Activists protest against bullfight at Spain’s San Fermin festival
More than 100 animal rights activists on July 5 called for an end to animal cruelty with a mock bull-run amid columns of red smoke on the eve of Pamplona’s famed San Fermin festival.
Bull runs throughout the narrow, cobbled streets of the northern Spanish city are the main feature of the centuries-old traditional festival, which opens on July 6 and runs to July 14.
Activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, and the Spanish group Animal Naturalis, dressed in black, some with bull masks made of cardboard, carrying signs reading “Stop the bloody bullfights.”
Some 1 million visitors five times the population of Pamplona are expected for the festival. Six bulls take part in morning runs and are killed on eight consecutive afternoons in televised corridas.
Mayawati meets Ajit Jogi
BSP chief Mayawati meets former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi.
The Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati called on former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi at the latter's residence in Raipur.
Mr. Jogi was recently discharged from a private hospital after undergoing treatment for pneumonia.
Mr. Ajit Jogi had left the Congress in 2016 to form his own party. He had lost both his legs in a car accident in 2004.
Trial begins for Gonen Sege charged as Iran spy
Former Israeli Cabinet Minister indicted on suspicion of spying for Iran, Gonen Segev, is escorted by prison guards as he arrives at court in Jerusalem, Israel on July 5, 2018.
A former Israeli government Minister charged with spying for archenemy Iran is standing trial in Jerusalem. Gonen Segev appeared in court on Thursday. He was extradited from Equatorial Guinea earlier this year. Israel says Mr. Segev, who served as Minister in mid 1990s, was an agent for Iranian intelligence. Prosecutor Geula Cohen says the severity of the case when “a former minister spies... for the country that is considered the biggest enemy of Israel” can’t be ignored. Mr. Segev was imprisoned in Israel after his 2004 arrest for attempting to smuggle 32,000 ecstasy tablets from the Netherlands, using an expired diplomatic passport.
Togbay to hold bilateral talks with Modi
Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay is being received by Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. (Retd.) V.K. Singh, in New Delhi on Thursday.
Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, who is on a 3-day visit to India, arrived in New Delhi on Thursday to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the External Affairs Ministry, Mr. Tobgay will call on President Ram Nath Kovind. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other Ministers will also call on the visiting dignitary. India and Bhutan are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations this year and "enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterized by utmost trust and mutual understanding", the Ministry said.
Nishino will not return as Japan’s coach
Japanese soccer team coach Akira Nishino speaks during a press conference upon his team's return from the World Cup in Russia, at a hotel in Narita, near Tokyo on July 5, 2018.
The Japan Football Association (JFA) says Akira Nishino will not continue as coach of the national team when his term ends at the end of July. JFA president Kozo Teshima told a media conference Thursday, “We (the JFA) will not persuade Nishino to stay on the job as his term comes to an end.” Japan’s squad returned home on Thursday following its round-of-16 defeat to Belgium at the World Cup in Russia. The 63-year-old Nishino took over just two months before the World Cup following the surprise dismissal of Vahid Halilhodzic. Exceeding expectations, Nishino led Japan to its first appearance in the knockout stage since the 2010 tournament in South Africa. In April, the JFA said Nishino would manage the team until the end of the tournament.
Bus stop collapses in Hyderabad
Nearly a century-old Mississippi aircraft hangar, currently being used as city bus stop by TSRTC, collapsed on Thursday morning.
Nearly eighty-year old Mississipi hangar used by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation as the bus station for city services at City Bus Station collapsed on Thursday morning. None were injured as the complex was vacated by the RTC officials on June 30 as the structure had become weak and was in danger of collapsing. According to A. Purushotham Naik, Executive Director, Greater Hyderabad Zone, the imposing structure developed cracks on June 29 after big sound was heard.
Fourth of July celebrations in U.S.
Fireworks explode near the One World Trade Center tower, center, during the Jersey City Fourth of July celebration, Wednesday, July 4, 2018, in Jersey City.
Americans celebrated their nation's 242nd anniversary of independence on Wednesday, with concerts, parades and a voracious display of hot dog-eating prowess in New York, as many cities and towns prepared for traditional fireworks displays after sundown. At the White House, President Donald Trump planned to host a picnic for military families on the South Lawn during the afternoon, a few hours before fireworks were scheduled to light up the National Mall. The Fourth of July holiday marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by congressional delegates in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
Two Britons poisoned
The UK's head of counter-terrorism policing Neil Basu (right) and chief medical officer for England Dame Sally Davies speaking at a news conference at New Scotland Yard in London on July 4, 2018.
Two British citizens are critically ill after they were exposed to Novichok, the same nerve agent that struck down a former Russian agent and his daughter in March, Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer said on Wednesday. The pair, a local 44-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, were hospitalised after being found unwell on Saturday in Amesbury, just miles away from Salisbury where ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked in March.
Thai cave rescue
A family member smiles while waiting near a cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach are trapped, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand, Thursday, July 5, 2018.
Rescuers in Thailand were no closer on Thursday to deciding when and how to extract 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave complex, where they were found this week, pale and weak but otherwise in good health, after nine days lost underground. The navy has raised the possibility that the 13 could be in the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province until the flood waters recede, at the end of the rainy season in four months. But others say the boys could be out in a matter of days if the weather is on their side and water can be pumped out of the cave complex, and if they can be taught to use scuba gear.
