­Two men have been convicted on Wednesday by a Manahattan federal court of planning to blow up synagogues and other buildings in New York City. Ahmed Ferhani, an Algerian aged 26, and Mohamed Mamdouh, 20, a Moroccan-born US citizen, had earlier pleaded not guilty following their indictment on weapons and terrorism charges. Police say the men appear to have worked alone, without any ties to militant groups. The two men are now awaiting sentencing.

­A BBC radio journalist has been detained in Tajikistan for alleged membership in an Islamic extremist movement, police said on Wednesday. According to the spokesman for the police, Makhmadullo Asaduloyev, the 50-year-old Urunboi Usmonov is suspected of being connected with international pan-Islamic organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir, illegal in the republic. The BBC World Service, in turn, rejected suggestions that Usmonov is a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir and demanded the release of the journalist. Police say that Usmonov joined the banned group in 2009 to carry out "propaganda and promote this movement via social networks."

­Five suspected insurgents have been killed during a third American missile attack on Wednesday, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. The attack took place close to the Afghan border. Earlier, ten insurgents were eliminated, as US unmanned aircraft attacked a suspected militant compound and vehicle near Wana, the main town in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area.

­The German E. coli death toll reached 37 on Wednesday. All the deaths reportedly occurred in Germany, including the latest in Hamburg, except for one woman who died in Sweden after a visit to Germany. Over 3,000 people have suffered from the illness in 14 different countries. However, German Health Minister Daniel Bahr says the E. coli outbreak is weakening. The dangerous strain was found in Bavarian lettuce on Tuesday.

­An official says a helicopter has crashed into the side of an Andorran mountain and exploded, killing four people, leaving one missing and one seriously injured. The helicopter crashed at an altitude of 2,200 meters above sea level, while taking a maintenance crew to a mountain refuge for hikers.

Bealrusian police have warned citizens not to gather for protest actions on Wednesday, as urged by the opposition forces, because street riots are possible. “The Interior Ministry has been informed that public protest actions [on Wednesday] may involve explosives and other armaments, including even firearms,” Interior Ministry spokesman Konstantin Shalkevich said. Calls to take to the streets have been repeatedly posted online in crisis-hit Belarus. President Lukashenko on Tuesday warned he would not tolerate protests amidst the economic crisis.

­Forbes has published the list of the ten most-wanted criminals in the world, including three Russian names – businessman Semyon Mogilevich, also known as Sergey Schneider, drug dealer Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, nicknamed Taivanchik, and terrorist Doku Umarov. The list, which is published annually, is made with the help of CIA, FBI, US Drug Enforcement Administration and specialists from other countries. Ayman al-Zawahiri, considered second in charge of Al-Qaeda, is also mentioned in the list, as well as Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and Félicien Kabuga, accused of participating in the Rwandan Genocide, in which 800,000 women and children were killed on 1994.

­eBay users are currently vying to win a three-hour lunch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. The auction started at 350 pounds ($568) on Monday and had topped 500 pounds by Wednesday. The bidding will close on Monday. Eight people will be lucky enough to have lunch with Assange and Zizek in one of London's finest restaurants on July 2.

­Demonstrators in Greece have thrown stones and fire bombs at police outside the parliament building, where the lawmakers are to discuss new austerity measures. More than 20,000 people thronged the streets in the center of Athens, with masked young people attacking buildings. Police responded with tear gas to stop the protesters. At least one participant was injured and taken to hospital. People at the parliament entrance are trying to overturn large barriers and throw plastic bottles at the riot police.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied that Iran is in possession of nuclear weapons, and confirmed the Middle Eastern state is ready for new talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the six world powers, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the press on Wednesday, after the Iranian leader met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Kazakhstan. “At the meeting with Ahmadinejad, we raised the issue of constructive cooperation on the Iranian nuclear problem, and a transparent cooperation with the IAEA,” Lavrov said. “Iran’s President confirmed that he was ready to cooperate,” the official added. Ahmadinejad and Medvedev met in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

­US unmanned aircraft have hit a suspected militant compound and vehicle on Wednesday, according to intelligence officials. At least ten alleged insurgents have been killed. The attack took place near Wana, the main town in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area, which was also the main shelter for the Pakistani Taliban until the army launched a large ground offensive in 2009. The US does not publicly discuss drone strikes in Pakistan, but officials say several senior Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders were eliminated.

