World news in Brief: May 14

Thai voters went to the polling stations on Sunday morning in the Southeast Asian country's general election. The polls started at 8:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) and will continue until 5:00 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) on Sunday. More than 52 million Thai citizens are eligible to vote in the election.
The New Zealand government on Sunday unveiled a 1-billion-New Zealand dollar budget package that focuses on the flood and cyclone recovery in the country. (Representative Image)
The New Zealand government on Sunday unveiled a 1-billion-New Zealand dollar budget package that focuses on the flood and cyclone recovery in the country. (Representative Image)

* Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ruled out on Sunday the prospect of cooperation with the socialist PASOK-KINAL (Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Movement for Change) party to form a coalition government after the upcoming general elections.

* US President Joe Biden will travel to Hiroshima, Japan, to attend the G7 leaders' summit from Thursday, May 18, the White House said in a statement.

* One of the dominant Kurdish parties in northern Iraq on Sunday ended a months-long boycott of regional government cabinet meetings with its main coalition partner, easing tensions between factions that fought a civil war in the 1990s.

* US border patrol agents have seen a 50% drop in the number of migrants crossing the border since the pandemic-era US immigration policy known as Title 42 expired at midnight on Thursday, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.

* Poland will take delivery of its first HIMARS rocket launchers on Monday, defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Sunday, confirming earlier announcements that they would arrive mid-May.

* Shelling and air strikes pounded parts of Sudan's capital on Sunday with little sign that warring military factions were ready to back down in a conflict that has killed hundreds despite ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was received in Berlin by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday in his first visit to the country since Russia launched the “special military operation” as he tours European allies seeking to shore up support.

* Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that Bangladesh will not purchase anything from countries that impose sanctions against it.

* Over 2 million foreign tourists have visited the Philippines this year, the Philippines' Department of Tourism (DOT) said Sunday. Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco said the Southeast Asian country recorded 2,002,304 international visitor arrivals from Jan. 1 to May 12.

* Storm surges whipped up by a powerful cyclone moving inland from the Bay of Bengal inundated the Myanmar port city of Sittwe on Saturday, but largely spared a densely-populated cluster of refugee camps in low-lying neighbouring Bangladesh.

* A Nepali sherpa guide climbed Mount Everest for the 26th time on Sunday, hiking officials said, becoming the world’s second person to achieve the feat. Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, stood atop the 8,849-m (29,032-ft) peak, sharing the record number of summits with Kami Rita Sherpa.

VNA/Xinhua/Reuters