Western countries angry at Israel over settlement plans

Israeli interior ministry announced on Tuesday that it had approved plans to build 1,100 new homes in Gilo (photo, from bbcimg.co.uk), a settler enclave in southeast Jerusalem, a move condemned by the European Union and the United States.

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Saudi women to be allowed to vote and run as candidates

A few days before municipal elections in Saudi Arabia from which women will be excluded, King Abdullah (photo, from lexpress.fr) has said that in the future “women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote.”

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Putin ready to return as president in 2012

For the presidential election next year, the current Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has proposed his prime minister, Vladimir Putin, which brought a heavy round of applause. On Saturday in front of the ruling United Russia party’s annual congress, the two men (photo, from lemonde.fr) ended speculations by backing one another to switch roles.

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Abbas makes UN recognition bid

On Friday Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has submitted a written request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (photo, frombbcimg.co.uk) for recognition of the Palestinian territories as a full member.

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Strauss-Kahn recognises ‘moral error’ on French TV

On Sunday evening ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn (photo, from nouvelobs.com) apologised to his country on TV for what he described as a “moral error”. On 14 May he was arrested in New York and accused of attempted rape on a hotel maid.

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Siemens to leave the nuclear industry

Peter Loescher (photo, from bbcimg.co.uk), the chief executive of the German industrial and engineering conglomerate, announced on Sunday in an interview with weekly magazine Der Spiegel that Siemens will withdraw from building nuclear power stations, adding : “the chapter is closed for us”.

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America marks tenth anniversary of 9/11 attacks

The United States of America marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people (photo, from tf1.fr). Ten years ago nineteen terrorists hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

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Rugby World Cup begins with All Blacks big win

Tens of thousands of rugby fans gathered in Auckland to attend the opening ceremony (photo, from bbcimg.co.uk) of what prime minister John Key described as the biggest event New Zealand has staged.

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US experiments could have infected 2,500 Guatemalans

US medical experiments in Guatemala (map) in the 1940’s were kept a secret until last year, when Prof Susan Reverby at Wellesley College unearthed hidden records. Now health authorities told the BBC that the extent of those experiments could be greater than previously thought.

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Turkey lowers ties with Israel over Gaza flotilla row

A day before the release of the anticipated official release of a UN report into last year’s raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla (photo, from bbcimg.co.uk), Turkey has expelled Israel’s ambassador and suspended military agreements between the countries, announced Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister on Friday during a news conference.

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