­Police in Greece have fired tear gas to push back people who are protesting against new austerity measures and trying to blockade the parliament building in Athens on Wednesday. Clashes broke out between riot police and groups of protesters as more than 20,000 demonstrators occupied the center of the Greek capital. A 24-hour general Greek strike coincides with the debates on new cutbacks needed to secure international rescue loans.

­Czech officials say the Czech Republic will pull out of US missile defense plan. The Czech Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra told the Associated Press agency that his country withdrew in frustration over being given a minor role in the new US plans. He added that the Czech Republic wanted to take part in the program, but “not in this way.'' The initial proposal by the Bush administration to station ten interceptor missiles in Poland and an advanced radar system in the Czech Republic met with objections from Russia. In September 2009, the Obama administration offered a new reconfigured program with a smaller role for the Czechs.

Russia’s special representative in Libya, Mikhail Margelov, is on Wednesday leaving for Tripoli, where he will meet with the ministers of the Libyan Cabinet, loyal to Colonel Gaddafi. “I have been commissioned to go on that trip by Russia’s President,” Mergelov told reporters. Last week, Margelov flew to Benghazi for talks with Libyan opposition leaders. As he announced his upcoming Tripoli trip earlier, Margelov told reporters he might even meet with Muammar Gaddafi, provided that the security measures are adequate.

­Russia is not planning to apply NATO standards for military hardware and weapons, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told journalists at the State Duma on Wednesday. “We will not switch to NATO military standards. And we are not going to purchase Leopards (tanks)”, the minister added. Russia’s plans to purchase French Mistral-class helicopter carriers has given rise to speculation that the Russian army could apply NATO military standards in future.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has developed a set of global rules to protect the international internet security, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has said. The organization is likely to propose these rules at the 66th United Nations session in New York. “This is an important initiative which will demonstrate the SCO’s deliberation to have this difficult issue solved,” Medvedev told an SCO summit in Astana. Earlier on Wednesday, Kazakhstan leader Nursultan Nazarbayev said he supported China’s initiative to introduce the notion of electronic borders and electronic sovereignty of different states.

­Thousands of protesters are holding a 24-hour anti-austerity strike in Athens to protest the imposition of new measures. The strike coincides with the start of the lawmakers’ debates on new cost-cutting reforms. Labor unions have crippled hospitals, transport and other public services. The protesters formed a human shield around the Greek parliament in order to prevent the passing of a new 2012-2015 austerity program worth 28 billion euros.

­Explosions at a chemical plant in a southern Louisiana industrial park forced residents to evacuate at Tuesday night. At least four workers have been injured and sent to hospital. The first explosion at the Multi-Chem Corporation plant took place at about 4pm and blasts could still be heard 20 minutes later, the Daily Iberian newspaper reports. The company makes oilfield production chemicals. As a precaution, the nearby Acadiana Regional Airport has been closed.

Despite last week’s agreement, Russia has not yet obtained any safety certificates from the EU, and therefore the ban on import of European vegetables still stands, Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko has said. Russia banned import of EU vegetables for fears that the deadly e.coli intestinal infection, spreading in Europe, may get to Russia. At a EU-Russia summit last week, Russia agreed to lift the ban as soon as the EU provides guarantees that its vegetables are safe to eat. These guarantees, in the form of special certificates, have not been delivered yet.

­Islamic militants have seized parts of the southern Yemeni city of Houta in a surprise dawn attack on Wednesday. Al-Qaeda members are believed to be among the gunmen. Officials say earlier the militants drove through some neighborhoods in the southern port city of Aden, taking shots at security and forces. The officials were speaking on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to the media. Two other cities in Abyan province have been attacked and seized by the militants in May, while Yemen was gripped by political turmoil.

International terrorist organizations have plans to stage terrorist acts at strategic importance objects in Russia, the Federal Security Bureau’s head, Aleksandr Bortnikov, said at an Anti-Terrorism Committee meeting on Wednesday. “We have been receiving information which confirms that the international terrorist organizations, along with bandit groups in the North Caucasus affiliated with them, have not abandoned plans to stage new terrorist acts at strategic importance objects,” Bortnikov observed. Such objects could include healthcare institutions, energy-producing infrastructure, banks, offices of telecommunication services and IT providers, he said.

