Drone kills head of IS in Afghanistan
A U.S. drone strike in eastern Afghanistan this week killed Abu Sayed, the leader of the Islamic State’s offshoot there, U.S. officials said Friday.
APentagon statement saidother Islamic State memberswere also killed inthe operation on Tuesdayin Kunar province and said that it “will significantly disrupt the terror group’splans to expand its presencein Afghanistan.”
AU.S. official, who spoke onthe condition of anonymity,said the strike targeted a meetingand that U.S. forces hadnot been tracking Sayedfor long.
U.S. and Afghan forces have been pummeling Islamic State positions in eastern Afghanistan for months in an effort to dislodge the militants from Nangahar and Kunar provinces.
Acid attacks in London
LONDON— Five linked acid attacks in quick succession by men on mopeds in London left several people injured, British police said Friday. They are the latest in a spate of assaults with corrosive liquids that have alarmed residents.
The Metropolitan Police force said two teenagers have been arrested in connection with the rampage, which began late Thursday. Two men on a moped tossed a noxious substance into the face of a 32-year-old moped driver, then jumped on his vehicle and drove away.
Atleast one victim, a manin his 20s, was left with life-changing injuries.
London police say the number of reported attacks with corrosive liquids rose from 261 in 2015 to 454 in 2016.
Hong Kong court ruling
HONGKONG — Nearly three years after pro-democracy protests filled the streetsof Hong Kong, a local court delivered the struggling movement a blowFriday, removing four legislators from office andassuring China greater influence over the city’s government.
Thepro-democracy lawmakerswere dismissed from the Hong Kong Legislative Council because they hadused unacceptable wordsor even dubious tones in oaths of office that requirethey declare loyaltyto China. The ruling meansthat democracy advocates in the city’s legislaturewill no longer have enoughvotes to block legislation from their pro-Beijing counterparts.
Senator found ineligible
CANBERRA, Australia — The deputy leader of an Australian political party announced Friday that he was ending his nine-year career in Parliament because he had discovered he had technically never been a senator.
ScottLudlam, of the minorGreens party, learned hewas a citizen of New Zealandas well as Australia,which made him ineligible for the Senate job he hasheld since 2008. The constitutionsays a “citizen ofa foreign power” is not eligible to be elected to the Australian Parliament.
Charges for ex-leader
MANILA, Philippines — The anti-graft prosecutor in the Philippines on Friday ordered the filing of criminal charges against former President Benigno Aquino III for his alleged liability in a 2015 clash with Muslim rebels that killed 44 police.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said Mr. Aquino should be charged for allowing the suspended national police chief to play an active role in the operation, which resulted in the biggest single-day combat loss for Filipino forces in years.