French Researcher Released By Iranian Authorties

PARIS: Iranian authorities released a young French academic who was accused of spying on bail, the French presidency announced, after she spent six weeks in Tehran’s notorious Evin jail.

University teaching assistant Clotilde Reiss, 24, was arrested in Tehran on July 1 after taking part in post-election street protests.

She will now have to stay at the French embassy in Tehran while she awaits the verdict in her trial, which was heard on August 8. Her father Remi Reiss said the young academic was “very happy” after being freed and seemed well.

Earthquake Jolts Shuffles Southern Japan And Taiwan

TOKYO: A strong earthquake jolted the ocean floor off southern Japan on Monday, triggering a brief tsunami warning for a cluster of tropical islands and shaking buildings in nearby Taiwan.

The 6.7-magnitude quake struck at around 9:06 am (0006 GMT) 115 kilometers (70 miles) southwest of Ishigaki-jima island in Japan’s far south at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), the US Geological Survey reported.

Japan’s meteorological agency, which measured the tremor at magnitude 6.8, issued a warning for tsunami waves of up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) for a group of islands in the East China Sea, but later lifted the alert.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in Japan or Taiwan from the quake, which rattled buildings in Taipei and on Ishigaki-jima.

“We have no reports of damage for now,” said a fire official on Ishigaki-jima. “But we sent patrol vehicles to inform local residents and to survey the island.”

“We felt strong shaking, but not enough to throw things off shelves,” he said. “I see no changes in the ocean level.”

Around 20 percent of the world’s most powerful earthquakes strike Japan, which is located at the intersection of several tectonic plates.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck central Japan last Tuesday, killing one woman and injuring more than 120 people.

Egyptian Policemen Killed By Israeli Troops

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army says its soldiers mistakenly shot and wounded an Egyptian policeman along the border between the two countries.

The army says a routine patrol on Monday morning identified a suspicious, armed figure at the border.

It says that when the Israeli troops challenged the man, he cocked his weapon — prompting the soldiers to open fire.

The army says the soldiers only realized it was an Egyptian policeman after the shooting. A joint Israeli-Egyptian team is investigating the shooting.

There was no immediate comment from Egyptian officials.

The incident occurred south of the volatile Gaza Strip in a border region that has been largely peaceful since Israel and Egypt signed a peace deal in 1979.

Russia Blast 7 Killed

Russia: A suicide bomber exploded a truck at a police station in Russia’s restive North Caucasus Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens of others, officials said.

The attacker rammed into the gates of the local police headquarters in the city of Nazran in Ingushetia and detonated his explosives at the moment when police officers were lining up for a morning check, said Kaloi Akhilgov, a spokesman for the regional president.

At least seven people were killed and 25 others were wounded, said Alexei Titarenko, a spokesman for the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s branch in southern Russia. The attacker apparently died in the blast, but officials wouldn’t immediately confirm that.

The police building was on fire and nearby apartment buildings were also damaged by the powerful blast, local officials said.

The suicide attack dents Kremlin claims to be restoring peace to the impoverished North Caucasus region after years of war.

Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya to the west, and other provinces in the region have been roiled by shootings, bombings and other attacks targeting police and government officials.

Ingushetia’s Kremlin-appointed president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was badly wounded in June’s bombing and hasn’t yet returned to his duties.

While large-scale fighting from the two wars that ravaged Chechnya since 1994 has ended, militants continue to mount hit-and-run attacks and skirmishes. Bloodshed has surged in recent months and increasingly spilled into Chechnya’s neighbors.