­Four gunmen have been killed in the Karabudakhkent district of Dagestan, according to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee. The militants took shots at law enforcement officers when police tried to stop their car. “The fire was returned and the gunmen were neutralized," the NAC says. Three policemen were injured in the operation. One of the four killed militants has been identified as a leader of the so-called Kaspiisk subversive-terrorist group.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev is calling for an international investigation of illegal drugs trafficking, saying that drugs have become a global problem equal in scope to terrorism. “In the past ten years, the flow of heroin from Afghanistan has grown ten times,” Nazarbayev told a Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s meeting on Wednesday. “But the causes and reasons of this are found far away from Afghanistan. SCO states should propose an international investigation to bring to justice all organizations and persons responsible for this crime,” he said.

­Tokyo’s local government decided to start widespread radiation monitoring in 100 locations of the Japanese capital on Wednesday. Earlier radiation levels were measured in only one district of Tokyo, but fears over the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plant forced the local authorities to broaden the survey. Fukushima nuclear plant’s cooling systems were disabled after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which caused radiation to leak into the ocean and atmosphere.

The leaders of Russia, Iran and Kazakhstan are going to discuss Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday, during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in Astana. The meeting will focus on Iran’s obligations under the International Atomic Energy Association’s requirements.

World Chess Federation (FIDE) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who has recently returned from a visit to Tripoli, wants to tell NATO leaders that Muammar Gaddafi is ready for negotiations, FIDE said on Wednesday. "Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has forwarded a message to US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and all leaders of the NATO countries offering to inform them about his meeting with Muammar Gaddafi," FIDE said. Ilyumzhinov’s mission in Tripoli was not of political nature, the organization points out. However he is willing to convey to the NATO states the position of Gaddafi, who told him he was ready for negotiations with both NATO and the Libyan opposition.

­Britain has set a timeframe for Sri Lanka to carry out an investigation into war crimes committed during its civil war in 2009 after footage of atrocities aired on Britain’s Channel 4 on Tuesday night. The video shows extrajudicial killings of Tamil Tiger rebels by Sri Lankan troops. Channel 4 has verified the footage as authentic, claiming the images to be clear evidence of war crimes. However, the Sri Lankan High Commission in London says the images shown in the documentary have not been certified as genuine and the video could cause hatred among Sri Lankan communities.

A summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has begun in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the tenth anniversary of the organization’s establishment. Leaders of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the regular member states of the SCO, have flown in for the closed meeting on Wednesday. Later in the day they are to be joined by representatives of observer states and international organizations.

­Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, aged 85, has told the world he won't be marrying one-time Playmate Crystal Harris on Saturday. “The wedding is off. Crystal has had a change of heart,” he wrote on Twitter. The Hef, as he is often known, and 25-year-old Harris began dating in January 2009 and got engaged around Christmas. Harris is said to have moved out of the Playboy Mansion on Sunday. It would have been Hefner's third marriage.

­Rebel militia forces have killed 29 people in a cattle raid in southern Sudan. The raid is assumed to have been carried out by armed militia from Unity state. Seven policemen and 22 civilians were killed. The territory has been shaken by violence since the south voted to separate from the north and form a new nation back in January. More than 1,500 people have since died in the violence.

­Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, will join Facebook next month. He is to oversee the company's policy and international and corporate communications efforts. Together with Lockhart, another former official Joel Kaplan, who worked for the former president and served as Bush's deputy chief of staff will join the social network staff.

­Hamas and Fatah have reached an agreement on the release of prisoners, and stated that a new government is expected to be formed. Palestinian officials claim they will announce a new unity government at a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Meshaal in Cairo next week. However, the two sides said the prime minister\s name will not be released until June 21.

­NATO has resumed airstrikes on Libya late on Tuesday blasting at least two targets. Libyan TV reports NATO has been bombing the central part of the country, the cities of Tripoli and Al Jufra. Both military and civilian objects were said to have been bombed. There was no word about casualties. East of the capital, alliance aircraft have begun dropping leaflets warning government troops to abandon their posts outside Zlitan.