasad at the school on the occasion of Ganesh Pufa on Saturday last, PT1 reports from Rourkela.
According to official sources the students, suffering from suspected food poisoning were admitted to Ispat Genteral Hospital in Rourkela and other local hospitals.
Guardians of the children alleged that the prasad had been prepared in the school premises under the guidance of a teacher about three .days prior to the Puja day.