Global buzz
Exchange of prisoners between Kiev, eastern Ukraine temporarily halted
The exchange of prisoners between the Donetsk People’s Republic and Kiev has been temporarily stopped, until staff for the work groups on the Minsk accords are appointed, according to Denis Pushilin, the DNR representative. He added there should be four such groups: economy and restoration, refugees and humanitarian aid, constitutional reform and elections, and finally security. The humanitarian aid group should“solve accumulated disputes on the number and order of exchange of prisoners,” Pushilin said.
21 killed in China as bus plunges 100 meters into river
A bus has fallen 100 meters into a river bed in China killing 21 people on board. The incident took place in the Guizhou Province in the southwest of the country. Another three people were injured, when the bus, carrying 24 passengers veered off a mountain road. Investigators say the bus was illegally using a road intended for smaller vehicles in the city of Bijie – the largest settlement in the Guizhou Province, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Hundreds return home in Philippines as typhoon weakens
Hundreds of people in the northern Philippines have left evacuation centers and returned home after typhoon Maysak weakened, with winds up to 55 kilometers per hour described as a tropical depression. No reports of casualties have been received, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council told Reuters. However, authorities still announced heavy rains and rough seas.
Normady-4 to look into peacekeepers’ deployment to E.Ukraine – Poroshenko
The so-called Normandy-4 group – France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia – will discuss the possibility of deploying a peacekeeping mission to eastern Ukraine, the country’s President Petro Poroshenko said in a televised interview to local Channel 5 on Saturday. “I am speaking about it for the first time: The agreement has been reached to hold a meeting of foreign ministers in the ‘Normandy format’ to discuss a peacekeeping mission,” he said. He did not clarify when the leaders would meet. He added that the peacekeepers will not be replacing the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Normandy-4 last met in Minsk in mid-February to hammer out a ceasefire deal.
US-led taskforce launches 15 airstrikes on ISIS in 24 hours
The US and its allies have launched 15 airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants in Iraq during the past 24 hours, the US military said in a statement released on Saturday. Nine air-attacks targeted IS positions around the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Bajii. In Syria, five strikes were launched near Kobani, and one near Hasakah, according to the military statement. The US first authorized an airstrike campaign against the extremist Sunni group last August.
France ends search for bodies at Germanwings crash site
French investigators ended their search for bodies at the Germanwings crash site in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, a local official told Reuters on Saturday.“The search for bodies is over, but the recovery of victims’ personal belongings is continuing,” said a spokesman for the local government authority. The cleanup of debris at the site will begin next week and could take up to two months, said General David Galtier, a regional police commander in charge of the operation. Identifying the victims will continue and is expected to take several weeks. The Airbus A320 crashed in the mountainous Digne region in France last month killing all 150 people on board.
Romanian security officer kidnapped in Burkina Faso
Gunman have kidnapped a Romanian security officer from a manganese mining project in the north of Burkina Faso, according to Pan African Minerals and a security source, Reuters reports. Five gunmen seized the Romanian after attacking a security patrol he had been leading, injuring his driver and a gendarme who had been protecting them. The kidnappers then headed to the border with Mali to the north.
Around 240,000 affected by Chinese floods
The central Chinese province of Hunan has suffered severe flooding due to heavy rainfalls, with 239,500 people affected. According to Chinese state television, local authorities have evacuated around 12,000 people. Due to rivers bursting their banks, some 20,000 hectares of farmland has been flooded, while roads and electricity have also been affected, according to TASS. Weather forecasters say more rain will fall over the next few days.
Hezbollah says Iran nuclear deal a ‘victory’
The Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah, has praised the Iran nuclear framework agreement as a victory “for the will of free people” and “for the rejection of dependency on the West.” The plan was announced on Thursday, and sees the Iranian nuclear program scaling down for 10 years in exchange for loosening up on sanctions. A full agreement is set to be signed in June.
Moscow calls for weapons withdrawal in E. Ukraine
Russia is recommending withdrawal of weapons (less than 100-millimeter caliber), from the front line in eastern Ukraine in a bid to boost the Minsk-2 peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a media conference during his visit to Slovakia on Saturday. “It is necessary to monitor the military part of the Minsk agreements…There is a possibility to pull back troops whose weapons are under 100 millimeter caliber. We actively support this,” Lavrov said. “We will try to help the sides to reach an agreement, which would increase mutual confidence.” The Minsk-2 deal brokered on February 12 called for the implementation of a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.
