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A Japanese court has blocked the restarting of two nuclear reactors in the western city of Takahama, after local people raised safety concerns. The plant had already obtained approval from the country’s nuclear watchdog. But locals had petitioned the court in Fukui prefecture, where Takahama is located, to intervene, saying it would not withstand a strong earthquake. All 48 commercial ...

India’s biggest online retailer has pulled out of a controversial deal after a social media backlash. Flipkart had agreed a deal with phone network Airtel to let customers browse its site for free, with Flipkart picking up their internet data costs. But critics said this went against net neutrality. Net neutrality means service providers should treat all traffic equally. Users ...

The carcass of a rare whale has been washed up on a Western Australia beach following Tropical Cyclone Olwyn, which hit the region last month. It is only the second time an Omura’s whale has been recorded in Australia. The whale was found on a remote beach near the town of Exmouth, 1,265km (784 miles) north of Perth. Scientists say ...

Boko Haram have abducted at least 2,000 women and girls since the start of 2014, according to rights group Amnesty International. A report published by the organisation on Wednesday says many of those captured have been forced into sexual slavery and trained to fight for the group. The group based its findings on nearly 200 witness accounts, including with 28 ...

President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro are due to hold their first formal meeting in another historic step towards ending decades of hostility. The talks, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas, will be the first top-level negotiations between Cuba and the US in more than 50 years. As the 35-nation summit in Panama entered its second ...

Rescuers were forced to abandon efforts to save around 150 melon-headed whales that stranded on a beach in Japan yesterday, after frantically trying all day to save them. As darkness fell, local officials in Hokota, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo, said they had been able to save only three of the 149 animals that had beached and ...

President Barack Obama has reiterated United States’ support for India’s membership of a reformed United Nation Security Council as he considers it a foreign policy priority to continue to strengthen India-US relationship. “What the President said was that he said in the context of a reformed Security Council that the President would support the inclusion of India in that process,” ...

Malaysia has strengthened its controversial sedition law, imposing a minimum jail term of three years and allowing the government to block online media deemed to be seditious, lawmakers said on Friday.   The toughening of the Sedition Act, which dates back to British colonial rule, comes after a crackdown in which scores of people have been detained under the law ...

A Turkish court has ordered blocks on Twitter and YouTube for sharing photos of a hostage taken during an armed siege last week. The blocks have been imposed because images of a deadly siege were being shared via the social networks. In the siege two gunmen reportedly from a far-left group took a prosecutor hostage at Istanbul central courthouse. All ...

Poland is to build observation towers along its land border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, according to a Polish news agency. The six towers will be up to 50m (164ft) high and will stream images to Polish guards monitoring the 200km (124-mile) border, the PAP agency says. The total cost is reported to be 14m zloty (£2.5m; $3.8m), with ...