Man sets himself on fire in Tokyo protest
TOKYO -- In a ghastly spectacle of a sort rarely seen in this orderly city, a man set himself on fire in front of horrified crowds at Tokyo's busiest train station Sunday.
The police provided few details about the man, who survived with burns all over his body after being rushed to a Tokyo hospital.
The self-immolation took place in broad daylight in front of hundreds of onlookers, who used cellphones and other devices to post graphic videos and photos on social media sites.
While most of the images are silent, several postings said the man told the crowd that he opposed efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to loosen restrictions in the constitution on the use of military force, which is interpreted as allowing Japan to act only in self-defense.
After making his appeal, the man then suddenly set himself on fire. Firefighters, who were waiting below, quickly sprayed him with their hoses.
One rescuer then clambered up to knock the still-burning man off the scaffolding and onto the center of the bridge in front of firefighters, who doused him for several seconds before treating him.
Report: Syria rebel infighting killed 7,000
BEIRUT -- Up to 7,000 people, mostly rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad, have been killed in infighting among rival Islamic groups in Syria across opposition-held territory in the north, an activist group said in a report Sunday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has documented 7,000 deaths as a result of the rebel-on-rebel violence since January, when infighting broke out in northern Syria. The death toll also included 650 civilians who got caught in the crossfire of the fighting between the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and its rival, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -- a group that formally broke with al-Qaida earlier this year and has in recent weeks become a major fighting force in neighboring Iraq.
The Observatory has been documenting the Syrian conflict through a network of activists inside Syria since it started in March 2011 as largely peaceful protest against Assad's rule. It gradually became a civil war, in which more than 160,000 people have been killed, according to activists, and nearly a third of Syria's population of 23 million has been displaced.
Hong Kong's democracy vote wraps up
HONG KONG -- An informal referendum aimed at bolstering support for greater democracy in Hong Kong wound down Sunday after drawing nearly 800,000 votes and the ire of Beijing, which denounced it as a political farce.
The vote is part of a campaign by activists in the southern Chinese city to ratchet up the pressure on authorities for democratic reform that could ultimately lead to a mass protest paralyzing the city's financial district.
Hong Kong, a capitalist enclave of 7.2 million, passed from British to Chinese control in 1997 with the promise that it could retain a high degree of control over its own affairs under the principle of "one country, two systems."
Beijing has pledged to allow Hong Kong residents to elect their next leader in 2017, but is balking at letting them nominate candidates. China's communist leaders instead insist all candidates must be vetted by a Beijing-friendly committee, like the one that has hand-picked the city's leaders since British rule ended.
Rally aims attention at missing Israelis
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in a central Tel Aviv square Sunday night to draw attention to the plight of three Israeli teenagers who were abducted in the West Bank earlier this month.
The crowd packed Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, holding Israeli flags and posters of the three missing teens. Singers performed for the crowd, while politicians and relatives of the youths addressed the gathering.
The mothers of the teens each told the crowd that the nation is united in praying for the safety of their teens. "They know that we will never give up trying to bring them home," said Rachelle Fraenkel, one of the mothers.
The three teens -- Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship -- have not been heard from since hitchhiking home in the West Bank on June 12.
Israel has accused Hamas militants of kidnapping the teens, and the army has launched its broadest ground operation in the West Bank in nearly a decade in search of the teens. Israel has arrested about 400 Palestinians, most of them Hamas activists, and has identified two wanted Hamas operatives as the chief suspects. The two men remain on the run.
Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 06/30/2014