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Top Asian News at 4:30 p.m. GMT

NARAHA, Japan (AP) — Japan’s government on Saturday lifted a 4 1/2-year-old evacuation order for the northeastern town of Naraha that had sent all of the town’s 7,400 residents away following the disaster at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant. Naraha became the first to get the order lifted among seven municipalities forced to empty entirely due to radiation contamination following the massive earthquake and tsunami that sent the plant’s reactors

Iran photographer to share prize money with Syria refugees

Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian has said she will donate part of a 100,000-euro ($112,000) Dutch award to charity, including Syrian and Iraqi refugees. The 34-year-old self-taught photographer considered as one of the first professional female photojournalists in Iran, said she would be donating 15,000 to an organisation helping Syrian and Iraqi refugees. The Amsterdam-based Prince Claus Fund dedicated to culture and development said on its website Thursday that it had

Clinton personally paid staffer to maintain private server: report

Hillary Clinton used personal funds to pay a State Department staffer to maintain an email server she used for both personal and government matters when she was U.S. secretary of state, The Washington Post said on Saturday, citing a campaign official. The unidentified official for Clinton’s campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination told the Post the pay arrangement with Bryan Pagliano ensured taxpayer dollars were not spent on a

Supporters gather at jail for Kentucky clerk held in gay marriage dispute

By Steve Bittenbender GRAYSON, Ky. (Reuters) – Around 200 supporters gathered outside a Kentucky jail on Saturday to support a county clerk held there for defying a federal judge’s order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, 49, who refused the licenses due to her Christian belief that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, said she was prepared to remain in

Total Port Arthur refinery halts coker ops after worker killed

Total SA said coker operations were halted at the company’s 225,500 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Saturday following the death of a contract worker. Production at the refinery has been cut back due to the operations halt on the coker, where the worker, an employee of Kinder Morgan Inc’s nearby petroleum coke terminal, was killed early on Saturday, said sources familiar with plant operations. Both Total

Fire at Washington state Planned Parenthood ruled arson

The blaze was set around 3:30 a.m. local time and caused extensive damage to the front of the structure in Pullman, the Pullman Fire Department said in a news release. Last month, thousands of protesters rallied outside Planned Parenthood locations across the country calling for the federal government to end funding for the health organization. Demonstrators were mobilized to dozens of locations, including Pullman, after an anti-abortion group released videos