News Headlines - 12 June 2014

▽BBC News - Iraq conflict: All options open to fight insurgents - Obama

US President Barack Obama says his government is looking at "all options", including military action, to help Iraq fight Islamist militants. But the White House also insisted it had no intention of sending ground troops.

▽Australia backs increased military role for Japan | theguardian.com

Australia has backed a bigger role for Japan’s military, hailing it as a "more normal defence posture", after Tokyo and Canberra stepped up ties.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is pushing to reinterpret Japan's strict pacifist constitution to allow its well-equipped armed forces to fight in defence of an ally, something currently barred.

▽China's prime minister 'threatens to cancel London visit unless meets the Queen' | Mail Online

Chinese officials threatened to sabotage an important diplomatic trip to Britain by the Communist country's prime minister unless he could meet the Queen, it has been reported.

▽Angelina Jolie angers Chinese nationalists with Taiwan comments | theguardian.com

The star, promoting Maleficent in Shanghai, said that her favourite Chinese director is Ang Lee – who is from Taiwan, a country still seen by many Chinese as a rogue state

▽Japanese Soccer Team Flies to Brazil on 'Pokemon' Plane | Total Pro Sports

The Japanese national soccer teamwas apparently uninterested in breaking down Japanese stereotypes on their way to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. That’s because their team plane was decked out with a Pokemon paint job, featuring characters like Pikachu, and, uh (I never got into Pokemon as a kid, so forgive me), Happy Bear, Winking Cat Thing, and more.