French coast guard stops nine migrants
heading to UK by small boat
CALAIS, May 19: France's coast guard on Sunday stopped a small boat with nine migrants - including a boy suffering mild hypothermia - from crossing the English Channel to reach Britain, it said in a statement. The nine, all of them male and most of them adults, said they were Iranians, the regional marine prefecture said in the statement. They were intercepted by a patrol vessel around 5.5 kilometres (3.5 miles) offshore, only a short way across the Channel, which is around 30 kilometres wide at its closest points. — AFP
Five foreign tourists perish in plane crash
TEGUCIGALPA, May 19: Five foreigners including the pilot died on Saturday when their private plane crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Roatán island, a tourist destination on the Atlantic coast of Honduras, local authorities said. Officials gave conflicting accounts of the victims' nationalities. Armed forces spokesman Jose Domingo Meza said four of the victims were from the United States and the fifth victim's nationality had yet to be determined. —Reuters
Austrian president calls for Sept snap elections
VIENNA, May 19: Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said on Sunday he wanted snap elections to take place in September after the government collapsed over a corruption scandal. "My preference is for early elections in September, if possible the beginning of September," Van der Bellen told journalists after holding talks with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. — AFP
S Arabia does not want war with Iran
DUBAI, May 19: A top Saudi diplomat says the kingdom does not want war but will defend itself, amid a recent spike in tensions with archrival Iran. Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, spoke early Sunday, a week after four oil tankers were targeted in an alleged act of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and days after Iran-allied Yemeni rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline. — AP
UN peacekeeper dies in Mali attack
UNITED NATIONS, May 19: A Nigerian peacekeeper was killed on Saturday in an attack on the United Nations' stabilization mission in Mali, the UN said. The victim "succumbed to his wounds following the armed attack by unidentified assailants" in Timbuktu, a statement said. A Nigerian peacekeeper was also injured. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply saddened" by the assault, which he said could amount to a war crime. — AFP
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