EXPLOSIVE DEVICE THROWN AT HOME OF EX-SINN FEIN LEADER ADAMS
LONDON» The homes of former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and another prominent member of the Northern Ireland party were attacked with explosive devices, officials said Saturday. No one was injured.
Northern Ireland’s police said officers seized “remnants of large industrial, firework-type devices, capable of causing serious damage or injury” at two houses in west Belfast. No arrests were reported.
The republican party condemned Friday’s attacks, saying one of the two devices thrown caused damage to a car on Adams’ driveway.
The attacks came after six successive nights of violence in Londonderry, which is also called Derry.
Eritrea’s leader visits Ethiopia as dramatic thaw continues.
ETHIOPIA» To dancing
ADDIS ABABA, and cheers, Eritrea’s longtime president arrived in Ethiopia for his first visit in 22 years on Saturday amid a dramatic diplomatic thaw between the once-bitter rivals.
Thousands turned out in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, under tight security to welcome President Isaias Afwerki, whose threeday visit is the latest step in ending a long state of war.
“Welcome home President Isaias!!” the Ethiopian prime minister’s chief of staff said on Twitter.
Ethiopia’s reformist new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, made a similar visit to Eritrea’s capital last weekend, welcomed by Isaias with hugs and laughter.
The 42-year-old Abiy broke the ice last month by fully embracing a peace deal that ended a 19982000 border war that killed tens of thousands and left families separated.
Six dead after attackers target Somalia’s presidential palace.
SOMALIA» Somali
MOGADISHU, security forces shot dead three extremists wearing soldiers’ uniforms, foiling an attempted alshabab attack on the presidential palace that began with a car bomb exploding, police said Saturday.
The confrontation came a week after an attack on the nearby interior ministry compound in Mogadishu killed at least nine people, again raising questions about the state of security in the most sensitive areas of Somalia’s capital.
Six people were dead in all, including a suicide car bomber, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press, saying the situation had calmed and security in the area was being tightened.
Haitian prime minister resigns after fuel riots. Haitian Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant resigned Saturday, avoiding being forcibly ousted in a no-confidence vote by Parliament’s lower house.
“Before coming here, I presented my resignation to the president,” Lafontant said in a 10-minute speech.
Haiti’s Parliament had scheduled a hearing Saturday to fire Lafontant and his 18 Cabinet members after an unpopular fuelprice increase led to riots last weekend, and the U.S. State Department issued a “Do not travel” warning for the country.
A relatively unknown doctor until he was chosen to be prime minister by President Jovenel Moise 16 months ago, Lafontant temporarily suspended the fuelprice increase hours after it was enacted. But that did not stop the violence.
Macedonia celebrates its invitation to join NATO.
SKOPJE, MACEDONIA» Thousands of people gathered in 15 cities in Macedonia to celebrate an invitation that NATO recently extended to this Balkan nation to become the 30th member of the military alliance.
NATO leaders formally invited Macedonia last week to start membership talks, with the condition that membership can’t be completed until the name deal with Greece is fully implemented. Macedonia signed a deal last month with Greece that will see its name changed to “North Macedonia.”
— Denver Post wire services