San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
NEWS OF THE DAY
1 War remains: The U.S. military said it moved 100 coffins to the inter-Korean border on Saturday to prepare for North Korea returning the remains of American soldiers who have been missing since the 1950-53 Korean War. U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Chad Carroll also said 158 metal transfer cases were sent to a U.S. air base near Seoul, South Korea’s capital, and would be used to send the remains home. North Korea agreed to return U.S. war remains during the June 12 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump.
2 Syria fighting: State media and opposition activists said government troops advanced on rebel-held areas in the country’s southwestern region Saturday amid intense clashes in a widening offensive, shattering a U.S-backed truce. News agency SANA reported fighting in the al-Lujat area, a rocky region in the eastern countryside of Daraa. Washington warned the offensive in the region bordering Jordan and Israeli-occupied Golan Heights risks widening the conflict.
3 Pakistan militants: Taliban members chose a religious scholar as their new chief in place of Mullah Fazlullah, the insurgent leader who ordered the assassination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and was killed earlier this month in a U.S. drone strike. Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said Saturday that the executive council of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan appointed Mufti Noor Wali Mahsud as its new chief and Mufti Mazhim as his deputy. Khurasani conceded for the first time that Mullah Fazlullah was killed in the drone attack in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. The TTP under Fazlullah’s command took responsibility for the brutal attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014 in which more than 140 children and their teachers were killed.
4 Cambodia arrests: Police have arrested five people on charges of providing commercial surrogate services. Keo Thea, chief of anti-trafficking police for the Phnom Penh Municipality, said Saturday that four Cambodian women and a Chinese man were arrested Thursday. He said that during the raid, police rescued 33 pregnant surrogates who were allegedly hired by the Chinese man. Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy in 2016 after becoming a popular destination for would-be parents seeking women to give birth to their children.
5 Poland politics: Lech Walesa, Poland’s former president and pro-democracy leader, said Saturday he is joining forces with the opposition to prevent Poland’s right-wing ruling party from winning a string of upcoming elections. Walesa, 74, spoke at a meeting of opposition parties and activists in Gdansk, at the center dedicated to the Solidarity movement he led in the 1980s that brought democracy to Poland. He said the ruling conservative Law and Justice party is threatening democracy, and that a joint effort was needed to prevent it from winning further terms in power.
6 Iran activist: The semiofficial ISNA news agency, citing the husband of a prominent human rights lawyer, reported Saturday that bail has been set at 6.5 billion rial (around $152,500) for his imprisoned wife. Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested June 13 on charges of collusion and propaganda against the system. She had defended women protesting having to wear the Islamic headscarf. ISNA’s report quoted Reza Khandan as saying Sotoudeh considers the allegations against her baseless and believes bail is inappropriate.