AP, Pakistan
Gunmen fatally shot three local tourists and their driver in a tribal region along the Afghanistan border, official said Saturday. Ikhlaq Bangash, deputy administrator in South Waziristan, said a group of tourists from Dera Ismail Khan were camping in the Momi Karam area when the gunmen struck Friday night.
EPA chief’s condo deal under scrutiny
AP, Washington
The Environmental Protection Agency is opening internal investigations into Scott Pruitt’s $50-a-night condo deal with a lobbyist and other recent allegations, adding to about a dozen federal probes involving the EPA chief.
EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr. confirmed the new investigations in a letter to lawmakers written Wednesday and released Friday.
Three Palestinian protesters killed
AFP, Gaza City
Three Palestinians were shot dead Friday as thousands demonstrated along the border between Gaza and Israel for a fifth consecutive week of rallies dubbed the Great March of Return. More than 300 other people were hospitalised for gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation, Gaza’s health ministry said.
Suicide bomber kills 6 in Afghanistan
AP, Kabul
A Taliban suicide bomber attacked an army base in southern Helmand province Saturday killing four civilians and two soldiers, officials said.
Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said three civilians and two soldiers were wounded in the attack in Nad Ali district. He said the bomber was a Taliban fighter who targeted the base using a mini-van, said Zwak.
Mali Presidential poll on July 29
AFP, Bamako
Mali’s government has confirmed a presidential election will be held on 29 July, an official statement said Friday, after local polls were again pushed back to the end of the year.
Planned elections in the African country have been repeatedly postponed since 2013, in part due to security concerns over Islamist extremism.
3 S. Korean sailors released by pirates
AFP, Seoul
Three South Korean sailors kidnapped in the waters off Ghana last month have been released unharmed, Prime Minister Lee Nakyon said Saturday. “All the three sailors were freed safe and sound,” Lee said on Facebook.
Seoul had deployed an anti-piracy warship to the area after unidentified pirates boarded the 500-tonne Marine 711 with about 40 Ghanaian and three South Korean sailors on March 26.
3 Somalia military officials killed
Reuters, Bosaso
A suicide bomber killed three senior military officials in the Somali town of Galkayo on Saturday, police said, an attack claimed by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.
The officers, including a military commander, were killed in their camp in the town, police officer Abdirahman Haji said. “The death toll may rise,” he added.
