World Briefs

CHINA State media say former President Hu Jintao’s top aide has been stripped of his party membership, removed from all government positions, and will be criminally prosecuted on corruption charges. Xinhua News Agency said yesterday that an internal investigation found that Ling Jihua, who once served as head of the Communist Party’s general office, took huge bribes and used his position to seek benefits for others. The news report also suggests Ling might have leaked classified information.

IRAN’s Foreign Ministry yesterday dismissed visiting German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel’s call for Iran to recognize Israel, Iranian media reported. “For some issues in the Middle East, we have quite different policies from those of Germany, and we have made it clear over the past 35 years,” Afkham said in response to recent remarks by Gabriel.

IRAN-USA The U.N. Security Council yesterday unanimously endorsed the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and authorized a series of measures leading to the end of U.N. sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy. But the measure also provides a mechanism for U.N. sanctions to “snap back” in place if Iran fails to meet its obligations.
Yemen The death toll in Yemen from the Shiite rebel shelling of a town near the southern port city of Aden rose yesterday to nearly 100, the head of an international aid group said, describing it as “the worst day” for the city and its surroundings in over three months of fighting.

ARGENTINA Conservative Horacio Rodriguez Larreta wisn the mayoral run-off election in Buenos Aires, in a closer race than his opposition party had hoped for in the key region ahead of presidential voting later this year.

USA Jet-setting stallions and high-flying hounds at New York’s Kennedy Airport can look forward to a new luxury terminal that will handle the more than 70,000 animals flying in and out every year. The ARK at JFK, its name inspired by Noah’s biblical vessel, is billed as the world’s first air terminal for animals. The USD48 million, 16,500-square-meter shelter and quarantine is set to open next year.

USA Demi Moore says she is stunned and saddened by the death of a 21-year-old man in the backyard pool of a Los Angeles home she owns.

UK Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has joined a Russian billionaire to launch a major new effort to listen for aliens in the search for extraterrestrial life. Hawking has offered his support to tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Initiatives project — a USD100 million quest to see if extraterrestrial intelligence exists.