1. Arab coalition: 800 al-Qaida fighters killed

    Yemeni troops backed by Arab coalition airstrikes killed more than 800 members of al-Qaida in an attack on a southeastern provincial capital held by the group for the past year, the coalition said on Monday.

    Pro-government forces recaptured an oil terminal as well as the city of Mukalla, which was considered a jihadist stronghold*, military sources said.

    “The operation resulted ... in the death of more than 800 al-Qaida members and some of their leaders, while some others fled,” Arab coalition commanders said in a statement published by SPA, the official Saudi news agency. The death toll could not be independently confirmed and no indication was given of civilian casualties.

    2. Bomb-hit Brussels station reopens

    The Brussels subway station where 16 people were killed by a suicide bomber reopened on Monday just over a month after the attacks.

    Security remained high across the underground network, which was hit during the March 22 peak morning travel period.

    The opening of the Maelbeek station brought the Belgian capital’s underground network back up to full capacity. Brussels Metro spokeswoman An Van Hamme said “there wasn’t any structural damage. So there were a few works that had to be done.”

    3. Death toll rises to 32 at plant blast

    Four more people have been found dead after last week’s explosion at a petrochemical* plant in southeastern Mexico, raising the death toll to 32, state oil giant Pemex and Mexican plastic pipe maker Mexichem said in a joint statement on Sunday.

    The vinyl* petrochemical plant in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz is a joint venture between Pemex’s petrochemical unit and majority owner Mexichem.

    Pemex’s CEO has said that last week’s blast was caused by a leak but he did not specify how the leak had happened exactly.

    4. N. Korea to halt tests if US stops drills

    North Korea is ready to halt its nuclear tests if the United States suspends its annual military exercises with South Korea, the North Korean foreign minister told U.S. media in an interview in which he also warned that his country won’t be cowed* by international sanctions.

    Just hours after North Korea test-fired a ballistic* missile from a submarine in its latest show of defiance at the U.S.-South Korea exercises, Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong defended the country’s right to increase its military readiness.

    5. One dead in powerful blast in France

    A strong explosion caused part of a residential building to collapse in the town of Nonacourt in northern France on Saturday, killing one resident and injuring at least four.

    One person died when they were buried under the rubble of the building, AFP reported. Le Point, citing police sources, reported that four people have been injured. “A person, who was in the apartment next to the one where the explosion occurred, has been wounded and is now hospitalized, with non-life-threatening injuries. “Another resident, who was in the apartment where the explosion occurred, was rescued from the rubble; she is in shock, injured but not seriously,” the source was quoted as saying. It is thought that the cause of the blast may have been a gas explosion.

    6. UN fears 500 migrants dead in shipwreck

    The U.N. refugee agency said on April 20 it feared around 500 migrants from Africa had drowned in the Mediterranean, in what could be one of the worst tragedies since the start of the refugee crisis in Europe.

    Survivors who were spotted drifting at sea before being picked up by a passing merchant ship on April 16 told the UNHCR many migrants drowned when human traffickers* tried to transfer people on to another, already overcrowded vessel somewhere between Libya and Italy.(SD-Agencies)