Queen Elizabeth II surpasses Victoria
LONDON – Queen Elizabeth II has reached a major milestone by becoming the longest-reigning monarch in Britain’s history.
She passes Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother, who was on the throne for 63 years and 7 months.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that millions on Britons would celebrate the queen’s “historic moment.”
“Over the last 63 years, Her Majesty has been a rock of stability in a world of constant change and her selfless sense of service and duty has earned admiration not only in Britain, but right across the globe,” Cameron said.
“It is only right that today we should celebrate her extraordinary record, as well as the grace and dignity with which she serves our country.”
42,000 more migrants coming to Hungary
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Leaders of the United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday that Hungary faces a bigger wave of 42,000 asylum seekers in the next 10 days and will need international help to provide shelter on its border, where newcomers already are complaining bitterly about being left to sleep in frigid fields.
Officials from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it was sending tents, beds and thermal blankets to Hungary’s border with Serbia, where for the past two days frustrated groups from the Middle East, Asia and Africa have ignored police instructions to stay put and instead have marched on a highway north to Budapest.
Commissioner Antonio Guterres accused the entire European Union of failing to see the crisis coming or take coordinated action, even though the 28-nation bloc of 508 million people should have enough room and resources to absorb hundreds of thousands of newcomers with ease.
Turkey hunts down PKK rebels in Iraq
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey deployed ground forces across the border into northern Iraq on Tuesday for the first time since 2011, stepping up its battle against Kurdish rebels who have stung the Turkish military with a string of attacks in recent weeks.
The move, however, could frustrate the U.S.-led alliance’s efforts against the Islamic State group because Turkey is now hunting down the very fighters who are trying to hold back the militant group from taking more territory in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish authorities haven’t given a specific timeframe for the operation in northern Iraq, although one official said it was a “short-term” offensive to root out rebels. Turkish jets also carried out more airstrikes against rebel camps in the region.
The cross border operations came amid a wave of attacks by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that killed at least 31 soldiers and police since Sunday.
Former Guatemalan president jailed
GUATEMALA CITY – Former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina was ordered jailed on Tuesday on charges of fraud, conspiracy and bribery in connection to a customs corruption scandal that took down much of his government and forced him to resign.
Judge Miguel Angel Galvez ordered the former president held during an investigation into whether he should stand trial. Galvez determined that there was enough evidence to link him to the fraud ring, known as “La Linea,” or “The Line,” in which businesspeople paid bribes to avoid import duties through Guatemala’s customs agency.
The scheme, uncovered last year by prosecutors and a U.N. commission known as CICIG, which is investigating criminal networks in the country, is believed to have defrauded the state of millions.
The Associated Press
