Reuters, Baghdad
Iraq launched an air strike on an Islamic State target inside neighboring Syria on Thursday, the military said. F-16 fighter jets destroyed a building where members of the ultra-hardline Sunni group’s leadership were operating, it said in a statement.
Islamic State, which once occupied a third of Iraq’s territory, has been largely defeated in the country but still poses a threat along its border with Syria.
Lavrov to meet Pompeo in August
Reuters, Moscow
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in August in Singapore, RIA news agency reported on Thursday citing a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
A possible meeting is being discussed, RIA said, providing no further details.
Guatemala volcano death toll climbs
to 99
Reuters, Guatemala
Rescuers scoured a lava- and ash-ravaged landscape in Guatemala for a third straight day on Wednesday in search of survivors and victims of Fuego volcano’s calamitous eruption, which has killed at least 99 people.
Volcan de Fuego, which means “Volcano of Fire,” exploded on Sunday in its most devastating eruption in more than four decades, showering ash on a wide area and sending rapid pyroclastic flows through nearby towns.
UN peace plan for Yemen
Reuters, Washington
A U.N. peace plan for Yemen calls on the Houthi movement to give up its ballistic missiles in return for an end to a bombing campaign against it by a Saudi-led coalition and a transitional governance agreement, according to a draft of the document and sources. The plan, which has not been made public and could be modified, is the latest effort to end Yemen’s three-year-old civil war, which has spawned one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Voters remove California judge
Reuters, Los Angeles
Californians voted in a special election to unseat a state judge who drew worldwide condemnation for giving a six-month jail sentence to a Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, a former prosecutor appointed to the bench in 2003 by then-Governor Gray Davis next month will become the first sitting judge recalled in more than 80 years in the state.
Bomb kills Pak local police chief
AP, Peshawar
A roadside bomb killed a local police chief and his driver in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, police said. Police official Nosher Khan said the blast in the Dir district also wounded some passers-by.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but previous attacks in the area have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
