May, 2016

• 31 May

  Australia war dead repatriated from Malaysia

    Kuala Lumpur / AFP Half a century after they died, the bodies of 32 Australian soldiers and their dependents, many of whom were killed in the Vietnam War, were returned home from Malaysia on Tuesday. In a sombre ceremony, their flag-draped coffins were loaded onto Australian airforce planes by a military guard of honour as a bugle sounded the ...

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• 31 May

  6 ‘militants’ get life in B’desh

    Dhaka / AFP A Bangladesh court on Tuesday sentenced to death six suspected militants for a deadly bank robbery last year, as authorities crack down on local hardliners following a wave of killings. Dhaka judge SM Quddus Zaman convicted and sentenced the men over the robbery, which raised fears at the time of local groups raising funds to finance ...

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• 31 May

  Iraqi forces in Fallujah repel IS attack in south

    CAMP TARIQ / AFP Iraqi forces battling their way into Fallujah repelled a four-hour attack by the IS group in the city’s south on Tuesday, a day after first moving into the southern edges of the militant-held city with the help of US-led coalition airstrikes. Also Tuesday, a leading aid group raised alarm over the unfolding “human catastrophe” in ...

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• 31 May

  Taliban kill 16 bus passengers in northern Afghanistan

  

    Kunduz / AP The Taliban killed at least 16 people on Tuesday and kidnapped dozens of others after pulling them off buses in northern Afghanistan, officials said, the latest assault since the insurgents named a new leader last week. The Taliban have so far not commented on the incident in Aliabad district in the volatile province of Kunduz, where ...

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• 31 May

  Migrant deaths in Med up sharply: UN

  

    Geneva / AFP More than 2,500 people have died trying to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe so far in 2016, the UN said Tuesday, a sharp jump from the same period last year. At the same time some 204,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to the continent since January, a figure that has ...

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• 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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