EU leaders to hold talks on migration
AFP, Brussels
The leaders of 10 EU countries will hold crisis talks on migration in Brussels Sunday aimed at countering movement of asylum seekers between member nations which is a source of tensions within the bloc.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker called the meeting at the last minute as the issue causes fresh divisions in Europe, three years after the bloc faced its biggest migration crisis since World War II.
China to boost ties with Nepal
PTI, Beijing
China is ready to strengthen cooperation with landlocked Nepal in infrastructure connectivity and trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping said today while meeting with Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. China and Nepal signed eight agreements for developing major infrastructure projects in the Himalayan nation to further deepen bilateral ties, media reports said.
Libya rescues 80 migrants
AP, Cairo
Libya’s coast guard says it has rescued some 80 African migrants, including four women and two children, and recovered one body in the Mediterranean Sea east of the capital, Tripoli.
Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said late Wednesday that the migrants were found on a damaged rubber boat and had remained at sea for around four hours before the coast guard arrived.
Iran lists demands for improving ties with US
AP, Tehran
Iran has announced a list of 15 demands for improving relations with the United States, including a U.S. return to the 2015 nuclear accord, in response to a similar list of demands made by Washington last month. In an article in a state-owned newspaper Thursday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on the U.S. to stop providing arms to the “invaders of Yemen,” referring to Saudi Arabia, and to drop its opposition to the nuclear disarmament of Israel.
Civilians flee fighting in Syria
Reuters, Beirut
Thousands of people have fled rebel-held areas of southwestern Syria being targeted by government bombardment, a war monitor said on Thursday, as Damascus steps up attacks on an area near the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some 12,500 people had fled opposition-held areas of northeastern Deraa province in the past 48 hours.
72 S Asia asylum seekers held in Oregon
Reuters, Portland
At least 72 South Asian asylum-seekers are being detained at a federal prison in Oregon after getting caught up in the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy for illegal border-crossers, a U.S. Senator’s office said on Wednesday.
The detainees, held at the Sheridan Federal Corrections Institution, include 52 from India, 18 from Nepal and two from Bangladesh.
