Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and five were seriously injured on Tuesday when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in central Mali, the UN mission said.. The mission gave no immediate word about the casualties' nationalities.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday defended his government's hotly contested pensions overhaul, making a rare intervention on a reform he has championed but where he has kept a low profile.. - National 'treasure' - Macron described the French retirement scheme as a "treasure" and the "inheritance of those who don't have one".
Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and five were seriously injured on Tuesday when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in central Mali, the UN mission said.. MINUSMA -- the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali -- was created in 2013 to help stabilise a state battered by jihadist insurgents.
A Tehran court on Tuesday sentenced to death an Iranian-German dual national accused of being the leader of a "terrorist" group behind a deadly 2008 mosque bombing, the judiciary said.. "The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Jamshid Sharmahd, the leader of the Tondar terrorist group, to death on the charge of corruption on earth through planning and directing terrorist acts," the judiciary's Mizan Online news agency reported.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy was poised to strike eastern Madagascar on Tuesday, slightly weakening after brushing Mauritius with powerful winds and heavy rain, monitors said.. - Mauritius spared - Authorities in Mauritius on Tuesday lifted a cyclone warning but warned that they remained on alert for heavy rain.
France has matched its record dry spell of 31 days without significant rainfall, the country's weather service said Tuesday, amid concerns over water reserves in parts of Europe still reeling from last year's severe drought. . Crops withered in European breadbaskets and the historic dry spell drove record wildfire intensity and placed severe pressure on the continent's power grid and water reserves.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday defended his government's hotly contested pensions overhaul in rare comments about the topic.. But Macron, who put the overhaul at the centre of his re-election campaign last year, has largely remained quiet on the topic.
Philippine rescue teams began climbing an active volcano Tuesday in a "very risky operation" to reach the wreckage of a small plane that crashed at the weekend, officials said.. Attempts to lower rescue teams to the crash site by helicopter were aborted Tuesday due to strong winds and cloud cover, officials said.
The Israeli parliament backed a key part of a controversial judicial overhaul at first reading Tuesday despite protests across the country against a bill critics see as a threat to democracy.. The premier presents the overhaul as key to restoring balance between the branches of government, arguing judges currently have too much power over elected officials.
Taiwan will boost military exchanges with the United States to curb "authoritarian expansionism", President Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday after meeting with visiting US lawmakers. . "Taiwan and the United States continue to bolster military exchanges," Tsai said after convening with the US delegation at her office in Taipei.
