Israel to build world’s largest military checkpoint

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• Israel plans to build the world’s largest military checkpoint between the occupied West Bank and the city of Jerusalem al-Quds. Tel Aviv says it will facilitate the passage of Palestinians. But the Palestinians say it’s another attempt by Israel to prevent them from having an independent state.
• Eleven security forces from Libya’s unity government have been killed in clashes with Daesh terrorists. The clashes happened when Daesh launched a counter attack in the city of Abu Grein which the unity government captured on Tuesday. Seven soldiers also died in a car bombing west of the city of Sirte.
• Turkey has refused to revise its anti-terror law as demanded by the European Union. A spokesman for the Turkish president says reforming the law would embolden terrorist organizations. Ibrahim Kalin, however, added that there’s no change in Turkey’s policy regarding its refugee deal with the EU.
• The Afghan government has signed a draft agreement with a major militant group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Authorities hope the accord could bring lasting peace with the group, whose leader has been one of the top militant figures fighting against the central government.
• A military court in Lebanon has sentenced 106 militants to death over their involvement in clashes with the army back in 20-14. About one-third of the convicts are still at large. One of the detainees is a regional leader of the al-Nusra Front terrorist group in Syria.
• A Nigerian girl who was abducted by Boko Haram terrorists has been found alive near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon. The 19-year-old was among 276 girls the group had kidnapped after raiding a school in eastern Borno state in 2014. Dozens of girls escaped in the first hours, but 219 remained missing.
• An EU team visiting the Greek refugee camp of Idomeni has described living conditions at the overcrowded center as appalling. The camp lies on the Greek border with Macedonia. It's housing around 10-thousand asylum seekers who were prevented from continuing their journey to Western Europe.
• New official figures show that Spain’s public debt has surpassed 100-percent of the country’s GDP. According to the Bank of Spain, the debt increased over 14-billion euros in March, totaling one trillion and 95-billion euros. Spain’s public debt has been constantly rising since the 2008 global meltdown.

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