NEWS OF THE DAY
1 _ Taliban assaults: Taliban fighters overran multiple checkpoints in overnight raids in Afghanistan’s volatile southern Helmand province, killing at least 20 police officers, authorities said Saturday. The assaults came as Afghanistan’s military acknowledged the Taliban controls at least four districts across the country. The spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Sediqqi, said fighting ended Saturday afternoon with around 30 insurgents killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks. The militants have been targeting vulnerable police checkpoints across the country since beginning their summer offensive in April.
2 Gitmo transfers: A pause in prisoner transfers from Guantanamo Bay has ended with the arrival Saturday in Oman of six Yemenis long held at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists. It was the first movement of detainees out of Guantanamo in five months as Congress considers new restrictions on transfers. The six men boarded a flight Friday from the U.S. facility in Cuba, and their transfer reduced Guantanamo’s population to 116. President Obama has now transferred more than half the 242 detainees who were at Guantanamo when he was sworn into office in 2009 after campaigning to close it.
3 _ Volcano erupts: A volcano in western Indonesia unleashed a powerful burst high into the sky Saturday, sending hot ash far down the mountain’s slopes. Authorities have been closely monitoring 8,070-foot-high Mount Sinabung on Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s main islands, since June 2, when its status was raised to the highest alert level due to the growing size of its lava dome. Hot ash tumbled down the slopes of the mountain as far as 2 miles on Saturday, said an official at the mountain’s monitoring post. No injuries were reported. More than 2,700 people from villages within the danger zone of 4.4 miles from the crater have been evacuated to shelters.
_ 4 Ukraine fighting: Six Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and another 14 wounded in fighting over the past day, one of the highest casualty tolls reported in a single day since an often-violated cease-fire was called more than three months ago, the military said Saturday. Military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko did not specify where the deaths took place. But he said fighting was especially heavy near the destroyed airport in Donetsk, the largest city under the control of Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
_ 5 Elephant attack: A German man taking a morning walk Saturday was killed by an elephant that had escaped from a nearby circus, police said. The 65-year-old was walking in the woods near Buchen, a town in southwest Germany, when the African elephant attacked him, said Heidelberg police spokeswoman Yvonne Schmierer. The 34-year-old female elephant, called Baby, was captured and returned to the circus. Police are now investigating whether someone let the elephant out of its enclosure, and why the animal acted aggressively toward the man. German news agency dpa reported that the elephant had previously injured people.