May, 2016

• 22 May

  El-Sissi says Egypt submarine headed to plane crash site

    CAIRO / AP Egypt’s president says a submarine belonging to his country’s Oil Ministry has left for the site of the crash of EgyptAir Flight-804 in the eastern Mediterranean. President Abdel-Fattah El Sissi says the submarine has the capacity to operate at a depth of 3,000 meters (9842 feet) below the surface. He says the submarine left Sunday to ...

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• 22 May

  Cypriots vote for a new parliament

    NICOSIA / AP Cypriots are voting for a new parliament amid public disillusionment with what many see as a discredited political establishment. Some 543,000 voters are eligible to cast ballots on Sunday for 56 lawmakers, but opinion polls have shown a large undecided vote. The vote won’t result in a change of government under Cyprus’ presidential system. Opinion polls ...

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• 22 May

  Erdogan loyalist to be appointed as Turkish PM

  

    Ankara / AFP Turkey’s Transport Minister Binali Yildirim will be formally appointed as head of the ruling party and as the new prime minister on Sunday, strengthening the grip on power of his mentor President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Yildirim—a longstanding and faithful ally of Erdogan—is the only candidate at an extraordinary congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party ...

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• 22 May

  Yemen govt to end peace talks boycott, says UN

    Kuwait City / AFP The Yemeni government delegation is to rejoin UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait with Shiite rebels who control the capital, ending a four-day boycott, the UN special envoy said on Sunday. The hard-won negotiations on ending a conflict that has killed more than 6,400 people and driven 2.8 million from their homes since March last year ...

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• 22 May

  IS extremists’ lasting grip is new hurdle for Europe, USA

    PARIS / AP The girl, speaking in the lilting accent of southern France, appeared in government ads describing how she was recruited by IS extremists during her quest for religion, then encouraged to quit school and go to Syria, and finally to plot a suicide attack against a synagogue at home. “I have a hard time even admitting now ...

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• 22 May

  Far-right on edge of power as Austria votes for president

  

  Vienna/ AFP Austrians voted on Sunday in a key presidential runoff which could usher in the European Union’s first extreme right-wing leader amid the continent’s worst post-war migrant crisis. A huge influx of asylum-seekers, growing unemployment and frozen reforms have left Austria deeply polarised and driven angry voters away from the centrist ruling coalition toward fringe groups. For the first ...

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• 22 May

  7 dead after volcano erupts in western Indonesia

    GAMBER / AP The death toll in the eruption of a volcano in western Indonesia rose to seven on Sunday, with two other people in critical condition, as an official warned of more eruptions. Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province blasted volcanic ash as high as 3 kilometers into the sky on Saturday, said National Disaster Management Agency spokesman ...

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• 22 May

  S Korean missionary beaten to death in Philippine home

    Manila/ AFP A South Korean missionary was beaten to death in his home in a shocking attack southeast of the Philippine capital, police said on Sunday. Sim Jae-jok had returned from an early morning jog when he discovered an intruder in his kitchen in the town of Taytay on Friday, said Superintendent Samuel Delorino. The intruder knocked the 57-year-old ...

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• 22 May

  24 killed as cyclone hits Bangladesh

  

    Chittagong / AFP Thousands of Bangladeshis were left homeless on Sunday after Cyclone Roanu battered the impoverished southern coastal region, ripping apart flimsy houses and killing at least 24 people. The storm on Saturday ploughed through low-lying villages in the Chittagong and Barisal regions, where residents described seeing metres-high walls of water. Many Bangladeshis were returning safely home on ...

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• 22 May

  Merkel voices ‘great concern’ over Turkey ahead of visit

    Berlin / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel said some political developments in Turkey were a source of “great concern” and pledged to address them during a visit to the country on Monday. Merkel said she was ready to discuss “all the important questions” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when they meet in Istanbul on the sidelines of a ...

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