Egypt Today's world news brief

CAIRO – 3 June 2018: Egypt Today brings you the latest top of the hour news from around the world over the past 24 hours in this round-up.

Syria's Assad will visit North Korea

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he plans to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media reported on Sunday, potentially the first meeting between Kim and another head of state in Pyongyang.


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as seen in Damascus, Syria November 14, 2017. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

"I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong Un," Assad said on May 30, North Korea's KCNA news agency reported, using the initials of the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian president’s office.

Pyongyang and Damascus maintain good relations, and United Nations monitors have accused North Korea of cooperating with Syria on chemical weapons, a charge the North denies.

Both countries have faced international isolation, North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme, and Syria over its tactics during a bloody civil war.

Thousands protest against the government in Macedonia

Several thousand supporters of Macedonia's opposition VMRO-DPMNE party protested on Saturday against changing the name of the country and to demand an early election because of the poor state of the economy, which contracted last year.


Supporters of opposition party VMRO-DPMNE take part in a protest over compromise solution in Macedonia's dispute with Greece over the country's name in Skopje, Macedonia, June 2, 2018. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has promised to boost the economy and accelerate the country's accession to NATO and the European Union, moves that have so far been blocked by its neighbour and EU-member Greece in a row over Macedonia's name.

People waving Macedonian and party flags gathered in front of the government building in the capital Skopje, with some of them holding banners that read: "Macedonia will win."

Macedonia and Greece have been holding talks to resolve the long-running row over the use by the former Yugoslav republic of the name Macedonia, which Greece says implies a territorial claim because its northern province has the same name.

Turkish air strikes "neutralise" 15 Kurdish militants - military

Air strikes by Turkish warplanes "neutralised" at least 15 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq as well as in Turkey's eastern provinces of Tunceli and Siirt, the military said on Saturday. The strikes were carried out on Friday and Saturday, it said on Twitter.


Turkish air strikes 'neutralise' 15 Kurdish militants – military - Reuters

Jordanian PM rejects demands to scrap tax law after protests

Jordan's prime minister refused to scrap an IMF-backed tax reform bill on Saturday that has sparked the largest protests in over five years against steep price hikes, saying it was up to parliament to decide its fate.

Several thousand demonstrators staged protests near the cabinet office for the third consecutive night over the draft legislation, chanting anti-government slogans and urging King Abdullah to sack Prime Minister Hani Mulki.


Demonstrators stand face to face with riot police during a protest in front of the Prime Minister's office in Amman, Jordan June 1, 2018.

Security forces blocked main roads leading to the cabinet office to prevent demonstrators coming close, witnesses said.

Activists said hundreds of people also protested peacefully in other towns, such as Ramtha in north and Maan city in the south.

Ethiopia to lift emergency rule two months early, declaring unrest over

Ethiopia's parliament is set to lift a six-month state of emergency two months early, after the cabinet approved a draft law that said calm has been restored, an official said.

The government imposed emergency rule in February, a day after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned amid popular unrest and division within the ruling coalition.


Ethiopia to lift emergency rule two months early, declaring unrest over - Reuters

Saudi Arabia says it released eight people in activist crackdown

Saudi Arabia temporarily released eight people accused of communicating with organisations opposed to the kingdom and held nine others in detention, state news agency SPA reported on Saturday.

The public prosecutor said it had interrogated people arrested last month, whom human rights groups and activists identified as women's rights activists.

In a statement, the public prosecutor said the detainees had admitted to communicating and cooperating with individuals and organisations opposed to the kingdom, recruiting people to get secret information to hurt the country's interests, and offering material and emotional support to hostile elements abroad.


In this March 29, 2014 file photo, Aziza al-Yousef drives a car on a highway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)

Prince Mohammed has courted Western allies in a bid to open up the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom and diversify its oil-dependent economy, the region's largest.

Trump says June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim is back on

After meeting with a senior envoy from Pyongyang, Donald Trump said a planned summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un was back on for June 12 in Singapore.

“I think it’s probably going to be a very successful, ultimately a successful process,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn.


U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he talks to the media on South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., before his departure to Camp David, December 16, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas