AFP, Um Al-Kheir
Israel demolished five homes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, leaving 27 Palestinians homeless, more than half of them children, residents and an Israeli rights group said.
Israeli bulldozers destroyed the prefabricated shelters in the village of Um Al-Kheir, some of them built with European Union funding, early on Tuesday, said the B’Tselem NGO.
Putin, Theresa May to meet in ‘near future’
AFP, Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Theresa May have agreed to meet in “the near future”, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
During a phone call initiated by London, the two leaders “planned to hold a private meeting in the near future,” the Kremlin said in a statement, without naming a date.
Hospital fire kills 11 premature babies in Iraq
BBC Online
At least 11 premature babies have been killed in a fire at a hospital in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.
It took three hours to put out the blaze, which broke out late on Tuesday inside the maternity unit at the Yarmouk Hospital, in the city’s west.
3 dead in Madeira Islands wildfire
AP, Lisbon
A wildfire swept overnight into Funchal, the capital of Portugal’s Madeira Islands, killing three elderly people and injuring hundreds as it burned homes and forced people to flee in panic, authorities said Wednesday.
Miguel Albuquerque, head of Madeira’s regional government, told reporters the three victims died in their burned homes early Wednesday as the wildfire hit the coastal city in the dark. He said two other people were seriously hurt, one person is missing and more than 300 people required medical treatment for smoke inhalation and minor burns.
US approves arms worth $1.15b for S Arabia
Reuters, Washington
The US State Department has approved the potential sale of more than 130 Abrams battle tanks, 20 armored recovery vehicles and other equipment, worth about $1.15 billion, to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The approval for land force equipment coincides with Saudi Arabia leading a military coalition in support of Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces from the capital, Sanaa.
Fresh clashes erupt in South Sudan
AFP, Nairobi
Fresh clashes have erupted in South Sudan between government forces and former rebels, a month after deadly violence which threatened a fragile peace accord, local authorities said Tuesday.
The new fighting broke out between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and supporters of former vice-president Riek Machar near the town of Yei, more than 150 kilometres (93 miles) southwest of the capital Juba.
