IRAQ
Four killed in clashes
Two soldiers and two fighters of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were on Sunday killed as the two sides clashed in a mountainous northern area, both sides’ security sources said. Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani ordered that a high-level committee be formed to investigate, a military spokesperson for Sudani said in a statement. Fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party had evacuated positions near the town of Makhmour on Saturday and handed them over to the Iraqi army, but Peshmerga fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan, tried to retake the positions on Sunday, triggering the clashes, the sources said. Army and Peshmerga sources said earlier that two Iraqi army soldiers and one Peshmerga fighter were killed. Another Peshmerga lieutenant colonel died of his wounds, the sources said. Six Iraqi soldiers and five Peshmerga fighters were wounded. Two of the Iraqi soldiers were in critical condition, health service sources said. Iraqi army troops are still in control over the mountainous positions, three army sources said. However, both sides are sending reinforcements to the area, military sources said, calling the situation “fragile.”
SWITZERLAND
The right dominates vote
The right-wing People’s Party (SVP) scored one of its best results ever in national elections, reaping the rewards of a campaign that leveraged concerns over immigration. The SVP won 28.6 percent of votes, up from 25.6 percent four years ago. That is an even stronger win than anticipated in opinion polls and close to its 2015 record of 29.4 percent. The party has been Switzerland’s most popular for two decades, thanks to a focus largely on domestic issues such as immigration and the economy. The SVP wants to limit the country’s population to 10 million people, citing overstretched infrastructure and lack of housing. “The worry about an explosion of the population is big,” SVP lawmaker Thomas Matter told Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. “I do hope that the conservative parties now work together on immigration matters, so the SVP doesn’t have to tackle this alone.” The party also seeks to enshrine the country’s traditional neutrality — despite calls to respond more forcefully to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and to cap the costs of the switch to sustainable energy.
SPAIN
Sheep take over Madrid
Bleating sheep replaced beeping vehicles on the streets of Madrid on Sunday, as shepherds guided their flocks through the capital city center following ancient herding routes to southerly pastures for the winter. The annual event was revived in 1994 as part of Madrid’s annual Fiesta de la Trashumancia, after the Spanish parliament recognized the traditional routes used to herd livestock. Once they passed through quiet countryside, but on Sunday the shepherds, many of whom wore traditional dress, had to cross some of the busiest areas of the city, including the Puerta del Sol, one of Madrid’s main squares. Locals and tourists lined the way, snapping pictures of the sheep that wore tinkling bells around their necks. “I really didn’t expect this in the city, in the capital. This reminds me of my village,” said student Ana Sar, from Mallorca. “It’s amazing,” said Sandra Van Arkelem, 57, from the Netherlands. “So many people are joining and enjoying it.”
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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