May, 2016

• 25 May

  Afghan Taliban appoint new leader

  

    Kabul / AFP The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday announced Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after officially confirming the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike. The surprise announcement coincided with a Taliban suicide bombing that targeted court employees near Kabul, killing 11 people in an assault ...

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• 25 May

  Sri Lanka appeals for up to US$2bn in foreign flood aid

    Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka appealed on Wednesday for foreign aid to recover from massive floods that caused an estimated $2 billion worth of damage and claimed more than 100 lives. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said 35,000 homes were damaged in last week’s floods triggered by the heaviest rain for early 25 years, with the capital Colombo the hardest ...

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• 25 May

  Twin assaults in Syria, Iraq pile pressure on IS

  

    Beirut / AFP Kurdish-Arab forces launched a major assault against the IS in Syria’s Raqa province and Iraqi forces advanced on it in Fallujah, piling pressure on the extremists in two strongholds. The twin offensives marked some of the most serious ground efforts against IS since the group declared its self-styled “caliphate” straddling the Syrian-Iraqi border in 2014. Territory ...

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• 25 May

  German Cabinet finalizing details on migrant integration

    BERLIN / AP Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a raft of new measures combining “opportunities and obligations” designed to help Germany deal with the influx of some 1.1 million asylum-seekers registered as entering the country last year and help those who stay become “good neighbors and citizens.” The package seeks to provide migrants with better access to ...

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• 25 May

  Violent protests overshadow Trump’s Washington victory

  

    Los Angeles / AFP Protesters opposed to Donald Trump hurled rocks and bottles outside a rally he spoke at in New Mexico, the same day the bombastic billionaire won the Republican presidential primary in Washington state. The victory brings Trump, the last Republican standing in the 2016 US presidential race, one major step closer toward clinching his party’s nomination. ...

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• 25 May

  Ukrainian pilot freed in Russia returning home

  

    KIEV / AP Russia on Wednesday released Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko as part of a swap for two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine, an official in the Ukrainian presidential administration said. Savchenko was being flown to Kiev aboard Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s plane, according to the official. Kremlin-funded television station RT, citing unidentified sources, reported that the two Russians ...

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• 25 May

  Stockholm court maintains ‘Assange arrest warrant’

    Stockholm / AFP A Stockholm district court on Wednesday maintained a European arrest warrant against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a 2010 rape allegation, rejecting his lawyers’ request to have it lifted. “The court considers that Julian Assange is still suspected of rape… and that there is still a risk that he will abscond or evade justice,” it said ...

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• 25 May

  World leaders gather in Japan ahead of G7

  

    Ise-Shima / AFP US President Barack Obama arrived in Japan on Wednesday for a Group of Seven summit, kicking off a historic visit that will also take him to the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima. Obama was joining other leaders from the club of rich democracies for a gathering set to be dominated by the lacklustre state of the global ...

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• 25 May

  A-bomb survivors to attend Obama’s Hiroshima memorial

  Tokyo / AFP Survivors of the American nuclear bombing of Hiroshima will be present when US President Barack Obama lays a wreath at ground zero this week, reports said on Wednesday. Former United States prisoners of war captured by the Japanese will also attend the event, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, with US officials hoping their presence will remove any impression ...

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• 25 May

  Ban’s S Korea trip fuels ‘presidential speculation’

  

    Seoul / AFP Ban Ki-moon arrived in South Korea on Wednesday for a six-day visit that has fuelled speculation the UN chief is lining up a tilt at the presidency of his home country. Ban’s schedule involves a number of international gatherings, including a peace forum in the southern island of Jeju where he arrived late afternoon on a ...

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