Greek parliament OKs referendum

Greek parliament OKs referendum

ATHENS, GREECE

Greece’s parliament has voted in favor of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ motion to have a referendum on the country’s creditor proposals for reforms in exchange for loans. Tsipras and his coalition government have urged people to vote against the deal, throwing into question the country’s financial future.

The vote is to take place next Sunday. It has raised the question of whether Greece can remain in Europe’s joint currency, the euro. Many Greeks alarmed by the announcement for the referendum early Saturday formed lines at ATM machines, putting a further strain on banking deposits.

Thousands mourn in mass funeral

KUWAIT CITY

Thousands of people in Kuwait took part in a mass funeral procession Saturday for 27 people killed in an attack against a Shiite mosque in the capital a day earlier.

An upstart local affiliate of the Islamic State group, calling itself the Najd Province, claimed responsibility for the attack that was carried out by a suicide bomber during midday Friday prayers inside one of Kuwait’s oldest Shiite mosques. The IS group views Shiites as heretics and refers to them derogatively as “rejectionists” among other slurs.

Officials: Suspect took selfie with slain victim after attack

FONTAINES-SUR-SAONE, France

The top suspect in the beheading of a businessman that French authorities are calling a terrorist attack took a “selfie” photo with the slain victim and sent the image via WhatsApp to a Canadian mobile phone number, officials said Saturday.

French investigators were working to determine the recipient’s identity, but weren’t able to immediately confirm media reports that it was an unspecified person now in Syria, where the radical Islamic State group has seized territory, the security officials said.

Top suspect Yassine Salhi, a truck driver with a history of radical Islamic ties, as well as his sister and wife remained in police custody in the city of Lyon, a day after he purportedly crashed a truck into a U.S.-owned chemical warehouse and hung his employer’s severed head on a factory gate, officials said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Associated Press