Reuters, Khobar
Saudi Arabia’s relations with the United States are “historic and strategic”, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said on the occasion of the visit of CIA director Mike Pompeo to Riyadh.
This is the first reported visit by a senior Trump administration appointee to the kingdom. “Our relationship with the United States is historic and strategic, any attempts to undermine that will falter,” Prince Mohammed said, according to state news agency SPA late on Friday.
Indonesian flood death toll rises to 13
AP, Jakarta
Up to 40,000 people were caught in severe flooding following days of torrential rain in central Indonesia, where the death toll from landslides on Bali resort island rose to 13, officials said Saturday.
Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency said that incessant rains in the past five days caused rivers on Sumbawa Island to break their banks and inundate seven sub-districts in West Nusa Tenggara province.
Six dead in Southern Philippines quake
AFP, Surigao City
Rescuers dug through rubble Saturday to find survivors after a powerful earthquake struck the southern Philippines, killing at least six people and sending thousands fleeing for safety.
Residents of the southern town of Surigao in Mindanao island spent the night huddled in fear as aftershocks rocked the city following the 6.5-magnitude quake which struck late Friday when many people were already in bed.
Turkmenistan’s leader set to win re-election
AP, Ashgabat
The authoritarian president of Turkmenistan is set to sail to victory in Sunday’s election where eight other candidates are on the ballot, but all praise his polices.
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been the overwhelmingly dominant figure in the former Soviet republic since late 2006, when he assumed power after death of his eccentric predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov.
Turkey arrests two
IS militants
AP, Istanbul
Turkey’s state-run news agency says two men suspected of planning Islamic State group attacks in Europe have been arrested.
The Anadolu agency said Saturday that Mahamad Laban, 45, a Danish citizen of Lebanese origin, and Mohammed Tefik Saleh, 38, a Swedish citizen of Iraqi origin, received weapons and explosives training in Syria for the past three months.
China expels 32 South Korean missionaries
Reuters, Seoul
China has expelled 32 South Korean Christian missionaries, a Korean government official said on Saturday, amid diplomatic tension between the two countries over the planned deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in the South.
The 32 were based in China’s northeastern Yanji region near the border with North Korea, many of whom had worked there more than a decade, South Korean media have reported.
