May, 2016

• 28 May

  US forces in Okinawa base under curfew after suspected murder

    Tokyo / AFP US forces in Okinawa are to be put under night-time curfew for a month following the suspected rape and murder of a woman by a former US marine, officials said on Saturday. The announcement, part of a one-month “period of unity and mourning” comes after US President Barack Obama expressed his “deepest regrets” over the killing. ...

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• 28 May

  Arrests after violent scuffles at Australian immigration rally

    Sydney / AFP Violence erupted in Australia’s second biggest city on Saturday after two opposing immigration rallies clashed in the streets, with police arresting seven people. Victoria state police condemned the behaviour of both anti-racism and anti-immigration demonstrators involved in the melees in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg. Hundreds of police attempted to keep the groups apart, and were ...

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• 28 May

  Wonder, doubt after Obama’s Hiroshima visit

  

    HIROSHIMA / AP The survivors of the world’s first atomic bomb attack are used to hearing grand vows to rid the world of nuclear weapons. They just don’t usually come directly from the leader of the country that dropped the bomb on them in the first place. On Saturday, a day after Barack Obama left, there was gratitude — ...

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• 28 May

  Japan shares G-7 push for growth with Asia, Africa

  

  NAGOYA / AP Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is sharing a push by the Group of Seven advanced industrial nations to promote inclusive growth across the globe in meetings with leaders of seven developing countries. The bilateral summit meetings with leaders of Bangladesh, Chad, Indonesia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam in this central Japanese city on Saturday ...

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• 28 May

  French PM Valls stakes political career on union fight

  

    Paris / AFP Engaged in a fierce tug of war with unions and some of his own party over labour reforms, France’s embattled Prime Minister Manuel Valls has staked his political career on staring down the crisis. Valls finds himself in a devilish position, says Frederic Dabi of polling firm IFOP. “If he withdraws the law, he will no ...

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• 28 May

  N Korea warns Seoul of retaliatory strikes

  Seoul / AFP North Korea on Saturday warned South Korea of “merciless retaliatory strikes”, a day after the South fired warning shots at North Korean boats near their disputed sea border. The North’s military General Staff said from now on it would open fire without warning at any South Korean ships if they intrude “even 0.001 millimetres” into disputed waters ...

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• 28 May

  IS militants fight rebels in north Syria strongholds

  

    BEIRUT / AP IS militants entered a Syrian opposition stronghold in the country’s north on Saturday, clashing with rebels on the edges of the town as the extremist group built on its most significant advance near the Turkish border in two years, Syrian opposition groups and IS media said. More than 160,000 civilians are trapped in the fighting, which ...

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• 28 May

  2 rockets fired from Syria land near Turkish airport

    Istanbul / AFP Two rockets fired on Saturday from inside Syria landed near the international airport of Gaziantep, a major Turkish border city, although nobody was hurt, the Turkish news agency Dogan reported. One of the projectiles landed in a residential complex for employees of Oguzeli airport, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the city and another came down ...

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• 28 May

  Turkey says 104 IS militants killed in air and land strikes

    ANKARA / AP Turkey’s state-run news agency says US-led coalition airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against the IS group in Syria have killed 104 militants. Anadolu Agency said on Saturday said the strikes came late Friday, hours after rockets fired from Syria hit a southern Turkish town and wounded five people. It said the airstrikes and artillery fire also ...

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• 28 May

  ‘Westerner’ among 7 IS suspects arrested in Yemen

    Aden / AFP Yemeni authorities on Saturday arrested seven IS group suspects, including one ‘Westerner’, in second city Aden, a police officer said. The arrests are part of a government offensive against IS and Al-Qaeda, which have claimed a wave of deadly attacks in recent months in Yemen’s south and southeast. Among these were twin bombings claimed by IS ...

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