TBILISI (AFP) – The leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia has set July 17 as a date for a referendum on joining Russia. “Anatoly Bibilov signed a decree on holding a referendum in the Republic of South Ossetia,” his office said in a statement, citing his people’s “historic aspiration” to join Russia.  South Ossetia was at the center of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 after which the Kremlin recognized the territory – along with another separatist region, Abkhazia – as an independent state and stationed military bases there. “We are coming home,” Bibilov said on messaging app Telegram. “The time has come to unite once and for all. “South Ossetia and Russia will be together. This is the start of a big new story,” the outgoing leader added. Georgia’s officials have previously denounced as “unacceptable” plans by South Ossetia to hold such a referendum. South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, the pro-Western government in Tbilisi has never recognized the independence of South Ossetia. The region was at the center of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 after which the Kremlin recognized the territory - along with another separatist region, Abkhazia - as an independent state and stationed military bases there.

 

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MILWAUKEE (NBC News) – A mass shooting in downtown Milwaukee left 17 people wounded late Friday shortly after fans left a nearby NBA playoff game, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.  The shooting took place around 11 p.m. just blocks away from Fiserv Forum, where thousands of fans attended the Bucks’ Game 6 loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series hours earlier.  The victims range from 15 to 47 years of age, police said in a news release. All are expected to survive, it said.  It added that 10 people had been taken into custody and nine guns recovered.  The shooting came hours after three people were shot in a separate incident nearby, according to NBC affiliate WTMJ. The extent of their injuries is unclear.

 

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ANKARA (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Says Ankara does not have a “positive opinion” on Finland and Sweden joining NATO, throwing up a potential obstacle for the nations’ membership bid. The leader of NATO member Turkey spoke ahead of expected confirmations from the Nordic nations on Sunday that they will apply to join the Western military alliance. Once a country has decided to apply for NATO membership, the alliance’s 30 members must agree unanimously to extend a formal invitation, which is followed by membership negotiations. Erdogan accused both countries of harboring “terrorist organizations” in his unfavorable assessment of the membership bids. “We do not have a positive opinion,” Erdogan told journalists in Istanbul. “Scandinavian countries are like a guesthouse for terror organizations,” he said. Turkey has long accused Nordic countries, especially Sweden, which has a strong Turkish immigrant community, of harboring extremist Kurdish groups as well as supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher wanted over a failed 2016 coup.

 

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NEW DELHI (AP) – Police arrested two owners of a company that manufactures and sells security cameras after a massive fire reportedly started in their office in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing 27 people and injuring 12 others, police and fire officials said Saturday. The police registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and a criminal conspiracy that is punishable with life imprisonment or 10 years in jail. The building had no clearance from the fire department and it was not equipped with fire safety equipment like extinguishers, said Atul Garg, director of Delhi Fire Services. Garg said the fire started on the first floor of the building on Friday evening and spread quickly to other areas where inflammable plastic material used to manufacture equipment including security cameras and a large quantity of cardboard used for packaging were stored. At least 50 people were rescued from the building, which contains mainly shops, the fire control room said. The building is located in the Mundka area in western New Delhi. Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents. In 2019, a fire caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in New Delhi and killed 43 people.

 

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MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Police in Somalia have announced a 33-hour curfew on the capital Mogadishu that will keep almost all residents at home during a presidential election by lawmakers on Sunday, in which incumbent leader Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed is seeking a second term. Police spokesperson Abdifatah Aden announced at a press conference on Saturday a full curfew in the city, covering both traffic and people, from Saturday at 9:00 p.m. until Monday at 6:00 a.m. Lawmakers, security personnel and all others officials involved in the vote are still free to move during those hours. The indirect election, in which lawmakers will pick a president, will take place in an airport hangar behind blast walls to help fend off potential attacks or meddling by factions within the security services. Mohamed is facing 37 opponents in the vote, including two former presidents, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who analysts see as the frontrunners. Originally they were 39, but between Thursday and Friday two candidates announced they were exiting the race.

 

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SYDDNEY (Reuters) – A Chinese intelligence ship tracked off Australia’s west coast within 50 nautical miles of a sensitive defense facility did not breach international maritime laws, Australia said on Saturday.  Australia tracked the spy ship over the past week as it sailed past the Harold E Holt naval communications station at Exmouth, in Western Australia, which is used by Australian, U.S. and allied submarines.  Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday the Chinese navy vessel was not in Australian territorial waters. Asked on Saturday about whether the vessel’s conduct was a “red line”, Morrison said freedom of navigation was permitted around the world and the ship had not broken maritime laws. “International law of the sea has not been breached,” he told reporters on the campaign trail in Melbourne.   Defence Minister Peter Dutton claimed this week that he considered the vessel’s movement “an act of aggression” for travelling so far south.