***DUPLICATION ALERT: Afghanistan also move as separate. Check your lineups.***
SYRIA
Government troops widen border offensive
Syrian soldiers backed by warplanes battled rebels for control of strategic hilltop villages near the Lebanese border on Friday, as government troops step up counterattacks against opposition forces threatening regime supply lines on the country’s frontiers. Fighting raged around Qusair, a contested central Syrian town near a key highway between Damascus and the coast. The battles came as government forces launched a second offensive against rebels in the province of Daraa on the Jordanian border, where the opposition has been making steady advances in recent weeks.
ISRAEL
Israel retaliates for Syrian fire
Israel’s military says its troops shelled a position on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights from which they received fire. It said “artillery and shots” were fired along the border Friday evening, causing no damage and no injuries. Soldiers responded with artillery fire and identified a “direct hit.” It did not provide further details.
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban militants hit Afghan outpost
Taliban militants stormed an Afghan army outpost on Friday, killing 13 soldiers in an area that is a major infiltration route for insurgents crossing the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The attack began at dawn in Nari district of Kunar province. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said the insurgents captured the base, seizing ammunition and weapons.
SOUTH SUDAN
Nations to resume oil exports
South Sudan’s president says he and Sudan’s president have agreed to resume of oil exports and border trade. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir traveled to South Sudan on Friday for the first time since the south peacefully broke away from Sudan in 2011. South Sudan President Salva Kiir said the two presidents agreed to the free movement of people and goods across the border. Ten border points are to be opened.
CANADA
Trial ordered in dismemberment case
A former porn actor accused of dismembering his Chinese lover and mailing the body parts to political parties will stand trial on first-degree murder charges, a Canadian judge ruled Friday. Luka Magnotta has pleaded not guilty in the slaying of Jun Lin last May. He is accused of killing the university student and posting a video online that shows him stabbing and having sex with the dismembered corpse. A Quebec judge ruled there is enough evidence for trial. The prosecution said the trial will be in 2014.
LITHUANIA
Woman shares home with puma cubs
A Lithuanian woman has been raising three pumas in her three-room apartment after fearing for their lives at the local zoo. Rasa Veliute, a 23-year-old volunteer at the zoo in Klaipeda, a Baltic Sea port town, said she took the cubs home four months ago after their mother began neglecting them. The pumas are named Kipsas, Gipse and Kinde. Veliute said they eat a lot of chicken and get along well with her East European shepherd dog. There is no Lithuanian law barring keeping the animals at home, and the zoo did not object to Veliute’s actions. But Veliute said Friday that the pumas have grown fast and will likely return to the zoo this summer.
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