ISIS controls 90% of Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus
The Islamic State and Al-Qaeda’s official Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, continued their battle against Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, a joint Syrian and Palestinian anti-Assad militia in the Yarmouk camp and seized new territories, moving closer to central Damascus, reports the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is monitoring the conflict from Britain. Yarmouk refugee camp is just a few kilometers from President Bashar Assad’s official residence.
Survival gear from Dalniy Vostok trawler found, no survivors or bodies
A rescue mission looking for survivors from the Dalniy Vostok fishing trawler, which sank in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Kamchatka Peninsula, found a life jacket, bags with rations, water-immersion jacket and rescue flares on Saturday. No survivors or dead bodies have been found. Out of 132 people on board, 56 are confirmed dead, mostly of hypothermia, while 63 were rescued from the freezing waters, 10 of whom are in a critical condition.
Germanwings plane forced to make unscheduled landing in Stuttgart
A Germanwings plane, bound for Venice after taking off from Cologne, was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Stuttgart. The Managing Director of Stuttgart Airport, Georg Fundel, said no one was hurt, and he stressed it wasn’t an emergency landing. The airline said a loss of oil was the reason for the captain’s decision to make an unplanned stop in the southern German city. “Due to safety reasons, the pilot decided to land in Stuttgart,” a spokeswoman told Der Spiegel. “The engine was turned off as a precaution, when they noticed the oil leak,” the spokeswoman added. It is not known how many people were on board the A319 Airbus.
5 arrested following Kenya university massacre
Police in Kenya have arrested five men following a massacre at a university, which killed 148 people. The country’s interior ministry added that at least two of those being held were seized on the campus. “Five people have been arrested, they are in custody and under interrogation,” interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told AFP. “We suspect they could be accomplices of the attackers.” He also added that four gunman were killed during the attack, which took place on Thursday.
24,000 evacuated in Philippines over typhoon
The Philippines is carrying out a massive evacuation of 24,000 people in the northeast of the country due to approaching typhoon ‘Maysak’. It is expected to reach the country on Sunday, with wind speeds forecast to be up to 160 kilometers per hour.
2 explosions in Cairo, no casualties
Two homemade explosives have gone off in the Egyptian capital Cairo, with police saying they were put into a trash can near a secondary school in the Imbaba neighborhood, TASS reported. The blast happened as a prisoners’ transportation vehicle passed by. No casualties were reported.
Obama expresses condolences, will still visit Kenya despite terror attack that killed 147
US President Barack Obama has called Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to express condolences and condemn “the terrorist atrocities that took place at Garissa University College, where innocent men and women were brazenly and brutally massacred,” the White House said. “We will stand hand-in-hand with the Kenyan Government and people against the scourge of terrorism and in their efforts to bring communities together,”Obama stated, confirming he is still planning to visit the country this summer. Early on Thursday, Islamist terrorists attacked a Kenyan university, killing at least 147 people, singling out Christian students to murder. The siege lasted nearly 15 hours before the attackers were neutralized.
Six arrested in England on Syria-related terrorism charges
Five men and one woman, all in their twenties, have been arrested in the southeastern port of Dover on suspicion of having links to Syria related terrorism activities, according to police officials. The six suspects were arrested Friday morning near the port departure area. They are currently in custody and a searches related to the investigation are still underway and span various addresses in Birmingham. The West Midlands Police tweeted about the arrests and noted that the group “did not pose any immediate risk to public safety.”
Moderate earthquake hits Costa Rica
A 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattled the Central American nation of Costa Rica on Friday, according to AP. It was felt in the capital city of San Jose, with the epicenter located south of the city. Residents reportedly took it in stride. Costa Rica’s Red Cross and the national emergency commission did not report any injuries.
Germanwings flight makes emergency landing in Venice after 2 fall ill
A Germanwings flight headed for Rome from Hannover on Friday was forced to make an emergency landing at the Marco Polo Airport in Venice after a passenger and crew member suddenly fell ill, Italian paper Corriere Della Sera reports. The two people were reportedly suffering from “severe nausea” and were in need of immediate treatment.
