NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Russian deaths: A Russian fighter jet crashed Thursday off the coast of Syria, killing both pilots, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, which said the crash may have been caused by a bird getting sucked into one of the engines. State news agency Tass cited the ministry as saying the Su-30 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Russian air base at Hemeimeem in Syria. Russia has been waging an air campaign in support of President Bashar Assad’s forces since 2015. In March, a Russian military cargo plane crashed as it was descending to land at Hemeimeem, killing all 39 people aboard. The military blamed the crash on a technical error and insisted the plane was not shot down.
2 Free train rides: The European Union is convinced it has found a new way for young people to fall in love with the continent — free train rides. The Brussels-based EU kicked off the DiscoverEU project Thursday to send up to 30,000 18-year-olds chugging across the 28 member states this year, giving them free rail transport to broaden their horizon beyond national borders. All for a taxpayers’ cost of $14 million. If all goes well, and the next 7-year EU budget plans are approved, that could turn into a budget of $120 million)a year, with some 200,000 teenagers getting to know the joys of EU-wide Interrail travel.
3 Mali violence: A Tuareg leader says extremists linked to the Islamic State in Mali have killed at least 17 people in two communities in the West African nation’s Menaka region. Violence has been increasing in the region between the Fulani communities, some of whom are suspected of links with the extremist group, and Tuaregs allied with French soldiers fighting extremism in the Sahel. A Fulani association on Sunday said 44 Fulanis were killed by the Tuareg group on April 27 along the Mali-Niger border. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali says extremists killed at least 47 Tuareg civilians in the Menaka region on April 26 and 27.
4 Gold miners: Lawyers for gold miners in South Africa who got lung diseases while working underground over many decades have reached a compensation agreement in their class action lawsuit against mining companies. The Legal Resources Center, a South African group, said Thursday that the deal provides for “meaningful” compensation from the companies, which have estimated the total settlement cost at $395 million. The companies are African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, Anglo-Gold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony, Sibanye Stillwater and Pan African Resources. Thousands could receive compensation. Many people who are now sick worked in gold mines during white minority rule, when black miners received inadequate care and were vulnerable to silicosis and tuberculosis.
5 Prosecution pledge: Basque separatist group ETA publicly declared its dissolution Thursday, bringing an end to a campaign against Spain that saw more than 850 people killed over more than four decades of bombings and shootings. In an open letter to the Basque people, ETA said it has “completely dismantled all of its structures” and “will no longer express political positions, promote initiatives or interact with other stakeholders.” Its announcement was dismissed as propaganda by victims’ groups, while the Spanish government said it would continue to prosecute anyone with any links to any of the violence conducted during the ETA campaign, which blighted Spain’s transition to democracy from the late 1970s onward.