Saddam Hussein’s envoy dies in hospital
BAGHDAD – Tariq Aziz, the debonair Iraqi diplomat who made his name by staunchly defending Saddam Hussein to the world during three wars and was later sentenced to death as part of the regime that killed hundreds of thousands of its own people, has died in a hospital in southern Iraq, officials said. He was 79.
Aziz, who had been in custody in a prison in the south awaiting execution, died Friday afternoon after he was taken to the al-Hussein hospital in the city of Nasiriyah following a heart attack, according to the provincial governor, Yahya al-Nassiri.
Aziz, the highest-ranking Christian in Saddam’s regime, was its international face for years. He was sentenced in 2010 to hang for persecuting members of the Shiite Muslim religious parties that now dominate Iraq.
Greek leader rejects ‘irrational’ deal
ATHENS, Greece –Greece cannot accept the “irrational” proposal made this week by the institutions overseeing its bailout, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said during an emergency Parliament session Friday, adding that any deal must also include some form of debt relief.
His speech came the morning after a surprise announcement that Greece would defer an IMF payment due Friday and would instead bundle all four installments due in June a total of 1.6 billion euros into one payment at the end of the month.
The move highlighted the brinkmanship of Greece’s protracted negotiations to release the remaining funds in its international bailout and the dire state of the country’s liquidity.
Without the 7.2 billion euros left in the 240 billion euro bailout fund it’s been relying on since 2010, Greece will be unable to meet its steep debt repayments to the IMF and European Central Bank over the next few months. Bankruptcy looms and with it a potential exit from the euro.
French official upset by Israel boycott talk
PARIS – France’s foreign minister is criticizing any boycott of Israel, amid uproar over French telecom giant Orange’s announcement that it wants to cut ties with Israel.
Laurent Fabius said in a statement Friday that it is up to Orange to determine its business strategy, but “France is firmly opposed to a boycott of Israel.”
Orange’s chief executive Stephane Richard said in Cairo on Wednesday he wants to end his company’s relationship with an Israeli partner because of sensitivity to Arab countries.
Airliner’s co-pilot visited many doctors
MARSEILLE, France – A state prosecutor says a co-pilot with a history of depression who crashed a Germanwings airliner into the French Alps had reached out to dozens of doctors ahead of the disaster, a revelation that suggests Andreas Lubitz was seeking advice about an undisclosed ailment.
Meanwhile, families of those killed in the crash received long-awaited news that they will start receiving bodies next week.
Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin, who is leading a criminal investigation into the March 24 crash that killed all 150 people on board Germanwings Flight 9525, told The Associated Press that he has received information from foreign counterparts and is going over it before a meeting with victims’ relatives in Paris next week.
Associated Press
