Protest over closure of media houses

(AP) Greece:

Greek journalists are striking over the closure of a newspaper and a radio station owned by the former chief organiser for the Athens 2004 Olympics and her husband.

All television, radio and internet news broadcasts stopped after the country's largest media union, Esiea, launched the 24-hour strike yesterday.

The action followed the announcement that the Eleftheros Typos and City radio owned by Gianna Angelopoulos and her husband Theodore would be liquidated because they were loss-making. Esiea is planning a protest march to parliament today.

Court orders an arm and a leg for stealing

(AP) Somalia:

A court run by an extremist Islamic group sentenced four Somali men yesterday to each have a hand and a leg cut off for allegedly stealing mobile phones and guns. The ruling prompted an outcry from human-rights activists. The court that handed down the sentence in Somalia's capital is run by al-Shabab, one of the nation's most powerful insurgent groups.

The United States considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies.

Man kills son during father's day dispute

(AP) US:

Police say a 62-year-old man shot his 19-year-old son to death during a family argument on Father's Day. Authorities say Bernard Uckele killed his son Justin with a handgun early Sunday afternoon in the garage of Uckele's home in Jackson Township, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.

Police say the son's girlfriend had been fighting with his sister when the father became involved. The shooting occurred after Justin returned home from work.

Iranian unrest intensifies

(AP) IRAN:

Riot police attacked hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in central Tehran yesterday, carrying out a threat by the country's most powerful security force to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election.

Britain, accused by Iran of fomenting post-election unrest, said it was evacuating the families of diplomats and other officials based in Iran, the first country to do so as Iran's worst internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution escalated.

FBI working to clear backlog

(AP) US:

The FBI is clearing a backlog stretching a year or more for identity checks on people seeking to work and live in the US, or become citizens, immigration officials said Monday. Nearly all requests submitted for routine checks are now being answered within 30 days, with the remaining two per cent within 90 days, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said.