Ban 'shocked to the core' by peacekeepers' sexual scandal

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• Iraqi forces are pushing toward the northern city of Mosul in an offensive to retake the capital of Nineveh province from Daesh terrorists. The army backed by Kurdish fighters engaged in a bloody battle with the terrorists in the village of Qayyarah near Mosul.
   
• Amnesty International says everyday some 100 Syrian refugees are expelled from Turkey back to their war-torn country. The rights group has criticized Turkey’s agreement with the European Union to take back all refugees who illegally cross to Greece. It says Turkey is not a safe country for asylum seekers.
   
• The Turkish president says he would continue to sue critics who insult him. Activists say Erdogan has filed over 1,800 court cases against individuals - including many journalists - for insulting him since he become president, which have led to more than a dozen sentences.
   
• In France, clashes erupt between police and protesters marching against proposed labor reforms put forward by the government. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the city of Rennes to denounce the reforms including maximum working hours. Police said at least 12 people were detained of whom three were slightly injured.
   
• In the UK, the family of Jean Charles De Menezes has failed to have the police officers behind his death prosecuted. The European Court of Human Rights said there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute anyone. Officers allegedly mistook him for a bomber and shot him dead in 2005.
   
• A Belgian court approves the extradition of the suspected mastermind of Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam to France. Abdeslam’s lawyer says he dropped his initial objection to extradition and renewed an offer to cooperate with the French authorities. Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18.
   
• In a meeting with South Korean President and Japanese Prime Minister, the US President has said the three countries are united against North Korea’s provocations. Obama also said the US and China are committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, the European Union expanded sanctions on Pyongyang.
   
• The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his utter shock amid a widening scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse by both UN peacekeepers and French troops in the Central African Republic. Young African girls have allegedly been forced by the soldiers to perform indecent acts with animals.

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