World Briefs

GERMANY  The comet lander Philae has awakened from a seven-month hibernation and managed to communicate with Earth for more than a minute, the European Space Agency said yesterday. The probe became the first spacecraft to land on a comet when it touched down on the icy surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November. After its historic landing Philae managed to conduct experiments and send data to Earth for about 60 hours before its batteries were depleted and it was forced to shut down its systems.

NORTH KOREA is accusing the U.S. of targeting it with anthrax and wants the U.N. Security Council to look into they called America’s “biological warfare schemes.” A letter from North Korea’s U.N. ambassador to the council president and the U.N. chief, made public Friday, claims that the U.S. “possesses deadly weapons of mass destruction” that it is trying to use against them. U.S. defense officials disclosed in late May that low concentration samples of live anthrax were shipped to labs in 19 states and four countries, including a U.S. military facility in South Korea.

INDONESIA  An Indonesian official on Friday criticized Australia’s prime minister as “unethical” for sidestepping allegations the Australian navy paid the crew of a boat carrying 65 migrants to return to Indonesian waters.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry has said it is “very concerned” by a report that the boat’s captain and five crew members detained on remote Rote island had about USD30,000 in cash. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott did not deny the payment claim in a radio interview Friday.

INDONESIA  A volcano in western Indonesia unleashed a new powerful burst high into the sky on Saturday, sending hot ash far down the mountain’s slopes, an official said. Authorities have been closely monitoring 2,460-meter-high Mount Sinabung on Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s main islands, since June 2, when its status was raised to the highest alert level due to the growing size of its lava dome.

FRANCE Dominique Strauss-Kahn had a caustic reaction as four years of legal battles involving sex charges on two continents ended without a single conviction: “All that for this?” In a packed courtroom Friday, a panel of judges acquitted all but one of the 13 defendants of accusations of involvement in a prostitution ring. Strauss-Kahn faced charges of “aggravated pimping,” but the judges said he was not involved in hiring the prostitutes involved or paying them.

ISRAEL  A 22-year-old Palestinian man was killed yesterday after being hit by an Israeli army jeep amid clashes in the West Bank, authorities said. Palestinian officials said the clash involved local residents hurling stones at the Israeli troops in the village of Kafr Malik, just outside of Ramallah. The Israeli military said the Palestinian man threw a firebomb at the Israeli jeep, causing it to swerve and hit him. The military said soldiers later tried to provide medical assistance to the man, but the Palestinian had already died from his wounds.

USA Police say a wedding guest’s gun went off accidentally at New York’s swanky Waldorf Astoria hotel and four people suffered minor injuries from debris. The shooting happened at 7:25 p.m. Saturday in the Park Avenue hotel’s lobby. In a briefing in front of the hotel, Manhattan Chief of Detectives William Aubry says four people were hit by shrapnel from the bullet or debris such as marble or glass. The shooter was placed under arrest. He was not immediately identified.

USA The massive manhunt for two convicted killers resumed after a worker at an upstate New York maximum-security prison was charged with smuggling in hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit to help the men escape. More than 800 law enforcement officers have joined the search, concentrating in a rural area near the Canadian border around the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. Residents in the area reported seeing two men jumping a stone wall on Friday.