23:29
Argentina is withdrawing its ambassador to Paraguay over the impeachment of former Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, the Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement. On Friday, the Senate of Paraguay voted to impeach President Fernando Lugo with 39 legislators in favor and four against. Lugo was immediately succeeded by his vice president, Federico Franco, who was sworn in in Congress. A number of Latin American countries called the impeachment illegitimate. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner asserted that Argentina would not condone the "coup d'etat" that took place in Paraguay.
21:18
The US National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Debby has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to bring rains to the Gulf Coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. A tropical storm warning has already been issued for part of the Louisiana coast. The storm will move over the northern Gulf during the next few days at about 10 kilometers per hour, forecasters say. Debby is the fourth tropical storm recorded in 2012. The first storm this year, Alberto, formed off the South Carolina coast on May 19.
20:24
Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs the Gaza Strip, has vowed to escalate attacks on Israel following a slew of Israeli airstrikes that killed several Palestinians. Hamas militants responded to those strikes by firing dozens of rockets at Israel on Saturday, damaging an elementary school and wounding one person. Tensions between Israel and Hamas have been growing over the past week, and an Egyptian-brokered truce secured on Tuesday was quickly broken. An Egyptian official said his country was trying to secure a new ceasefire.
20:18
Around 50 people attacked a gay pride rally with approximately 400 participants with plastic bottles and eggs in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, local police reported. Police moved in to stop the attackers, and no injuries were reported. Senior clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church in Thessaloniki have recently condemned gay pride events.
18:17
Poland has summoned the Belarusian ambassador to demand the release of a Polish newspaper reporter arrested this week, warning that Minsk risks further isolation and tougher sanctions. Andrzej Poczobut, the Belarus correspondent of Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and a prominent Polish-Belarusian minority activist, was arrested for insulting Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko in his articles on Thursday, less than a year after serving jail time for similar offences.
17:51
Bashar al-Youssef, a 23-year-old volunteer with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was shot and killed while on first aid duty in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria. He was wearing a uniform clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem when he was shot, the International Red Cross Committee said in a statement. He is the fourth member of the Red Crescent to be killed in Syria since September.
15:29
Sudan’s police have ordered their staff to put an end to anti-government protests immediately, reports the state-linked Sudanese Media Centre. The capital city Khartoum and other cities have embraced a week's worth of protests provoked by the nation’s financial woes. Reforms aimed at curbing skyrocketing inflation led to hikes in prices of petrol, cooking gas and food. On Friday, police used tear gas and smoke grenades to dispel protesting crowds in the fiercest standoff since student-led protests began a week ago.
13:47
Jerry Sandusky has been convicted on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys, which means a life jail term is growing imminent for the former Penn State assistant football coach. The verdict was read out late Friday night. Sandusky has already been placed in protective custody as he awaits sentencing in the Centre County jail. The former coach is on suicide watch, his attorney says. The defense team is planning to appeal.
12:42
The results of the Egyptian presidential poll will be announced on Sunday, the country’s electoral commission says. The announcement had been expected on Thursday but the commission said it needed more time to investigate multiple fraud allegations. The two candidates in the running, Mohammed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, have both claimed victory and accused each other of vote rigging. Egypt remains on edge as it awaits news on who will be the country’s next president amid fears that the delays are a ploy by the interim military government to maintain power.
11:23
Pope Benedict XVI has conducted a special meeting of cardinals to discuss how to deal with the recent scandal over leaked Vatican documents. The Vatican press office said the meeting was added at the last minute in a bid to try to “restore a climate of serenity and trust” in the church. Earlier in June some documents alleging corruption in the Vatican have been published in the Italian media.
11:16
Syrian president Bashar Assad has formed a new government, state television reported on Saturday. The key ministers of defense, the interior and foreign affairs have all kept their seats. The news has countered speculation surrounding Defense Minister Daoud Rajha, who was rumored to have been assassinated by militants.
09:46
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas overnight to disperse dozens of protesters who attacked a group of policemen in the capital Khartoum. About 150 protesters were involved in the clashes. It was the sixth day of protests set off by a government austerity plan that slashed subsidies and doubled the price of fuel and food.
09:33
A six-year-old boy has reportedly been killed in Gaza by an Israeli air strike, medics say. Reports say Israeli forces struck a target in the town of Beit Lahia in the north of the Gaza Strip. Israeli defense forces have denied carrying out a strike in the region.
09:11
The US embassy in Kenya has warned the country’s authorities of an imminent terror attack in the city of Mombasa. In the official statement, the embassy asked all its government workers to leave the coastal town, saying all government travel to Mombasa is suspended until July 1. It has also issued a travel warning to all US citizens currently in the country or planning to visit. Mombasa, the capital Nairobi and other parts of Kenya have suffered a series of grenade attacks since Kenya sent troops into Somalia last year to pursue al-Shabaab militants.
08:58
Seven Czech citizens have been killed and 44 others injured after the bus they were traveling on crashed into a guardrail in central Croatia. Police say the impact was so strong that the bus overturned. The accident took place on Croatia's most vital route connecting the capital Zagreb with the southern Adriatic city of Split.
05:15
The International Criminal Court has vowed to investigate the behavior of its team in Libya "following the return of four staff members" who were detained in the country on June 7. In an official statement, the ICC expressed regret over "any events that may have given rise to concerns on the part of the Libyan authorities” and promised cooperation. The four-member ICC team was detained in the western city of Zintan and has been accused of committing a “security breach.”
04:45
A US court has found Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State University assistant football coach, guilty of serial child abuse committed between 1994 and 2009. The hearings lasted seven days, during which eight victims made a personal appearance to give testimony before the court. Sandusky, who had pleaded not guilty, is now facing life imprisonment. The sentence, however, is yet to be announced. The notorious Sandusky case led to a wave of resignations among Penn State officials. The dismissal of the now deceased head coach Joe Paterno triggered massive student riots at the university.
02:17
A mutiny by police officers demanding wage increases has struck Bolivia, with about 4,000 officers occupying barracks. Hundreds of policemen looted the police intelligence division and disciplinary tribunal headquarters, setting files, computers and furniture on fire and destroying doors and windows. The government has proposed to increase their pay to $287 a month, compared with the current $178, in order to suspend the acts of violence. The action began on Thursday, when about 30 policemen seized an elite unit's barracks near the presidential palace. President Evo Morales stayed in the palace on Friday, under military police protection. A revolt over wages in 2003 at the same base resulted in a gunfight with soldiers that left 19 dead.
00:32
Three Israeli airstrikes on Hamas targets have left 17 people wounded, Hamas medical officials said. Iranian news agency Press TV also reported that one Palestinian was killed in the strike, though this remains unconfirmed. The strikes came just hours after another Israeli air raid on the area killed two alleged militants. Israel said it was responding to rocket strikes from insurgents in Gaza. The tit-for-tat violence put an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, in jeopardy. Hamas had earlier announced it would respect the truce as long as Israel ends its strikes.
