French President François Hollande is to meet with US President Barack Obama for the first time on Friday before a G8 summit on Europe’s debt crisis. The two are expected to discuss issues ranging from austerity to troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Former Bosnian-Serb general Ratko Mladic’s trial at The Hague was suspended indefinitely on Thursday due to “irregularities” in the transfer of prosecution documents. Mladic was being tried on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The US has been helping to funnel more sophisticated arms, such as anti-tank weaponry, to factions in Syria fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, a claim they say the US government has denied.
A group of armed men stormed a government compound in Afghanistan’s western Farah province on Thursday, killing at least seven people, including six policemen and one civilian, in what is the second such attack in the past week.
France's new Socialist government agreed a 30% salary cut for the president and for members of the cabinet at its first meeting on Thursday. “It’s setting an example,” Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a televised interview Wednesday.
The head of Greece’s Council of State, Panagiotis Pikrammenos, has been sworn in as the leader of the country’s caretaker government, which will attempt to lead the nation until new elections planned for June 17.
A Frenchman who lost his limbs successfully swam from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia on Thursday, the first part of his mission to swim between five continents. Philippe Croizon, 43, used prosthetics with flippers to make the 20-kilometre journey.
Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was found dead at her home on Wednesday. Kennedy, who was plagued by drug and alcohol problems, was 52 years old.
At least one person was killed in Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli on Thursday after fresh sectarian clashes erupted in pro and anti-Syrian neighbourhoods. The fighting, which began earlier this week, has claimed a total of nine lives.
Facebook increased the number of shares for its initial public offering by 25% on Wednesday amid expectations of high investor demand when trading begins on Friday. The firm increased its IPO share price this week to $34-$38 per share.
