EU nations deadlocked on rescued migrants
AFP, Rome
Nearly 50 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean by two ships run by rights groups are still looking for countries to take them in, one of the groups told AFP Saturday.
“The situation is still the same,” a spokeswoman for one of the groups, Sea Watch, told AFP. Their vessel, Sea Watch 3, was sheltering from stormy weather off the coast of Malta, which like Italy, has refused to allow the boat into port.
Iran plans naval drills with Russia in Caspian Sea
Reuters, Dubai
Iran and Russia are preparing to hold joint naval exercises in the Caspian Sea, including rescue and anti-piracy drills, the commander of the Iranian navy was quoted on Sunday as saying.
“Tactical, rescue and anti-piracy war games between Iranian and Russian naval forces are being planned and will be implemented in the near future,” the semi-official news agency Mehr quoted Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi as saying.
2 British soldiers wounded in IS attack in Syria
AP, Beirut
A Kurdish news agency and a Syrian war monitoring group say a missile attack by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria has killed at least one Kurdish fighter and wounded two British soldiers embedded with them. The Rudaw news agency says the two British soldiers are in a stable condition.
British special forces are known to be on the ground in northern Syria although the British government does not provide details about their presence.
6 schoolchildren, bus driver die in road
accident in India
AP, New Delhi
Six schoolchildren and their bus driver were killed as the vehicle rolled down a gorge on a hilly road in northern India, police said. Another 12 children were hospitalized with injuries after the school bus skidded off the road in Himachal Pradesh state on Saturday, said police officer Rohit Malpani.
Malpani said three students aged 5 to 14 and the driver died on the spot. Three students died later in a hospital.
Top US court to hear gerrym
andering cases
AFP, Washington
The United States Supreme Court decided on Friday to hear two cases of partisan gerrymandering after putting off chances last year to address the controversial issue.
Justices of the country’s highest court in March will examine rulings by two District Courts which invalidated electoral maps in North Carolina and Maryland. In the first case, the lower court ruled that the map favored Republicans, while in Maryland it benefited Democrats.
