News / News Bulletin

Taliban appoint Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada as new leader

Wednesday, 25 May 2016 8:29 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 25 May 2016 8:29 AM ]

This photograph taken on May 21, 2016 shows Pakistani local residents gathering around a destroyed vehicle hit by a drone strike in which Afghan Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed. (AFP)

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have appointed Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader. The group earlier confirmed that its former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour had been killed in a US drone strike. Taliban say all members of the group’s supreme council have pledged allegiance to the new leader.
Also in Afghanistan, ten people have been killed in a bomb attack. Four others were wounded in the attack in Kabul. According to the Afghan interior ministry, the explosion targeted a bus carrying staff from an appeal court. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The International Monetary Fund says it will participate in an international bailout plan for Greece after Eurozone announced a deal with Athens. The IMF and the Eurogroup have been at odds over the issue of reducing Greece's debt. Greece agreed to a third bailout worth 100 billion dollars last year.
Hundreds of gas stations in France are shuttered as the workers of the country’s eight oil refineries join a national strike over new labor laws. In the southern port city of Marseille, police used tear gas and water canon to disperse workers who had blocked roads near a refinery.
A protest against US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump turns violent outside his campaign rally in New Mexico . Protesters held up anti-Trump banners and resisted removal by security officers. Trump’s stance on Mexican immigrants, Muslims, and other groups has drawn criticism from inside and outside America.
Israel has issued demolition orders for more Palestinian structures and properties in the occupied West Bank. Water wells, agricultural structures, and an agricultural road will be destroyed in the latest Israeli plan. Some six-hundred Palestinian structures have been demolished in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2016.
Amnesty International accuses 12 European countries of fuelling torture and killings in Egypt through supplying the country with arms and policing equipment. Amnesty said this violates an EU-wide suspension of arms transfers to Egypt imposed after hundreds of protesters were killed in 2013.
Russia says nearly 28000 Daesh terrorists have been killed since it launched an air campaign in Syria last September. Russia’s deputy Security Council chief Yevgeny Lukyanov said the figure amounts to one third of all Daesh terrorists believed to be operating in Syria.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

News in Brief