presidential showdown
AFP, Prague
Czechs head to the ballot box Friday and Saturday in a tight presidential run-off in the EU and NATO state pitting pro-Russian incumbent Milos Zeman against pro-European rival Jiri Drahos in a race that promises to go down to the wire.
A poll by the Kantar TNS and Median agencies showed the rivals are neck- and-neck, with the divisive 73-year-old ex-communist Zeman scoring 45.5 percent of the vote against 45 percent for the liberal academic Drahos.
No safe haven as shootings rock US schools
AFP, Washinton
With 11 shootings so far this year, US schools once again find themselves vulnerable to spasms of gun violence that authorities seem powerless to prevent.
A 15 year-old boy opened fire with a handgun at the start of the school day at a Kentucky high school on Tuesday, killing two students and wounding more than a dozen others.
The day before, a teenager was wounded by a shot fired in her school cafeteria in Texas. Also Monday, a bullet grazed a 14 year-old boy in the parking lot of a New Orleans high school.
UN SC to inspect ‘Iranian-made’ missile debris
AFP, United Nations
The UN Security Council will travel to Washington on Monday to inspect debris from missiles allegedly provided by Iran to Yemen’s Huthi rebels and hold meetings at the White House, diplomats said. The ambassadors are expected to meet with President Donald Trump as the US administration seeks international action against Iran, diplomats said.
Ryan sees no US ‘alliance’ with Russia in Syria
AFP, Abu Dhabi
US House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that he did not envision a “strategic alliance” with Russia in Syria as Washington looks to end the Islamic State group and curb Iran.
“I don’t see strategic alliance-perhaps tactical symmetry for a convenient moment, but not a strategic alliance,” the high-ranking Republic said during a public debate on a visit to Abu Dhabi.
Philippines prepares for 3-month-long
volcano emergency
Reuters, Philippines
The Philippines is bracing for a possible three-month-long emergency in areas around an erupting volcano, which has already displaced more than 81,000 and caused overcrowding at temporary shelters, the country’s disaster agency said on Friday. Mount Mayon in central Albay province remained at alert level 4, a notch below the highest level, as it continued to spew out lava, ash and other superheated material, volcanologists said.
“We’re gearing up for three months” of emergency, said Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the Southeast Asian country’s disaster agency, citing similar situations during previous eruptions of the 2,462-metre (8,077-foot) volcano.
