DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Pakistan: more than 100 dead in electionrelated violence Two separate terrorist attacks targeting election rallies have left 133 people dead in Pakistan, officials said. Among those killed was provincial assembly candidate Nawabzada Siraj Raisani. One of the attacks took place the western province of Baluchistan, where a bomb went off and the other one occurred in the city of Bannu in northwestern Pakistan, involving a roadside bomb. Read more: Former PM Nawaz Sharif arrested on return to Pakistan The blast in Baluchistan left 128 dead, making it the most deadly attack in Pakistan in over three years, while five people died in the roadside bomb attack in Bannu. Akram Khan Durrani, former chief minister of the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was the target of the roadside bomb in Bannu, his political group has been a target of the Pakistani Taliban in the past.
Eritrean president arrives in Ethiopia ahead of embassy opening Afwerki, Eritreaʼs president throughout its 25 years of independence, arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday – less than a week after the two countries declared the official end to a two-decade-old border war. He was greeted upon landing in the capital Addis Ababa by reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed,who himself made a historic visit last weekend to Eritrea. Chief of staff to Ethiopiaʼs Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Fitsum Arega, thanked Isaias "for honoring us with a visit" in a statement. DWʼs correspondent in Addis Ababa Yohanes G. Egiziabher spoke to one excited onlooker who said he was looking forward to being able to cross the border to see friends.
160/2018 • 16 JULY, 2018
In Syria, rebel defeat marks ʼend of revolutionʼ What was once known as the
As regime forces take over the birthplace of the countryʼs revolution, experts have described it as the "end of the Syrian revolution." In a defeat steeped in symbolism, Syrian regime forces have ousted rebels from parts of Deraa,considered the birthplace of the countryʼs uprising. Deraa was where peaceful protests erupted in 2011, in what would eventually lead toa bloody regime crackdownthat triggered a war. Seven years later, armed opposition groups in the areaagreed to surrender and hand over heavy arms under a Russia-brokered deal, even while regime forces continued to bombard rebel-held pockets in and around Deraa city. Losing Deraa marks a significant blow to Syriaʼs rebel movement. While under previous surrender deals, opposition fighters unwilling to make peace with the governmentwould be transferred to Idlib, their last bastion in the country, this time regime negotiators have reportedly rejected such a compromise, a sign of how Damascus views its newfound position. "Deraa is the end of the Syrian revolution," Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and editor of Syria Comment blog, told DW. "All of Syriaʼs remaining ʼindependentʼ rebel militias are in the southeast. Once they are dismantled, the only region where rebel militias will hold sway is in the north … But
the militias that hold sway in the north are under direct US and Turkish control." In June 2011, opposition to the regime of President Bashar Assad culminated in the founding of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), bringing togethermilitary officers who defected from the armed forcesand rebel groups willing to take up arms against the state. In its infancy, the FSA was widely seen as the armed "moderate opposition" in Syria. While it enjoyed popular and international support at its onset, including receiving aid from the US and European allies, thealliance of armed opposition groups began to splintera year later, most notably under the weight of hard-line Islamist elements. Some FSA members even defected tothe "Islamic State" (IS) militant group in 2014. Since then,the opposition movement has further fractured into various factions, witnessed Islamist militant groups rise to the forefront and seen major losses in its former strongholds, most notably in Aleppo andeastern Ghouta. "The end of the armed opposition has been in the works for at least the past three years in my view, if not longer," Yezid Sayigh, senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told DW.
Ryanair flight makes emergency landing near Frankfurt A Ryanair flight from Dublin to the Croatian city of Zadar was forced to make an emergency landing at Frankfurt-Hahn airport in western Germany due to cabin pressure problems on Friday, German police said. Flight FR7312 landed at FrankfurtHahn airport at the small municipality of Hahn at around 11:30 p.m. Friday evening, a spokesman for the Federal Police told DW. "There was a technical problem and the air pressure went down, so the pilot had to take the aircraft down in Hahn," the spokesman said, adding that the exact cause of the emergency landing was unclear. One passenger, who was aboard the plane, posted aphotograph of the planeʼs oxygen maskshanging from the ceiling.
News Thailandʼs cave boys crave sushi, crispy pork as they recover in hospital All the 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand are recovering well from their ordeal and eagerly awaiting a chance to enjoy their favorite delicacies. In a new video released by Thai authorities, the boys appeared relaxed in their hospital beds. They began their brief statements thanking their rescuers with a "wai," the traditional Thai greeting. "I am in good health now," said one of the boys, a 14-year-old nicknamed Note. "Thanks for saving me."
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