Airstrikes kill policemen in Afghanistan

KABUL — A series of airstrikes by the U.S.-led NATO coalition in Afghanistan killed as many as 18 Afghan police officers late Thursday during heavy ground fighting with Taliban forces near the capital of Helmand province, Afghan officials and provincial leaders said Friday.

American military officials said the coalition airstrikes, in what they described as a “tragic accident,” killed both Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters, but they did not say how many from each side died.

A spokesman for the U.S. military advisory mission here, Lt. Col. Dave Butler, said in a statement that Afghan security officials requested “precision air support” during heavy fighting and that U.S. military personnel had worked with Afghan coordinators. The coordinators “confirmed that the areas were clear of friendly forces,” he said. “Unfortunately, they were not, and a tragic accident resulted.”

U.S. officials are “examining the miscommunication to ensure it is not repeated,” Butler said. “We regret this tragic loss of life of our partners.”

Afghan officials in Kabul and Helmand gave conflicting information on the number of casualties, saying that between eight and 18 officers were killed and that 14 others were wounded.

Merkel under fire

BERLIN — Angela Merkel has come under pressure from her chosen successor to quit as German chancellor after this month’s elections for the European parliament, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

With Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats expected to lose ground in the May 26 vote, their leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has urged the chancellor to resign and called a party conference for June 2 in order to try to force her hand, one of the people said. AKK, as Ms. KrampKarrenbauer is known, did not warn Ms. Merkel of the conference and suggested she should run for the presidency of the European leaders council, the person said.

In public, AKK has insisted that Ms. Merkel should see out her term, and a spokeswoman for the party leader pointed to those comments when contacted by Bloomberg News.

After becoming CDU leader late last year, AKK has struggled to gain traction in polls and in the party, as nods to the right wing ended up alienating many of her more liberal supporters.

Same-sex marriage

Thousands of marriage equality advocates celebrated in the pouring rain outside Taiwan’s legislature on Friday as it easily voted to grant same-sex couples similar marriage rights as those of heterosexual couples.

The law, which allows for same-sex couples to apply for “marriage registration” as part of “exclusive permanent unions,” passed by a comfortable margin and marked a key victory for Taiwan’s LGBT community.

Taiwan’s high court ruled on May 24, 2017, that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates its constitution and gave the legislature two years to pass a corresponding law or see same-sex marriage become legalized automatically. The process frequently stalled amid conservative opposition. In November 2018, Taiwan voted in a public referendum to restrict samesex couples from full marriage rights.