IRAQ A car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 63 people and wounding dozens in an attack that was swiftly claimed by the extremist Islamic State group. The bomb struck a crowded outdoor market.
SOUTH CHINA SEA Upping the ante in the feud over who is responsible for rising tensions in the South China Sea, China said repeated U.S. Navy patrols in the area are forcing it to boost the defense capabilities of the islands it controls and may require it to launch more air and sea patrols.
PHILIPPINES President Benigno Aquino III had called this week’s election a referendum on his presidency, but his preferred candidate lost by millions of votes to a shoot-from-the-lip mayor. And if the vice presidency goes to a son of the dictator ousted 30 years ago by a movement led by Aquino’s mother, an entire family political legacy may fall into doubt.
AUSTRALIA Five men have been arrested on suspicion that they planned to leave Australia in a seven-meter boat to fight in Syria. The men, aged 21 to 33, had towed the half-cabin power boat with a car from their homes in Melbourne to Cairns in Australia’s tropical north before they were arrested.
MIGRANT CRISIS A Hungarian man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbing four migrants from Afghanistan last year. An appeals court in the western city of Gyor yesterday confirmed a lower court ruling which declared the man was guilty of taking cash, mobile phones and clothes with a total value of USD1,400 from the migrants.
MEDIA Facing declining revenues and changing reader habits, New Zealand’s two main newspaper groups are discussing a merger that could end decades of competition and result in hundreds of job losses. If approved by regulators, the merger would combine the New Zealand newspapers, radio stations and websites owned by Fairfax Media and APN News & Media.
USA The Material Girl will pay tribute to The Purple One with a live performance at the Billboard Music Awards this month. Madonna will honor Prince at the May 22 show. Specific details about the performance weren’t revealed. Prince was found dead on April 21 in his suburban Minneapolis home at age 57.
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