1. Backed-up borders
Tourists on Wednesday walk by trucks in Evzonoi. Hundreds of vehicles were stopped at borders in Greece due to a 48-hour rolling strike by custom officers. GETTY IMAGES
2. Inspectors out
North Korea kicked out UN weapons inspectors from a plant that previously produced weapons-grade plutonium and notified the nuclear watchdog that it would restart operations as early as next week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday in Vienna.
Cuba lays blame
Cuba’s vice president tore into the U.S. and other industrial countries on Wednesday, blaming them for skyrocketing oil prices and accusing them of siphoning natural resources from the developing world.
3. Plane threat
An Israeli airliner that received a fighter jet escort after a bomb threat landed safely Wednesday at an airport outside Tel Aviv, authorities said. No bomb was found.
4. Singer speaks out
A transsexual singer charged with illegally criticizing mandatory military service in Turkey said in an Ankara court Wednesday she would say the same thing again.
5. China in space
Russian technicians will help direct China’s first-ever spacewalk this week, setting the stage for expanded cooperation between the sides, a spokesman for China’s space program said Wednesday in Jiuquan, China.
6. U.S. pressures Iraq
Under intense U.S. pressure, Iraq’s parliament approved a law Wednesday paving the way for the first provincial elections in four years following months of deadlock that American commanders warned could jeopardize the dramatic decline in violence.
7. Bombing arrest
Indian police have arrested a founder of the little-known Islamic militant group that has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings that killed more than 120 people in three northern Indian cities this year, authorities in Mumbai said Wednesday.
