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Turkish airstrikes kill Kurdish soldiers in Syria

According to CNN, on Oct. 19, Turkish planes bombed Kurdish fighters, who are allies of the U.S., in northern Syria. The Kurdish fighters were advancing against ISIS soldiers 25 miles northwest of Aleppo, according to representatives from the Kurdish militia in an interview with CNN. Turkey claimed the strikes killed around 200, but a Kurdish political party in Turkey said that only 14 have been killed.

Philippines president announced break with the US

Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, said that the Philippines is breaking ties with the United States, as reported by NBC News. A State Department spokesperson said on Oct. 20 that the United States is trying to figure out what the president means by his comments and what the ramifications of the separation will be. A full separation between the countries would mean the repeal of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the U.S.

Mars spacecraft lost

Schiaparelli, a spacecraft that was expected to land on Mars on Oct. 19, has lost contact with the European Space Agency, according to CNN. Schiaparelli was to be the first Mars probe sent by the European Space Agency. The spacecraft lost contact 50 seconds before it was supposed to land, and the agency thinks that something may have gone wrong with the parachute. The Trace Gas Orbiter, which travelled with Schiaparelli, is still intact, and is expected to investigate the presence of methane gas on Mars, which could help determine whether life on the planet is possible, until 2020.

South Africa withdraws from international war crimes court

Within a week of Burundi’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), South Africa’s prime minister has stated the country’s intent to follow suit, according to NPR. A South African minister explained to the BBC that the government does not want to carry out arrests mandated by the ICC because they amount to a “regime change.” Prior to this decision, South Africa ignored an ICC arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan. The Associated Press reported that official legislation to leave the ICC has not yet been finalized but that the legislation will likely pass South Africa’s parliament. New deal could create world’s largest tobacco company

                The London-based British American Tobacco company is offering to buy Reynolds American Inc. for $47 billion, according to ABC News. A merger between the two companies would result in the largest publicly-traded tobacco company in the world. The British American Tobacco company employs over 50,000 and Reynolds employs 5,700. ABC News said that tobacco companies “are particularly keen to expand in developing countries to make up for weaker sales in Europe and the U.S.”

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