NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Globe
1 UNESCO site: The U. N. cultural agency expressed alarm Friday over clashes between Islamic State militants and Syrian government forces near the ancient city of Palmyra — one of the Middle East’s most famous UNESCO world heritage sites. UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said Palmyra, famous for its 2,000year- old ruins, should not become the target of any military activity. The Syrian government has urged the international community to protect Palmyra from Islamic State, which recently destroyed several archaeological sites in neighboring Iraq.
2 Scotland talks: British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday he would consider handing over more power to Scotland, but stopped short of agreeing to demands from Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to grant the territory full fiscal autonomy. Cameron and Sturgeon met in Edinburgh for their first talks since Britain’s national election last week, in which Sturgeon’s pro- independence Scottish National Party gained unprecedented national influence. Scotland has its own parliament and government, which decide policies on topics including health care, justice and education, but it must defer to London on such issues as defense, immigration and fiscal policies.
3 Boko Haram offensive: A Nigerian official says Boko Haram extremists have seized back the northeastern border town Marte and are attacking villages, weeks after the military said it had contained the insurgents in a forest stronghold. A multinational force and Nigerian troops last month had driven Boko Haram out of all towns.
4 Same- sex marriage: The prime minister of Luxembourg on Friday wed his partner of several years in the first same- sex marriage of a European Union leader. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel married Gauthier Destenay, a Belgian architect, less than a year after lawmakers in Luxembourg overwhelmingly legalized same- sex marriage, a sign of shifting attitudes in the predominantly Roman Catholic duchy.
5 Record heat: Spain and Portugal are seeing record high temperatures for May, hitting levels normally only reached in mid- summer. Up to 20 Spanish cities have been hit by scorching temperatures and several regional governments are worried about the effects on crops, Spain’s meteorological agency said Friday. The eastern town of Xativa recorded 109.2 Fahrenheit on Thursday. The southern Portuguese city of Beja sizzled Wednesday in 104 Fahrenheit. In Spain’s Canary Islands, temperatures reached 108.3 Fahrenheit on Wednesday.
6 ‘Undesirable’ foreigners: The Russian parliament gave preliminary approval Friday to legislation that would allow prosecutors to declare foreign and international organizations “undesirable” in Russia and shut them down. The step appeared to be part of a campaign to stifle civil society and dissent in Russia that intensified when President Vladimir Putin began his third term in 2012. Russian suspicions of Western intentions have been further heightened because of tensions over Ukraine.