Digest year-ender
for international stories for month of May, 2018
May
1: Kano: Suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a mosque and a market in
northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, in a twin attack bearing the hallmarks of Boko
Haram and a day after US President Donald Trump pledged greater support to
fight the Islamist militants.
May
2: Washington: Former CIA director Mike Pompeo was today sworn-in as the US
Secretary of State and immediately vowed to look into the "flawed" Iran
nuclear deal criticised by President Donald Trump.
May
3: Washington: President Donald Trump confirmed today that he reimbursed his
personal lawyer the USD 130,000 he had given to adult-film star Stormy Daniels
to buy her silence over an alleged affair with him, forcing his advisers to
prepare for a new round of questions from the public.
May
4: Washington: President Donald Trump today said that he is willing to testify
before Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing alleged Russian
interference in the 2016 US presidential election, but wants assurance of fair
treatment.
May
5: Jerusalem: Drumming up international support for his call to "fix"
or "nix" the Iran nuclear deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has reached out to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to update him
on the recent developments.
May
6: Lahore: Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was shot at and injured in
a suspected assassination bid after he addressed a rally in Punjab province,
police say.
May
7: Kabul: Authorities in Afghanistan are working with tribal elders to trace
and free the seven Indian engineers abducted by Taliban gunmen in the restive
northern Baghlan province, media reports say.
May
8: Beijing: Sun Zhengcai, once tipped to become President Xi Jinping's
successor and later accused of plotting a coup against him, was today sentenced
to life imprisonment for taking USD 26.7 million in bribes.
May
9: Washington/London: US President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the
landmark Iran nuclear deal shocks the world, with America's closest allies like
France, Germany and the UK expressing concern over it while Iran's foes Israel
and Saudi Arabia welcoming the move.
May
10: Kuala Lumpur: Ninety-two-year-old
Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as the world's oldest elected leader after a
stunning election win that swept Malaysia's establishment from power after more
than six decades.
May
11: Islamabad: Pakistan's Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan was today given
the additional charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, days after former
foreign minister Khawaja Asif was disqualified by the high court here.
May
12: Baghdad: Iraq voted today in its first parliamentary election since
declaring victory over the Islamic State group, with growing tensions between
neighbouring Iran and the United States threatening a power struggle.
May
13: Islamabad: Pakistan's former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan says
the "uncooperative attitude" and "stubbornness" of the
Indian government has been the biggest obstacle in the Mumbai terror attacks
trial reaching a conclusion, according to a media report.
May
14: Jerusalem: The US today opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a
controversial move by President Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the
border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 52 Palestinians in
clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.
May
15: Geneva: North Korea plans to join international efforts to implement a
total ban on nuclear weapons tests, it told the United Nations disarmament body
today.
May
16: Washington: A key US Senate Committee today approved the nomination of
veteran intelligence officer Gina Haspel to become the new director of the CIA
despite the bitter debate over her role in the torture used by the US on Al-Qaeda
detainees in the early 2000s.
May
17: Lahore: A top Pakistani court dismisses three petitions submitted by
opposition parties to initiate treason proceedings against the embattled ousted
prime minister Nawaz Sharif for his controversial statement on the 2008 Mumbai
terror attack, declaring them "non-maintainable".
May
18: Havana: A Cuban state airways plane with 104 passengers on board crashed
shortly after taking off from Havana today, leaving a wreck of smoldering
fuselage, as the country's president warned many people were feared dead.
May
19: Windsor: Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were pronounced man and
wife at the majestic St George's Chapel in iconic Windsor Castle where the
couple exchanged wedding vows and sealed their marriage with a kiss before
millions of people around the world who watched the glorious event.
May
20: Islamabad: Pakistan's top civil and military leaders decide to give greater
administrative and financial authority to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and
Gilgit-Baltistan, the region through which the controversial USD 50 billion
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes.
May
21: Washington: President Donald Trump today tightened financial sanctions
against Venezuela following what the US described as a "sham"
election in the country.
May
22: Putrajaya: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was grilled for more
than four hours today over a corruption scandal that could lead to criminal
charges against him, while the country's new anti-graft chief said
investigations into the case were suppressed by intimidation during Najib's
rule.
May
23: Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping says with the entry of India and
Pakistan, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has gained more potential
for cooperation and more expectations from the international community.
May
24: Moscow: Moscow today rejected an international investigation that found a
Russian missile downed flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, saying no such weapon
had ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border and blaming Kiev for the tragedy.
May
25: New York: Harvey Weinstein was arrested and arraigned in a court here today
on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on
him, months after the disgraced movie mogul was accused by over 80 women of
sexual misconduct which sparked the global #MeToo movement.
May
26: London: Ireland today voted overwhelmingly to overturn the abortion ban by
66.4 per cent, a landslide victory for the yes vote to repeal the country's
stringent abortion laws in a landmark referendum.
May
27: Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in said today that North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un committed in their surprise meeting to sitting down with
President Donald Trump and to a "complete denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula." May 28: Islamabad: Pakistan's former chief justice Nasirul
Mulk was today named as the caretaker prime minister until general elections on
July 25 to oversee the second-ever democratic transition of power in the
country ruled by the powerful army for much of its life since it gained
independence 70 years ago.
May
29: Islamabad: In an unusual move, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
has called for a national debate on the future civil-military relations, the
role of the judiciary and other state institutions in the country.
May
30: Kiev: Ukraine admitted today it had staged the murder of anti-Kremlin
journalist Arkady Babchenko in order to foil an attempt on his life by Russia,
a stunning development in a case that had attracted global headlines.
May
31: Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang invites North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un to visit Russia, Moscow said, during the first
meeting between the head of the reclusive state and a Russian official.
(Source PTI)
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