W O R L D

Syrian army announces capture of key town
Damascus, June 5
The Syrian army triumphantly announced today the capture of a strategic town near the Lebanese border, telling the nation it has "cleansed" the rebel-held Qusair of "terrorists" fighting President Bashar al-Assad's troops.

A video grab of soldiers standing near a tank in Qusair after the Syrian army took control of the city from rebel fighters on Wednesday. — Reuters

Germany, Czech on alert as floods spread; 15 killed
Dresden/Litomerice, June 5
Tens of thousands of Germans, Hungarians and Czechs were evacuated from their homes on Wednesday as soldiers raced to pile up sandbags to hold back rising waters in the region's worst floods in a decade.

People push a car out of a garage flooded by the Elbe river in Dresden, Germany, on Wednesday. — AFP

Turkish trade unions join anti-PM protests
Istanbul/Ankara, June 5
Turkish trade unionists banging drums and trailing banners marched into an Istanbul square on Wednesday, joining unprecedented protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan over what they see as his authoritarian rule.

Rebekah Brooks denies hacking charges
London, June 5
Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of the Rupert Murdoch-owned News International, today pleaded not guilty to all charges related to phone hacking that led to the closure of News of the World tabloid. "Not guilty," the 45-year-old former close aide of Murdoch said as she appeared at the Southwark Crown Court. Brooks also denied conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and to pervert the course of justice. — PTI

Syrian army announces capture of key town
France, Britain confirm use of nerve gas in civil war

Gaining ground

• The capture of Qusair, which is located close to the Lebanese border, solidifies some of the regime's recent gains on the ground that have shifted the balance of power in Assad's favour in the Syrian civil war
• The overwhelmingly Sunni town has served as a conduit for shipments of weapons, fighters and supplies smuggled from Lebanon to the rebels inside Syria

Germany, Czech on alert as floods spread; 15 killed

Dresden/Litomerice, June 5
Tens of thousands of Germans, Hungarians and Czechs were evacuated from their homes on Wednesday as soldiers raced to pile up sandbags to hold back rising waters in the region's worst floods in a decade.

The deluge has killed at least 15 persons in central Europe since the weekend. The dead included eight persons in the Czech Republic, four in Germany, two in Austria and one in Slovakia. At least four other persons were missing in the Czech Republic, according to its interior minister.

Water started subsiding in Prague and Passau, but fears grew for Bratislava, Budapest and parts of Germany which forecasters say will be hit in the next few days.

Over 1,000 people had to leave their homes in the baroque German city of Dresden, which was devastated by floods in 2002 when the Elbe burst its banks. Residents paddled up streets in boats as soldiers drove past in tanks. Further north, the authorities in the town of Halle on the Saale told hundreds of residents to leave their homes.

"We are shocked by the pictures from the flood areas," said German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler before a meeting with heads of industry groups to assess the damage.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, facing an election in September, has promised 100 million euros ($130 million) in aid.

Water receded in Prague, although the medieval Charles Bridge remained closed. Floods spread to low-lying northern areas of the Czech Republic near the industrial city of Usti nad Labem. About 3,700 people were rescued after some water barriers broke. — Agencies

Turkish trade unions join anti-PM protests

Istanbul/Ankara, June 5
Turkish trade unionists banging drums and trailing banners marched into an Istanbul square on Wednesday, joining unprecedented protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan over what they see as his authoritarian rule.

Members of unions chanting "Tayyip resign" marched down a major avenue towards the Taksim Square. There were similar protests against Erdogan, prime minister for over 10 years and winner of three elections, in Kizilay Park in the capital Ankara.

Youths skirmished with the police in cities across the country in a fifth night of troubles.

Critics accuse Erdogan of inflaming the situation over the weekend by describing protesters in blanket terms as looters, and later associating them with terrorism. Since Erdogan left the country on a visit to north Africa, deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc has struck a more conciliatory tone.

Arinc, formally in charge of government in Erdogan's absence, met a delegation of architects involved in demonstrations last week against plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks on Gezi Park in Taksim. The police’s use of tear gas and water cannon to disperse that demonstration triggered Turkey's most violent riots in decades and drew other groups, from professionals to students, into a broadening protest against Erdogan. Two people have been killed and more than 3,000 injured in the six days of protests, dealing a blow to the prime minister's image at home and abroad.

Arinc apologised on Tuesday for "excessive violence" by the police against the initial Taksim demonstration, comments which contrasted sharply with Erdogan's defiance. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Hundreds fall sick in B’desh factory
Dhaka: Hundreds of workers at a Bangladesh garment factory near the capital were hospitalised on Wednesday with acute stomach disorder after drinking suspected contaminated water, in the latest industrial accident to hit the country. The workers of Starlight Sweaters in Gazipur, a suburb of Dhaka, complained of upset stomach and vomiting tendency after drinking contaminated water of the factory. — PTI

NASA set to launch next solar satellite
Washington: NASA is preparing to launch its latest scientific satellite this month to provide the most detailed look ever at the Sun's lower atmosphere or the region that emits ultraviolet light. The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy, and heats up as it travels through this largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. — PTI

Susan Rice to be Obama’s new National Security Adviser
Washington: Susan Rice, the tough-talking US Ambassador to the UN, will be President Barack Obama's new National Security Adviser, in a significant shake up to the White House foreign policy team. She would replace Tom Donilon, who will be resigning from the post. Obama, is expected to make a formal announcement in this regard later in the day. Rice is well known for advocating a strong relationship with India. — PTI

Magazine can’t reprint topless Kate shots
Versailles: French glossy magazine Closer will not be able to reprint topless pictures of Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton (pic) after losing a court appeal on Wednesday. The magazine had gone to court seeking to overturn an injunction issued on September 18 which banned Closer's publisher, the Mondadori Group, from reproducing the grainy images and from selling them on. — PTI

MJ’s teen daughter attempts suicide
LOS ANGELES: Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of late pop star Michael Jackson, was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital on Wednesday after an apparent suicide attempt, her mother Debbie Rowe told entertainment TV programme "Entertainment Tonight". Paris, the second of Jackson's three children, had "a lot going on (lately)," Rowe said. "We appreciate everyone's thoughts for Paris at this time and their respect for the family's privacy," an attorney for Rowe said. — PTI

Royal prank RJ gets top jock award
Melborune: One of the two Australian radio jockeys involved in the controversial royal prank call made to an Indian-origin nurse in the UK who later died has been named a "Top Jock" by his bosses, a decision a senior minister said was made in "bad taste". Michael Christian, who came under fire for his involvement in the prank call to a London hospital which that led to the suicide of a nurse caring for the Duchess of Cambridge, was given the award by his bosses at Southern Cross Austereo. — PTI

Japan unveils 500 kmph bullet train
TOKYO: Fast and Furious! Japan has unveiled its new "levitating" bullet train, designed to travel at a speed of up to 500 kmph, which has undergone its first test on tracks. Japan's first commercial model of a magnetically levitated train has been placed on an outdoor test track. Officials at Central Japan Railway unveiled the L0 model on Monday at its test track in Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan. — PTI

$1 million for solving this math problem!
Washington: Want to be a millionaire? Try solving this tricky math problem! A billionaire Dallas banker will shell out $1 million to anyone who can solve a mathematical problem that has baffled geniuses for years. The American Mathematical Society (AMS) in Rhode Island has announced that the prize for the solution to the Beal Conjecture, a number theory problem, has been increased to $1 million. — PTI