News In Brief

'Japan should come clear on Fukushima'
Afp, Tokyo

The world's nuclear watchdog has urged Japan to explain more clearly what is happening at Fukushima and avoid sending "confusing messages" about the disaster, the country's atomic regulator revealed yesterday.
TEPCO said last week that some of the 300 tonnes that leaked from a tank could have made its way through drainage systems into the Pacific Ocean.

San Francisco wildfire grows
Afp, San Francisco

The wildfire threatening Yosemite National Park is still burning its way into the huge US tourist attraction despite dogged efforts by thousands of firefighters using planes and bulldozers.
The so-called Rim Fire -- California's seventh biggest ever -- now covers some 281 square miles (731 sq km) , an area bigger than Chicago. The fire, which broke out August 17, was still only 20 percent contained compared to 15 percent on Monday.

Attack on Nato convoy kills 4 Afghans
Afp, Kandahar

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of foreign troops in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing four civilians, officials said, adding there were no confirmed military casualties.
About 15 by-standers were also injured in the attack on Nato-led forces travelling on a main road near the police headquarters in Lashkar Gah, capital of the volatile province of Helmand. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suicide bombings are a hallmark of the Taliban.