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Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
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Kosovo prime minister looks to other parties for cooperation after election win

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By Fatos Bytyci Reuters | Posted by TOE Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti called for cooperation from other parties to end 18 months of political deadlock after his Vetevendosje party came out top in a parliamentary ‌election on Sunday but failed to secure enough votes to govern alone. The tiny Balkan state wants to ‌join the European Union, and Brussels says it needs to create strong institutions capable of delivering reforms needed for membership. But political instability has left Kosovo ​without functioning institutions, delaying reforms and the flow of EU funds, and political analysts said the impasse looks likely to continue. Vetevendosje had 43% of votes after 99.4% of ballots were counted in Sunday’s election, the third in less than 18 months, official results showed. The Democratic Party of Kosovo was on 21% and the Democratic League of Kosovo was on 18% following the election, ‌called after Kosovo’s fractured parliament failed to ⁠elect a speaker a...
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Israeli military strikes Hezbollah in Beirut’s Dahiyeh

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE The Israeli military has struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, known as ‌Dahiyeh, the first strike on the militant group’s stronghold since ‌an April 16 ceasefire was brokered. The ceasefire has not halted the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah ​in southern Lebanon, with Israel saying it is working to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure on its borders. Hezbollah has rejected proposals linking a ceasefire to its disarmament, saying Israel must first halt its attacks and withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon. In ‌a joint statement with ⁠his defence minister, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike on Dahiyeh was ordered in response to Hezbollah firing ⁠toward Israeli territory. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The military said earlier it had intercepted two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, after sirens sou...
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Armenia votes as Russia piles pressure on pro-West government

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By Mariam HARUTYUNYAN, with Irakli METREVELI in Tbilisi AFP and Posted by TOE Armenia voted Sunday in a parliamentary election set to test Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s tilt to the West, as the country faces threats and allegations of interference from former imperial ruler Russia. Armenia and Russia are technically allies, but Moscow has compared the former Soviet republic’s EU ambitions to the same path it claims triggered its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The election comes after years of upheaval since Pashinyan was propelled to power in a 2018 street revolution. The small Caucasus country is still reeling from long-time foe Azerbaijan’s military takeover of the Karabakh region. The conflict came to an end in 2023, when Azerbaijan’s army seized control of the enclave, and most of the Armenian population fled. Pashinyan has framed the vote as a choice between a lasting peace with Azerbaijan, or a return to war. The 51-year-old has a...
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US strikes Iranian sites after Iran launches drones, in latest Gulf flare-up

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By Ahmed Elimam, Jana Choukeir and Phil Stewart Reuters U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran toward the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said, in the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two countries. The U.S. military believes the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime ‌traffic, a U.S. official told Reuters. U.S. Central Command said on X that the U.S. then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s ‌foreign ministry said the U.S. action broke an April 8 ceasefire, adding that repeated such violations showed Washington had no intention of reducing tensions. It warned that the United States would bear responsibility for the consequences of its “illegal actions” and any further escalation. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ​Corps said it had attacked U.S. bases in Kuwait an...
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Ukraine fires wave of drones at Russia on last day of key forum

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By AFP and Posted by TOE Ukraine fired hundreds of drones at Russia early Saturday, leaving one person dead and setting an oil depot ablaze on the final day of the country’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg, officials said. Many of the drones targeted Saint Petersburg itself, the second Ukrainian attack on the city in less than a week, with Ukraine’s SBU security services saying it had hit a naval base. Moscow and Kyiv have intensified drone strikes on each other in recent months as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war, now in its fifth year, remain stalled and sidetracked by the conflict in the Middle East. The strikes come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a meeting, drawing criticism from Zelensky, who accused him of “choosing war again”. Russian air defences intercepted a total of 376 drones over the regions of “Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga...
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Zelensky asks Putin to meet face-to-face, with US ‘fully focused’ on Iran

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By AFP and Posted by TOE Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter to the Russian leader Thursday, shortly after the Kremlin chief had conceded Moscow needed to strengthen its air defences amid a spate of Ukrainian attacks. The Kremlin said Putin had not yet been shown the letter, but that Zelensky could meet Putin in Moscow “any time” — a proposal that the Ukrainian leader preemptively ruled out in his letter. “Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you. I am proposing a meeting,” Zelensky said in the letter. “I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting,” he said. “Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” he added. Zelensky published the letter a day after Ukrainian drones hit Saint Petersburg, Putin’s home city hosting a major international economic for...
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