US to provide Tunisia with $500 mn in loan guarantees
The US has approved $500 million in loan guarantees to Tunisia as part
of an aid package aimed at revitalizing the country’s economy. The loan
guarantees are meant to make it easier for Tunisia to borrow money to
achieve financial stability. US President Barack Obama announced the
guarantees on Friday as he met with Tunisian interim Prime Minister
Mehdi Jomaa. The North African nation needs to fill up to a $3 billion
hole in this year’s budget, AP reported. The country was the birthplace
of the Arab Spring revolutions which began in late 2010.
Fort Hood shooting victims identified
Officials confirmed the identities of the three men shot and killed by
Spc. Ivan Lopez on Wednesday. The three victims were: Sgt. 1st Class
Daniel M. Ferguson, Staff Sgt. Carlos A. Lazaney Rodriguez and Sgt.
Timothy W. Owens. Lt. General Mark Milley, Commanding General at Fort
Hood in Killeen, Texas confirmed the three slain men were veterans,
having served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Five other soldiers remained
hospitalized.
Afghan security forces uncover major terror plot for election day
Afghan security services have uncovered a plot to stage a series of
terror attacks on the day of the presidential elections, Khaama Press
news agency reported. According to the agency, the National Directorate
of Security has arrested a militant in Kabul, who was tasked with
coordinating the attacks on April 5. Two grenade launchers, 28 machine
guns, police uniforms, and body armor were confiscated from the home of
the detainee. The atmosphere is tense in Afghanistan ahead of the
election, with the Taliban – which wants to sabotage the vote – staging
attacks across the country on a daily basis.
NATO opens Kosovo airspace to commercial overflights after 15 years
NATO has given the green light for commercial planes to fly high over
Kosovo for the first time since 1999, allowing airlines to save time and
money by taking more direct routes across the region, Reuters reported.
The so-called “upper airspace” was reopened to commercial overflights
on Thursday after Hungary agreed to provide air traffic control for
private flights. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called
the move “
a significant step that benefits the entire Western Balkans."
European air traffic organization Eurocontrol estimates that around
180,000 flights a year will fly 370,000 fewer nautical miles, cutting
operating costs by 18 million euros.
US, EU plan special court for Kosovo organ harvesting charges
Western officials are considering a plan for an EU-backed special
tribunal to try Kosovo Albanian former guerrillas accused of harvesting
organs from murdered Serbs during the Balkan country’s 1998-99 war,
Reuters reported. Saturday’s edition of the Kosovo daily, Koha Ditore,
will carry an interview with Jonathan Moore, director of the US State
Department’s Office of South-Central European Affairs, who said
preparations were under way with EU participation for a court based in
Kosovo. The majority of the work will be done outside Kosovo, meaning
witnesses will give testimony abroad to protect them. The move to stage a
court stems from a 2011 report by Council of Europe rapporteur, Dick
Marty.
Poland customs officers seize $10mn heroin haul smuggled from Ukraine
Customs officers seized 150kg of heroin hidden in a truck crossing into
Poland from Ukraine on Friday, Polish authorities said. The drugs were
wrapped in 300 plastic bags hidden beneath the trailer floor of the
truck, which tried to cross into Poland near the town of Medyka at about
0200 GMT, Reuters reported. This is one of the biggest heroin busts in
Europe for years.
Italy to shut 4 embassies to save state funds
Italy will close four embassies and abolish a post of its
representative in UNESCO as part of a program to curtail state
expenditure, RIA Novosti reported. Its embassies in Honduras, Iceland,
the Dominican Republic and Mauritania will be closed.
Turkish election board rejects opposition call for Ankara recount
The local election board in the Turkish capital, Ankara, has rejected a
call from the main opposition CHP party to recount the results of
Sunday's local election in the city, Reuters reported. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP Party largely dominated Turkey's electoral
map in the local polls, keeping control of the main cities including
Istanbul and Ankara. CHP has challenged the result in the capital and
will appeal the election board's decision.
Bomb hits Afghan polling center
A bomb exploded in a polling center in the Tanai district of
Afghanistan's eastern Khost province on Friday, CNN reported. Two people
were killed, including the district's deputy police chief, and three
were injured, officials said. The attack came hours after two
journalists working for The Associated Press were shot in Afghanistan,
one of them fatally. The blast happened about 15 kilometers from the
scene of the attack on the
journalists.
Lufthansa won’t make new offer to pilots
German airline Lufthansa isn’t planning to make a new offer to pilots
on salaries, a board member of Lufthansa Passage, Kay Kratky, has said.
The pilots will be called to return to the negotiating table “without
preconditions.” Their trade union “Cockpit” called a three-day strike
this week seeking higher wages and protesting cuts to an early
retirement agreement. The strike was scheduled to end at midnight on
Friday. However, the airline said it did not expect to reach an
agreement with the pilots by the end of the day.
UN accuses Chadian soldiers of killing 30 in Central African Rep
Chadian soldiers killed 30 civilians and seriously wounded more than
300 in an indiscriminate attack on a market on March 29 in Bangui,
capital of the Central African Republic, Reuters quoted a spokesman for
the UN human rights office as saying on Friday. Local officials and aid
workers had previously put the death toll to at least 10, with 30
wounded. Chadian soldiers have been at the heart of African efforts to
stabilize CAR, but have been accused of siding with the mainly Muslim
Seleka rebels. Their seizure of power last year sparked tit-for-tat
violence with Christian militia.
Magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits off Kirakira, Solomon Islands
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit off Kirakira, Solomon Islands, in the
south-west of the Pacific Ocean, on Friday the US Geological Survey
reported. The epicenter of the quake was 28km off the town of Kirakira,
at a depth of 63km. No tsunami threats, casualties or damage were
immediately reported.
3 men sentenced to death for Mumbai gang rapes
Three men were sentenced to death on Friday for two gang rapes last
year in Mumbai, Reuters reported. They included an attack on a
photojournalist that sparked protests in the city. A Mumbai court
sentenced Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Mohammed Salim Ansari to
death, the first time capital punishment has been given for rape not
involving the death of the victim.
Western sanctions to consolidate people of Russia – Belarusian president
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has described Western sanctions against Russia as “nonsense” and “twaddle.” The West
“is fit for nothing now,” RIA
Novosti quoted him as saying on Friday. The president added that
Belarus itself has been under Western sanctions for two decades. They
could bring benefits for Russia, as sanctions mobilize the nation, and
the people to solve domestic problems, he said.
Erdogan blasts Constitutional Court for lifting Turkish Twitter ban
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the country's
highest court on Friday for overturning a ban on Twitter. He said “the
Constitutional Court should have rejected” the application to lift the
Twitter block brought by an opposition lawmaker and two academics, AFP
reported.
“All our national, moral values have been put aside,” he said, and, referring to recordings posted on the network, added that
“insults to a country's prime minister and ministers are all around.” The premier went on:
“it is not only Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are also commercial
companies. It is everyone’s free will whether or not to buy their
product. This has nothing to do with freedoms.”
Schumacher has ‘moments of consciousness’
Michael Schumacher’s manager says the Formula One star now
“shows moments of consciousness and awakening,” AP reported. Manager Sabine Kehm said that he
“is making progress on his way,” more than three months after suffering serious head injuries in a skiing accident.
“We keep remaining confident,” the manager added. No further details were disclosed.
N.Korea launches personal attack on S.Korea president
North Korea published comments on Friday attacking South Korean
President Park Geun-hye, describing her as a “repulsive wench” who had
failed to marry, Reuters said. The KCNA news agency went far beyond
previous criticism and carried “comments” by a private citizen, Kim
Un-kyong, criticizing Park’s offer last week to help the impoverished
North’s women and children.
3 Ukrainians detained in Russia
Three Ukrainian men out of 25 people who were
detained by
the Russian security service have confessed that they had been sent to
Russia to gather intelligence information, the Lifenews website said,
citing its sources. They were reportedly working for a ‘West-East’ firm
specializing in photographing children, which was used as a front
company to gather intelligence, the website said, citing sources in the
Federal Security Service (FSB). Vitaly Krivosheev and Artyom Golovko
were detained in the Rostov Region, and Kirill Pilipenko in another
Russian region, according to the website.
Intl space station maneuvers to avoid Ariane 5 debris
The International Space Station (ISS) orbit was changed to avoid a
possible collision with a fragment from an old European Ariane 5 rocket,
according to US space agency NASA. The engines of Progress М-21М cargo
spacecraft were turned on at 20:42 GMT, to raise the station up 800
meters, Interfax reported. The six-man crew was never in any danger as
it had been informed of the automatic maneuver. A similar maneuver was
conducted on March 16, to avoid debris of a piece of old Russian METEOR
2-5 satellite.
Floods in Solomons leave 6 dead, 10,500 homeless
Flash flooding killed at least six people and left 10,500 homeless in
the Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara on Friday, AFP reported. Another 30
were missing, officials said. A state of emergency was declared after
the city’s main river, the Matanikau, burst its banks late Thursday,
sweeping away entire communities.
“This is the worst disaster the nation has seen,” according to the Solomons Star newspaper. The flooding followed days of heavy rain which was still falling.
S. Korea summons Japan envoy over islets claim
The South Korean Foreign Ministry summoned the Japanese ambassador
Friday over an alleged claim by Tokyo to a disputed set of tiny islets
and a plan to promote its stance in school text books, AFP said. Seoul
formally conveyed its protest to Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho over a
section in Japan’s newly released foreign policy report ‘Diplomatic
Bluebook 2014’. The report identified the disputed islets - known as
Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese - as Japanese territory.
“Our government expresses strong regret at Japan’s outrageous claim on our indigenous territory, Dokdo,” the South Korean ministry said.
Egypt’s cabinet passes harsher terrorism laws
The Egyptian government has approved the broadening of terrorism laws,
following increased violence in the country. For the new laws to come
into force, they still need to be signed by interim President Adly
Mansour. The exact changes made to the laws have not been released so
far. Egypt’s security forces have been the target of frequent attacks
since a military-backed coup toppled former President Mohamed Morsi last
July. On Wednesday, a series of explosions killed three people outside
Cairo University, including a police brigadier-general.
Israel Air Force hits five Gaza targets following rocket fire
Israel Air Force jets struck five suspected terrorist locations in
northern and central areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to
the Israel Defense Forces. Israel Radio cited Palestinian sources who
reported that two of the sites belonged to Hamas’ military forces. The
strikes came after four rockets were fired from Palestinian territory
into southern Israel. The rockets led to a Code Red alert in the Sderot
area, according to The Jerusalem Post. The Palestinian rockets landed in
open territory near the border with Gaza, according to Israeli media.
No injuries or damage were reported on the Israeli side of the border.
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