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page 22 SYRIA Bombs kill nearly 150 in Assad-held cities Bomb blasts killed nearly 150 people and wounded at least 200 in Jableh and Tartous on Syria’s Mediterranean coast on Monday in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in the cities […]

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SYRIA

Bombs kill nearly 150 in Assad-held cities

Bomb blasts killed nearly 150 people and wounded at least 200 in Jableh and Tartous on Syria’s Mediterranean coast on Monday in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in the cities that have up to now escaped the worst of the violence in the five-year-old conflict, saying it was targeting members of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 148 people were killed in attacks by at least five suicide bombers and two devices planted in cars. State media had said 78 people had been killed in what is Assad’s coastal heartland.

The attacks were the first of their kind in Tartous, capital of Tartous province and home to a Russian naval facility, and in Jableh in Latakia province, near a Russian-operated air base.

TURKEY

World Humanitarians gather in Turkey to take on crises

Leaders from around the world gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday for a long-awaited humanitarian summit with hopes of instituting concrete protocols for dealing with future refugee crises.

The United Nations-backed summit, which began Monday and will run through Wednesday, is billed to serve as a wake-up call for action in dealing with recurrent disasters and reducing the vulnerability of developing nations.

“We have tremendous suffering in the world today. There is huge need for us to show solidarity with those who are affected by natural disasters and man-made disasters,” U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told reporters during a Sunday press conference.

More than 125 heads of state and government came together with representatives of the U.N. in host-country Turkey, which has been particularly hard hit by the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe.

S/AFRICA

Prosecutor to appeal order to reinstate Zuma corruption charges

South Africa’s state prosecutor said on Monday he would appeal against a High Court ruling which could lead to 783 corruption charges being reinstated against President Jacob Zuma.

The decision will bring some relief to Zuma as he faces mounting calls to quit from the opposition and even from members of the ruling African National Congress after a damning constitutional court judgment against him in March.

The main opposition party stepped up its criticism on Monday, saying the state prosecutor’s decision was an attempt to shield the president and buy him time before elections in August.

A decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in April 2009 set aside hundreds of charges allowed Zuma to run for president the same month.

AUSTRIA

Independent candidate wins presidential polls

Alexander Van der Bellen has won Austria’s presidential election, preventing Norbert Hofer from becoming the EU’s first far-right head of state.

Mr Hofer led narrowly after Sunday’s election but postal votes gave Mr Van der Bellen victory by 50.3% to 49.7%.

Mr Van der Bellen campaigned on a pro-EU platform backed by the Greens.

Mr Hofer, of the Freedom Party, tapped into anti-EU sentiment and fears about rising numbers of asylum seekers. He conceded victory on his Facebook page.

Announcing the result, the interior ministry said Mr Van der Bellen had won 2,254,484 votes to Mr Hofer’s 2,223,458, a margin of 31,026 ballots.

Mr Hofer had led Mr Van der Bellen by 51.9% to 48.1% after counting on Sunday. But the 750,000 postal votes – roughly 12% of Austria’s 6.4 million registered voters – swayed the result.

VATICAN CITY

Pope in historic talks with Al-Azhar Grand Imam

Pope Francis has met the grand imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque at the Vatican in a historic encounter that was sealed with a hugely symbolic hug and exchange of kisses.

The first Vatican meeting on Monday between the leader of the world’s Catholics and the highest authority in Sunni Islam marks the culmination of a significant improvement in relations between the two faiths since Francis took office in 2013.

“Our meeting is the message,” Francis said in a brief comment at the start of his meeting with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, Vatican officials told a small pool of reporters covering the event.

In a statement on the trip, Al-Azhar, an institution that also comprises a prestigious seat of learning, said Tayeb had accepted Francis’ invitation in order to “explore efforts to spread peace and co-existence”.

VIETNAM

Obama lifts arms embargo on Vietnam

President Barack Obama has announced the US is fully lifting its embargo on sales of lethal weapons to Vietnam, its one-time enemy.

Speaking during a visit to communist Vietnam and talks with its leaders, Mr Obama said the move removed a “lingering vestige of the Cold War”.

The US is trying to bolster its relationship with its Pacific allies, as China asserts territorial claims.

But Mr Obama said the embargo decision was not related to US policy on China.

“It’s based on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalisation with Vietnam,” he said in Hanoi.

Vietnam is one of several countries in the region involved in maritime disputes with China. The US insists on the right to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

YEMEN

Bomb attacks kill 45 army recruits

Double bomb attacks on would-be army recruits in Yemen have killed at least 45 people, officials said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the two attacks, which were carried out on Monday.

A car bomb hit a crowd of young men queueing to join the Yemeni army in the city of Aden, causing at least 20 casualties, a security official has said.

The explosion went off near the Badr base in the Khormaksar district of the city, where the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is based.

The bomber detonated an explosives belt after joining the queue at the recruitment centre. A second explosion went off inside the base afterwards, killing at least 25.

KENYA

Protests against Electoral Commission turn deadly

Protests against Kenya’s electoral commission took place in four cities Monday, with local media reporting at least three demonstrators were killed in western Kenya.

In Nairobi, riot police formed a line around the commission headquarters, waiting much of the afternoon to deter the latest in what have become weekly protests.

The protesters never reached the compound because police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse about 100 demonstrators before they could get close.

Smaller groups of protesters were also tear gassed earlier in the day, including a group from Kibera, a large Nairobi slum. Authorities say the demonstrations were illegal.

S/KOREA

S. Korea rejects North’s military talks offer

South Korea on Monday rejected the latest proposal by the North to hold military talks, saying Pyongyang first needed to take steps towards abandoning its nuclear arsenal.

The North’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, offered the military dialogue during a speech to a recent congress of the ruling Workers’ Party — the first event of its kind for more than 35 years.

But Seoul’s defense ministry, in a response sent across the border Monday morning, effectively rejected the proposal that it said made no mention of Pyongyang’s widely-condemned nuclear weapons programme, according to a ministry spokesman.

LIBYA

Migrant crisis: Libya intercepts boats carrying 850 people

Libyan coastguards say they intercepted boats carrying 850 migrants trying to reach Europe on Sunday.

A spokesman said the migrants from various African countries – including 79 women, 11 of them pregnant – were found in seven inflatable boats near Sabratha, west of the capital Tripoli.

More than 30,000 migrants have already crossed from Libya to Italy this year.

Heads of state, aid agencies and others will discuss the financial response to crises and how better to distribute aid to those who most need it.

The UN says there is a $15bn annual gap in humanitarian funding and money raised is often held up at source.