NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Refugees rescued: About two dozen African migrants were brought ashore in northeastern Brazil after being rescued at sea by fishermen. The government of Maranhao state said that 25 people from Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde along with two Brazilians landed Saturday. The boat with the refugees was adrift when they were rescued, according to the G1 news portal, which also said they had been at sea for weeks. Those aboard were dehydrated and received medical care and meals upon arrival, the state government said. They were taken to a sports complex where they would be housed for the time being.
_2 Violent holiday: Cameroon’s national day Sunday was marked by violence in its troubled English-speaking region, with two police officers killed, soldiers wounded and a mayor kidnapped by suspected armed separatists. In the capital, Yaounde, in central Cameroon, President Paul Biya presided over a public show of the country’s military might. But in the Englishspeaking town of Bangem in southwest Cameroon, the mayor, Ekuh Simon, was kidnapped. In a video shared by suspected armed separatists Simon said he and his deputy were kidnapped by separatists for planning independence celebrations. He said he is being held hostage by the Ambazonia Restoration Forces. Ambazonia is the name separatists have given to the English-speaking area they want to become independent from French-speaking Cameroon.
_3 Iraqi government: Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose coalition won the largest number of seats in Iraq’s parliamentary elections, has sought to reassure Iraqis about their next government, saying it will be “inclusive” and mindful of their needs. No single bloc won a majority in the May 12 vote, raising the prospect of weeks or even months of negotiations to agree on a government. Major political players began talks soon after the election’s partial results were announced last week. The latest round was held Sunday between al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of a coalition of Shiite paramilitary forces backed by both the government and neighboring Iran. Late Saturday, he met Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose bloc finished third behind those led by al-Sadr and al-Amiri. Speaking after his talks with al-Abadi, al-Sadr said the first postelection meeting between the two “sends a clear and comforting message to the Iraqi people: Your government will take care of you and will be inclusive.” _4 Mayor attacked: Two people have been arrested as suspects in an attack that left the mayor of Greece’s second-largest city hospitalized, Thessaloniki police said Sunday. About a dozen people set upon Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris at a Saturday ceremony honoring Greek victims of purges carried out by Turks during World War I. He was thrown to the ground and kicked all over his body. “I lived a nightmare,” the 75-year-old Boutaris said after he was discharged from the hospital Sunday. “They were hitting me all over, with fists and feet.” The mayor was in a state of shock when he arrived at the hospital where he was treated for a leg injury and bruises, Ippokratio General Hospital director Vana Papachristodoulou said. One of the detained suspects is a 36-year-old with previous arrests for robbery, police said. The other, a 20-year-old, confessed, saying he was angered by a statement Boutaris recently made favoring friendlier relations with Turkey, police said.