Power and balance

March 31, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

As alliances and divisions sharpen in Europe and the Middle East, dangers loom.

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Saudi-led naval forces imposed a blockade on Yemen's ports as coalition airstrikes on Monday repelled an advance on the southern port city of Aden by Shiite rebels and forces loyal to a former president. The move to block ports appeared aimed at preventing the rebels, known as Houthis, from rearming, and comes after the coalition achieved full control of the skies and bombed a number of rebel-held airports. The rebels are supported by Iran, but both Iran and the Houthis deny Tehran has armed them.

Guards shot one man dead and seriously wounded a second when they tried to ram a vehicle into the entrance gate at the Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters of the National Security Agency on Monday, news reports said. Federal law enforcement officials told Reuters that two people in a car tried to ram the spy agency's gate and initial indications are that at least one was seriously injured. The motive was unknown but the incident was not related to terrorism, the officials said. The FBI is investigating.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was convicted Monday of unlawfully accepting money from a US supporter in a retrial on corruption charges, the latest chapter in the downfall of a man who only years earlier hoped to lead the country to a historic peace agreement with the Palestinians. The conviction could land Olmert five years in prison, in addition to a six-year prison sentence he received last year in a separate bribery conviction, all but ensuring the former premier will not return to politics for many years to come.

A church van ran through a stop sign, crossed all four lanes of a rural highway and crashed into in a canal, killing eight people and injuring 10 Monday in southwest Florida, authorities said. The van was heading back to church in Fort Pierce, north of West Palm Beach on the Atlantic coast, after a weekend convention in Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Eighteen people were on board when the van crashed at the intersection about 12:30 a.m. Monday, said Lt. Gregory S. Bueno of the Highway Patrol.

A powerful earthquake rattled the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea on Monday, generating a small tsunami and frightening locals near the epicenter, but prompting no reports of damage or injuries. A tsunami of half a meter (1.5 feet) was measured in the harbor of Rabaul, a town near the epicenter of the magnitude-7.7 earthquake, said Martin Mose, acting director for Papua New Guinea's National Disaster Center. The quake struck at a depth of 40 miles, 30 miles southeast of the town of Kokopo, near Rabaul, in northeastern Papua New Guinea, the US Geological Survey reported.

British Prime Minister David Cameron paid a courtesy call on Queen Elizabeth II, then launched a most uncourteous attack on his main political rival as campaigning formally began Monday in the most unpredictable U.K. election in decades. The royal audience — possibly Cameron's last as prime minister — came as Britain's Parliament was officially dissolved ahead of the May 7 vote. While issues such as the European Union and immigration will play a big role in the campaign, both Cameron's Conservatives and their main opposition, the Labour Party, are focusing their pitches on the economy.

President Barack Obama will make his first trip as president to Kenya, the country of his father's birth. The White House says Obama will visit Kenya in July for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which brings together business leaders, international organizations and governments. This will be the first time the summit takes place in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

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