World Briefs

FRANCE Marine Le Pen’s (pictured) anti-immigration National Front was the frontrunner heading into the decisive second round of French regional elections yesterday, and now it’s up to voters whether to hand the once-pariah party an unprecedented political victory.

FRANCE British street artist Banksy has taken on the migrant crisis in a new mural at a migrant camp in France. The elusive graffiti artist has depicted the late Apple guru Steve Jobs — whose biological father was from Syria — carrying a black garbage bag and an early model of the Macintosh computer.

CHILE A helicopter working for an MTV reality show crashed in western Argentina on Saturday and both people on board were killed, local authorities said.
RUSSIA A fire swept through a Russian home for people with mental illnesses, killing 23 patients and injuring another 23, many of whom were unable to walk, the emergency services said yesterday. The remaining 24 patients were safely evacuated, including some who had to be carried out of the building, and the four medical personnel working at the home were unhurt, they said.

Switzerland Two Syrians arrested in a vehicle containing traces of explosives have not been clearly linked to four men with suspected ties to the Islamic State group who are wanted by Swiss authorities, the Geneva prosecutor said Saturday.

SAUDI ARABIA  Women across Saudi Arabia marked a historic milestone on Saturday, both voting and running as candidates in government elections for the first time. At least five women won seats on local municipal councils according to initial results released yesterday.

GAMBIA’s president has declared the tiny West African country an Islamic republic, saying he decided this because Islam is the religion of the majority of its citizens and to break from the nation’s colonial past.

SYRIA Rebels entrenched in an eastern suburb of Damascus fired volleys of mortar shells that slammed into neighborhoods of the Syrian capital yesterday, killing one child and wounding at least three people, Syria’s state-run news agency and residents said.