Reuters, Sydney
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday appointed his foreign minister as acting prime minister as he tried to stem the fallout of a citizenship crisis that has cost his government its parliamentary majority.
Turnbull delayed until Monday a long-planned trip to Israel and held an emergency Cabinet meeting to shore up support after Australia’s High Court ruled on Friday that his deputy, Barnaby Joyce, and four other lawmakers should be expelled from parliament because they held dual nationality.
Taliban kill 9 police in Afghanistan
AP, Kabul
At least nine police officers were killed Saturday in separate attacks by Taliban insurgents on police checkpoints in eastern Ghazni province, a provincial official said. Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said two police checkpoints came under attack by Taliban fighters in the early hours, also wounding two police. He said six insurgents were killed and nine others were wounded in the battle, which lasted almost an hour.
19 dead in Nepal bus mishap
AFP, Kathmandu
At least 19 people were killed when an overcrowded bus swerved off the road and plunged into a river in central Nepal on Saturday, police said.
The bus skidded off the road in Dhading district, approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, early morning and fell into the Trishuli River. “We have recovered the bodies of 19 people from the place of the accident and number of missing is still unknown as the bus had no record of the total number of passengers.
Icelanders go to the polls
AP, Reykjavik
Icelanders are voting for the third time in four years as the nation tries to shake off the latest political crisis on an island that has been roiled by divisions since its economy was ravaged by the global financial crisis in 2008. Polls suggest there won’t be an outright winner in Saturday’s parliamentary election, triggering complex negotiations to build a coalition government.
