Plane debris to be checked in France
ST DENIS, Reunion — Plane debris that washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and is thought to belong to the vanished Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flown to France on Friday for checks officials hope could provide some insight into the disaster.
Discovery of the debris, which may finally confirm the plane crashed into the sea after veering off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew, could help end 16 months of lingering uncertainty for relatives.
Experts hope the barnacled 6.5-8 feet long wing surface known as a flap-eron and a fragment of luggage could yield forensic clues to the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished without trace in March 2014.
Lion’s killer sought
HARARE, Zimbabwe — The American dentist who killed Cecil the lion was a “foreign poacher” who paid for an illegal hunt and he should be extradited to Zimbabwe to face justice, environment minister Oppah Muchinguri said on Friday.
In Harare's first official comments since Cecil's killing grabbed world headlines this week, Ms. Muchinguri said the prosecutor general had started the process to have 55-year-old Walter Palmer extradited from the United States.
Ms. Muchinguri, a senior member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, described Cecil, a rare black-maned lion, as an "iconic attraction.”
Rift in Taliban ranks
KABUL, Afghanistan — The first signs of the deep fractures within the Afghan Taliban surfaced on Friday as the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar rejected the choice of his successor, just hours after the group issued a statement praising their new leader as one of the late chief’s most “trusted” associates.
The Taliban statement said the group’s new leader, Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansoor, had also been given the title of “Commander of the Faithful,” conferring on him the supreme status held by Mullah Omar.
Kerry travels to Egypt
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Cairo today to address strained U.S. ties with Egypt at the start of an eight-day, around-theworld trip focusing on security and economic issues in the Mideast and Southeast Asia.
After talks with Egyptian officials, Mr. Kerry plans to meet in Doha, Qatar, with foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab nations seeking new security assurances after the nuclear deal with rival Iran.
Also in the world...
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron pledged Friday to send extra fencing and sniffer dogs across the Channel to the French port of Calais as part of escalating attempts to block desperate migrants attempting to cross the undersea tunnel to England. ... German prosecutors have shelved their Nazi war crimes investigation of a retired Minnesota carpenter whom The Associated Press exposed as a former commander in an SS-led unit, saying Friday that Michael Karkoc, 96, is not fit for trial.