HONG KONG

Tens of thousands rally, march for full democracy

Tens of thousands of people marched for full democracy on the 17th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, underlining the opposition to Chinese control over the election of the city’s top official.

Occupy Central With Love and Peace, an activist group, called on residents to join the rally after almost 800,000 people voted in an unofficial referendum against China’s insistence that it vet candidates for the chief executive election in 2017.

PARIS

Police detain, question former French president

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in police custody Tuesday, apparently under questioning in an investigation linked to allegations that he took $50 million in illegal campaign funds from Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi.

Sarkozy is still among the most popular politicians in France despite a pile of investigations that target him.

TOKYO

Japan moving toward ‘collective self-defense’

Since Japan’s defeat in World War II, its military has been shackled by restrictions imposed by a victorious U.S. and that, over time, a majority of Japanese adopted as their own. Now, the shackles are being loosened.

Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a reinterpretation of the country’s pacifist postwar constitution that will allow the military to help defend allies and others “in a close relationship” with Japan under what is known as “collective self-defense.”

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria

Car bomb explodes in marketplace, kills 56

A car bomb in a marketplace in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city that is the birthplace of Boko Haram extremism, killed at least 56 people on Tuesday, the leader of a civilian group that recovered the bodies said.

Witnesses and officials blamed Boko Haram extremists who have been accused of a series of bomb attacks in the West African nation.

PRETORIA, South Africa

Pistorious planned trip with girlfriend, his agent testifies

Oscar Pistorius had a heightened concern for his personal safety and was making plans to take girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on international trips shortly before he fatally shot her, his agent testified at the double-amputee runner’s murder trial Tuesday.

The defense called Peet van Zyl to the stand in an attempt to bolster Pistorius’ account that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder.

– From news service reports

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