Angela Merkel calls for refugee safe zones in Syria

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is pushing for the establishment of safe zones in Syria near the Turkish border where refugees could find shelter. She says a significant level of security as well as ceasefire should be guaranteed in these areas.
• Hungary’s prime minister says the EU has sold out to Turkey with regard to its refugee crisis. Viktor Orban called the recent deal between the bloc and Ankara a mistake. He warned that the security of the EU cannot be in the hands of a power outside the bloc.
• EU finance ministers have proposed a series of measures to combat tax evasion in the wake of the Panama Papers leak. They have discussed a joint blacklist of tax havens to expose the methods used by European individuals and companies to evade or minimize taxes.
• The search for at least one suspect is underway a day after eight members of the same family were shot dead in the state of Ohio execution-style. The bodies were found in four different properties in Pike County. Official say the investigation is still in its early stages.
• Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says his country is an advocate for fighting terrorism. He says Daesh would have taken over both Syria and Iraq without Iran’s assistance. Rouhani also stressed that Tehran favors a Middle East free from nuclear weapons.
• At least a dozen people have lost their lives in two car bomb attacks that also wounded another 39 in the Iraqi capital. The first bomb hit a security checkpoint in a northern Baghdad district, killing nine. Another three died as the second blast targeted an army convoy on Baghdad’s southern outskirts.
• Israel is planning to confiscate over 12-hundred acres of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. The army has already set up outposts in the village of Jalud, which it considers a military-identified area. The move is in violation of both Israeli and international law.
• The death toll from Ecuador's devastating earthquake has risen to nearly 650. Last week’s 7.8 quake has also left 12,500 people injured. President Rafael Correa says the country is in crisis. Ecuador has already been hit by the implications of the fall in oil prices.

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