ISAF apologises for civilian deaths

Afghanistan :

Foreign forces in Afghanistan apologised Monday for the deaths of nine Afghan civilians after President Hamid Karzai criticised an air strike which he and officials said killed 14, including children. The statement said that the strike in the southern province of Helmand was carried out Saturday after insurgents who had earlier killed a patrolling marine hid in a compound and carried on firing.

Full Story

Germany hunts deadly E. coli source

Germany said Sunday it was pulling out all the stops to locate the exact source of an outbreak of E. coli bacteria poisoning blamed for 10 deaths, which authorities suspect may have originated in Spain. “Until experts in Germany and Spain are able to positively identify the source of the pathogen, general warnings about vegetables remain valid,” Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Full Story

German govt wants nuclear exit by 2022

Germany will shut all its nuclear reactors by 2022, parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government agreed on Monday, in a reaction to Japan’s Fukushima disaster that marks a drastic policy reversal. As expected, the coalition wants to keep the eight oldest of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors permanently shut. Seven were closed temporarily in March, just after the earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima. One has been off the grid for years.

Full Story