NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Arms embargo: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi reiterated a call on the international community to lift an arms embargo on Libya on Saturday, which would allow weapons to be delivered legally to a powerful general he backs in the fractured country’s east. After meeting Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter in Cairo, el-Sissi said Hifter’s Libyan National Army required the weapons to fight terrorism. Libya descended into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed leader Moammar Khadafy. The oil-rich nation is now split between rival governments and militias. Hifter is allied with the internationally-recognized parliament in eastern Libya and at odds with the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.
_2 Deadly crash: Turkish authorities say at least 23 people died and 11 others were in critical condition Saturday after a tour bus tipped over, fell 50 feet down a cliff and then hit a car on a mountain road. Deputy governor of Mugla province, Kamil Koten, told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency the driver was among the dead and most of those killed were women. Governor Amir Cicek said the bus flipped over at a road bend as it was traveling from the coastal province of Izmir to Marmaris, a popular tourist destination. Cicek said the passengers were all Turkish and the cause of the accident is under investigation.
_3 Iraq fighting: An Iraqi air force helicopter was shot down west of Mosul on Saturday after coming under fire from the Islamic State group, according to Iraq’s joint operations command. The helicopter was hit while supporting Iraq’s mostly Shiite militia forces in an operation to retake villages still held by the militants in the sprawling desert to Mosul’s west, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool said in a statement. The source of the attack was ground fire, the pilot landed safely, and there were no fatalities, he added. The operation to retake Mosul began in October, the city’s east was declared liberated in January, and Iraqi forces opened the operation to retake the west in February.
_4 Mideast violence: An Israeli police officer fatally shot a Jordanian attacker who stabbed him in the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday, officials said. The officer was moderately wounded, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri. The officer responded by opening fire and killing his attacker, a 57-year-old man from Jordan, Samri said. Since 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 42 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British student, mainly in stabbing assaults. During that time, Israeli forces have killed 245 Palestinians. Israel has identified most of them as attackers. Israel says the violence is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement. Palestinians say it stems from anger over decades of Israeli rule.
_5 Train derailment: A train derailed in northern Greece, killing four passengers and seriously injuring five, including the driver, the state railway said early Sunday. The train, with 70 passengers, was traveling on the Athens-Thessaloniki route when it went off the rails and crashed through a house Saturday night near the village of Adendro, 25 miles west of Thessaloniki. One of the three-story house’s two tenants said he and his friend jumped from the balcony. The train’s engine went right through the house, whose bottom floor is storage space. A local official, Mavroudis Mintsioudis, said, “The whole house is now leaning on the train, which shows you how severe the crash was.” Emergency workers, along with two dozen fire trucks and many ambulances, were at the scene.