About 120 people evacuated due to smoke in Japanese train
A high-speed train has been forced to stop in an underwater tunnel in Japan after filling with smoke, prompting the evacuation of about 120 people, RIA-Novosti reported on Friday. The incident occurred at about 5:15pm local time in a tunnel that connects the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. According to the Hokkaido Railway company, one of the conductors on the train noticed smoke and sparks from beneath it about a kilometer away from the nearest station.
Syria govt says Iran nuclear agreement will ‘ease regional tensions’
Syria on Friday welcomed the outcome of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters said. Damascus “welcomes the statement issued on the discussions,” state television quoted a foreign ministry source as saying. A framework deal Tehran struck with world powers on Thursday was the result of efforts by Iran to ease geopolitical tensions, according to the source. Syria expects the agreement to “be followed by positive steps”to ease tensions in the region and the world.
Iran deal may see reopening of UK embassy in Tehran – Defense Secretary
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has said the outline deal on Iran’s nuclear program could enable the reopening of the UK embassy in Tehran. It has been closed since it was stormed by a mob in 2011. The agreement has potentially headed off a Middle East arms race and may lead to improved relations with Iran, the Press Association quoted Fallon as saying. “We would like to have normal relations with Iran again, we would like to reopen our embassy. We have no quarrel with the Iranian people,” he told BBC Radio 4.
Nearly 200 Pakistan citizens evacuated from Yemen
Pakistan evacuated nearly 200 of its citizens from war-torn Yemen on Friday, AFP said. The chartered Pakistan International Airlines plane with 176 evacuees arrived at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport. More than 500 Pakistanis were evacuated on Sunday and the latest batch arrived from Djibouti, where they had been taken by sea from Yemen by the Chinese Navy.
Iraqi PM orders arrest of lawless gangs in Tikrit after looting
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has ordered security forces to arrest anyone breaking the law in the city of Tikrit. Looting has been witnessed in the city since the Sunni area was taken back from Islamic State militants this week. The prime minister called on the forces in Tikrit “to arrest any person who performs such acts and to preserve the belongings and facilities in Salahuddin province.” The capital of Salahuddin province was seized by Islamic State extremists last June.
7 killed by roadside bomb in E. Afghanistan
At least seven people were killed on Friday when a vehicle ran over a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan’s Logar province, IANS reported. Provincial government spokesman Din Mohammad Darwish told Xinhua that a station wagon set off an improvised explosive device (IED) on a main road in Baraki Barak district at around midday. The victims were members of one family, Darwish said.
North Korea test-fires 4 short-range missiles into sea
North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles into the sea off its west coast on Friday. The operation was supervised by leader Kim Jong-un, AFP reported, citing a South Korean military spokesman. The missiles were launched from a base on the west coast and flew more than 100 kilometers, according to the spokesman for the South’s joint chiefs of staff. The missile test launch lasted 45 minutes from 0715 GMT, and the exact model of the projectiles wasn’t known.
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ISIS-allied Egypt militant group claims responsibility for Sinai attack on soldiers
An Egyptian militant group allied with the so-called Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility on Friday for attacks on military checkpoints in the Sinai, Reuters said. Sinai Province said its fighters used rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons in the attacks on Thursday, which killed 15 soldiers and two civilians. The group, previously called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, said the operations killed or wounded tens of people.
2nd black box confirms Germanwings co-pilot acted deliberately – investigators
The second black box from the crashed Germanwings plane confirms the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz acted deliberately, French investigators said Friday. He repeatedly accelerated the airline as he crashed it into a mountain in the French Alps killing 150 people, according to the French BEA crash investigators. “The pilot in the cockpit used the automatic pilot to descend the plane towards an altitude of 100 feet (30 meters). Then, several times during the descent, the pilot changed the automatic pilot settings to increase the aircraft’s speed,”BEA said, as cited by the Telegraph.
Thailand to shut down critical media – junta chief
Thailand’s junta chief on Friday threatened to shut down critical media outlets, AFP reported. “I will shut them down only when they don’t say good things. I have not yet shut down any publications, but please write in a good way,” Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said. He faces a growing international backlash against the decision to replace martial law with new powers retaining his absolute authority.
media agencies
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