19 firefighters die battling Arizona wildfires
The wildfire also prompted evacuations of at least 50 homes
A devastating wildfire yesterday claimed the lives of 19 fire-fighters from an elite crew based in Prescott, Arizona.
The continuing blaze in Yarnell, around 85 miles northwest of Phoenix, has burned more than 2,000 acres, forcing 600 people from their homes. No single wildfire has killed so many US fire-fighters since 25 died in a fire in Griffith Park in Los Angeles in 1933. The deadliest such incident in recent years was the Storm King fire in Colorado, which killed 14 fire-fighters in 1994.
This weekend’s Arizona inferno wiped out almost the entire Prescott fire crew, which was established in 2002 and known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots. A recent profile in the Prescott Daily Courier described the Hotshots as “an elite ground fire-fighting crew known for their innovative problem-solving and history of safe, aggressive fire suppression.”
Europe demands answers on claims of US spying
Calls and email in EU diplomatic mission allegedly monitored
Suzanne Lynch
The controversy over US surveillance tactics shifted to Europe yesterday, following reports in a German publication that the National Security Agency had bugged offices of the European Union and routinely scanned millions of emails, phone calls and text messages in individual member states.
According to Der Spiegel, the US intelligence agency installed microphones and infiltrated computer networks in the EU’s diplomatic mission to the US, and its United Nations delegation.
Half a billion communiqués
In addition, the US National Security Agency collated data from up to half a billion emails, phone calls and text messages each month in Germany alone, the publication said, adding the NSA classifies Europe as a data-collection “target”. The magazine said its information was based on documents sourced from Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor on the run from a US arrest warrant.
China blames Syrian conflict for Uighur clashes
July 1, 2013 - 5:49PM
Chinese state media on Monday blamed Syrian opposition forces in unusually specific finger pointing for training Muslim extremists responsible for the deadliest unrest in four years in China's far-western region of Xinjiang.
China has traditionally blamed violence in Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs, on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state of "East Turkestan".
This appears to mark the first time Beijing has blamed a group in Syria and fits a common narrative of the government portraying Xinjiang's violence as coming from abroad, such as Pakistan, and not due to homegrown anger.
China has traditionally blamed violence in Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs, on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state of "East Turkestan".
This appears to mark the first time Beijing has blamed a group in Syria and fits a common narrative of the government portraying Xinjiang's violence as coming from abroad, such as Pakistan, and not due to homegrown anger.
1 July 2013 Last updated at 09:14 GMT
Egypt protesters storm Muslim Brotherhood headquarters
Anti-government protesters in Egypt have stormed the national headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in the capital, Cairo.
People are reported to have ransacked the building in the capital's Moqattam district and also set it on fire.
Earlier, the opposition movement behind the protests that saw millions take to the streets across Egypt on Sunday gave Mr Morsi until Tuesday to resign.
Tamarud (Rebel) threatened a campaign of civil disobedience if he did not.
'Constitutional legitimacy'
Millions of people attended demonstrations across the country on Sunday to demand Mr Morsi step down.
Why Snowden's asylum has Ecuadorean flower growers worried
In an effort to gain leverage over the Ecuadorean government, the Obama administration has indefinitely delayed the planned elimination of tariffs on the import of roses from Ecuador. Without the rose benefit, Ecuadorean flower growers worry their trade relationship with the US may be damaged.
Gino Descalzi used to fret about things like aphids, mildew and the high cost of shipping millions of roses a year from Ecuador to florists in the United States. These days he's worried about a 30-year-old former spy thought to be in the transit area of the Moscow airport, and he can't believe it.
U.S. working to help guarantee Israel’s security to restart peace talks, officials say
By , E-mail the writer
A top American adviser has been working to establish new ways for the United States to guarantee Israel’s security in the event it no longer occupies the West Bank — part of the effort by Secretary of State John F. Kerry to restart peace talks, according to officials familiar with the strategy.
Retired Marine Gen. John R. Allen, who is serving as a special adviser to both Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, has been seeking to identify Israel’s potential security gaps and remedy what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had complained were outdated or incomplete assurances of cooperation and equipment from the United States, the officials said. The goal is to remove potential deal-breakers at the outset of the push for new talks before they can spoil what Kerry calls a last chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
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