May, 2016

• 31 May

  Airstrikes kill 23 in Syria, Russia denies involvement

  

    BEIRUT / AP A wave of late night airstrikes pummeled the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, killing at least 23 people, wounding dozens and trapping several under the rubble of their homes, opposition activists said on Tuesday. At least seven children were among those killed in the strikes, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group …

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• 31 May

  Ukraine’s released pilot returns to parliament

  

    Kiev / AFP Ukraine’s defiant pilot Nadiya Savchenko sang the national anthem on Tuesday in a strident first appearance in parliament since her release in a prisoner swap with Russia last week. The 35-year-old member of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s populist party strode to the podium draped in the flag of Ukraine and holding one of Crimea at …

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• 31 May

  EU court adviser: Sanctions on Russian firms legally valid

    LUXEMBOURG / AP A senior adviser to the European Court of Justice says European Union economic sanctions imposed on Russian companies are valid in the main under the EU’s common security and defense policy. Advocate General Melchior Wathelet issued the opinion on Tuesday in response to a challenge the Russian oil and gas producer Rosneft filed before a British …

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• 31 May

  Indian army depot fire kills 16, sparks safety fears

    Mumbai / AFP A massive fire that erupted at one of India’s largest military ammunition depots Tuesday killed at least 16 soldiers and firefighters, reigniting safety concerns about military equipment and installations. The blaze broke out in the early hours at the high-security facility which stores bombs, grenades and other ordnance outside the central city of Pulgaon. Flames lit …

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• 31 May

  Leaked audio claims 2nd Brazilian minister

  

    Brasília / AFP The government of Brazil’s acting president Michel Temer took a fresh hit as the anti-corruption minister resigned after a recording revealed him criticizing a probe into graft at state oil giant Petrobras, officials said. Fabiano Silveira was the second minister to exit in the span of a week from Temer’s government, which has only been in …

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• 31 May

  More than 45 million trapped in modern slavery

  

    Sydney / AFP More than 45 million men, women and children globally are trapped in modern slavery, far more than previously thought, with two-thirds in the Asia-Pacific, a study showed on Tuesday. The details were revealed in the 2016 Global Slavery Index, a research report by the Walk Free Foundation, an initiative set up by Australian billionaire mining magnate and …

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• 31 May

  S Korea: North fails with attempted missile launch

    Seoul / AFP North Korea apparently failed with an attempted missile launch on Tuesday, the latest in a series of setbacks for a ballistic weapons programme that aspires to threaten the US mainland. South Korea’s defence ministry detected the dawn launch effort, which Japan condemned as an unacceptable and “provocative” act. The ministry declined to speculate on the missile …

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• 31 May

  An independence day for Britain?

  

    LONDON Leaders of the campaign to end Britain’s membership in the European Union hope that next month’s referendum will make June 23, 2016, a date as luminous in modern British history as May 3, 1979, when voters made Margaret Thatcher prime minister. Michael Gove, secretary of justice and leader of the campaign for Brexit — Britain’s withdrawal from the …

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• 31 May

  OPEC meet must help set the market tone

    Had the OPEC meeting been held two months ago, the agenda would have been different in light of plummeting oil prices that hurt many economies and caused volatility at the global markets. But with the current surge in the oil price to around $50, the pressure on OPEC is remarkably easing. This will be reflected at the meeting on …

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• 31 May

  Uganda abandons North Korea amid South Korean outreach

    Uganda, one of Pyongyang’s few allies, announced that it will put an end to its cooperation with North Korea. The announcement came following a meeting between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. After his meeting with Park on Sunday, Musevini announced that he’d decided that Uganda would cease its military cooperation with North Korea to …

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