1. Putin targets officials’ foreign assets

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has given state employees a three-month deadline to close their foreign bank accounts or they will be fired.

    According to a new presidential decree* that was signed on April 2, thousands of Russian civil servants have to file declarations* of income and assets before July 1.

    The decree is the president’s latest move to “de-offshore” Russia’s economy, a mission he outlined last December in a major policy address.

    2. U.N. adopts arms treaty

    The U.N. General Assembly* approved the first international treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade on April 2, after a more than decade-long campaign to keep weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, warlords, organized crime figures and human rights violators.

    The final vote was: 154 in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions*. Russia and China abstained along with India and Indonesia, while nuclear-armed Pakistan voted in favor. The United States, the world’s biggest arms exporter, also voted yes.

    3. S. Koreans barred from factory park

    On April 3, North Korea stopped South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the armed border in the North, a day after Pyongyang announced it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor* and increase production of nuclear weapons material.

    The move to block South Koreans from going to their jobs at the Kaesong industrial complex* came amid increasing hostility from Pyongyang.

    4. Talibans attack Afghan court, killing 44

    Taliban militants attacked an Afghan court on March 3, killing at least 44 people in an attempt to free insurgents* who were on trial, officials said.

    It was not clear whether the accused men had escaped the court complex in the western town of Farah.

    The multiple bomb and gun assault will raise further questions about the Afghans’ ability to secure the country as NATO aims to wind down* its combat mission in the war-torn country by the end of next year.

    5. Syrian airstrike kills at least 15

    A Syrian airstrike in Aleppo has killed at least 15 people, including nine children, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

    A single bomb landed in the mostly Kurdish district of Sheikh Maksoud, the group said. And Kurdish activists say the number of dead is expected to rise because there are many injured people in critical condition. Amateur video purporting to show the site of the bombing appeared on the Internet shortly after the attack, providing a glimpse of a scene of panic and mayhem.

    6. Five die in Christian-Muslim clashes

    Five Egyptians were killed and eight wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said on Saturday, amid some of the worst sectarian violence* in Egypt for months.

    Four Christian Copts and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started fighting and shooting at each other in El Khusus, north of the Egyptian capital, the sources said. State news agency MENA put the death toll at four.

    7. Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

    Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an influential figure in post-war British and world politics, and the first woman to become British prime minister, has died at the age of 87, her spokeswoman said on Monday.

    Thatcher led Great Britain as prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was called the “Iron Lady” for her personal and political toughness. Thatcher retired from public life after a stroke in 2002.

    In December 2012, she was hospitalized after a procedure to remove a growth in her bladder.(SD-Agencies)