AFP, United Nations
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will pay his first visit since taking the UN helm to Israel and the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, at the end of the month, diplomats said Thursday.
The UN chief will hold talks with Israeli leaders, travel to Ramallah to meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and to the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations runs a major Palestinian aid program, during the three-day visit beginning August 28.
Ethiopia lifts state of emergency
AP, Johannesburg
Ethiopia’s government on Friday lifted a state of emergency imposed in October after hundreds of people were killed in anti-government protests demanding wider political freedoms. It was some of the country’s worst violence since the ruling party came to power in 1991.
Lawmakers in the East African nation voted to end the emergency law that restricted a number of rights and led to the arrests of more than 21,000 people. It also hurt one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.
Georgian soldier killed in Afghan convoy attack
Reuters, Washington
A Georgian soldier from the NATO-led Resolute Support mission was killed and six personnel were wounded in Afghanistan on Thursday after a suicide bomber attacked their convoy in Kabul province, a coalition statement said.
In addition, two Afghan civilians were killed and seven wounded in the attack. The wounded service personnel, three Georgians, two Americans and a local interpreter, were being treated at a U.S. military hospital at Bagram airfield and were in stable condition, the statement said.
China sentences ex-provincial leader to life
AP, Beijing
A Chinese court has sentenced the ex-Communist Party chief of a rust-belt province that had been hit by massive electoral fraud to life imprisonment for bribery.
The official People’s Daily newspaper says Wang Min, the former party leader of Liaoning province, was sentenced Friday.
State media say Wang’s negligence was “responsible for serious election fraud including vote buying.”
