TEGUCIGALPA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Five men were shot dead on Sunday inside a house in Honduras's western municipality of Esperanza, with their identities and the motive behind the homicide remaining unknown, local police said.

The incident occurred near a military detachment, local media La Prensa reported, quoting witnesses as saying that two vehicles arrived at the spot with several heavily armed men on board.

Police authorities cordoned off the crime scene and began investigation.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Alabama Capitol on Sunday to protest the state’s newly approved abortion ban, chanting “my body, my choice!” and “vote them out!”

The demonstration came days after Gov. Kay Ivey signed the most stringent abortion law in the nation— making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases unless necessary for the mother’s health. The law provides no exception for rape and incest.

Bikaner, May 19 (PTI) In yet another case of gangrape, a married woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by three persons at an isolated place near here where she had gone to collect firewood, police said Sunday.

The alleged incident occurred on May 15 while the woman reached the police station along with her husband in the wee hours of May 18 to lodge the complaint," said Chhatargarh police station in-charge Sandeep Kumar.

BUJUMBURA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Nine people were killed and 16 others were injured on Saturday at a mining site in northern Burundi, after a mountain collapsed around midday due to heavy rain, a local official said Sunday.

The victims were helping miners remove earth at the foot of the mountain in Kabarore Commune, Kayanza Province, when the mountain suddenly collapsed, Kabarore administrator Victor Ntakarutimana told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

Four people in critical condition are receiving medical treatment at Kayanza Hospital, said Ntakarutimana.

19 May 2019; DW: The resignation of Austria's vice chancellor led German politicians to warn against alliances with populists. Chancellor Merkel spoke out against right-wing populism as many are now demanding new Austrian elections.

Even before Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for new elections on Saturday, German politicians lined up to say their neighbors to the south should go back to the polls following the resignation of Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache.

Tehran, May 18 (AFP/PTI) Iran's foreign minister Saturday discounted the prospect of a new war in the region because Tehran opposed it and no party was under the "illusion" the Islamic republic could be confronted.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been on the rise as the United States has deployed a carrier group and B-52 bombers over what it termed Iranian "threats".

Washington, May 19 (AFP) Republican lawmaker Justin Amash said Saturday that he believed Donald Trump has engaged in "impeachable conduct," becoming the first politician of his party to call for removing the president from his party.

The Michigan representative also accused Attorney General William Barr of "deliberately" misleading the public over the actual content and tenor of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference aimed at tipping the election to Trump.

Ottawa, May 19 (AFP) Ottawa plans to proceed "full steam ahead" on ratification of a free trade agreement with the US and Mexico, Canada's foreign affairs minister said Saturday, after the neighbours scrapped reciprocal tariffs on steel and aluminum imports

Canada had been "very clear" that as long as the tariffs were in place "it would be very hard for us to move forward with ratification," Chrystia Freeland told CBC News.

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called Saturday for an early election after his vice chancellor resigned over a covertly shot video that showed him apparently promising government contracts to a prospective Russian investor.

Kurz said he would ask President Alexander Van der Bellen to set a date for a new election “as soon as possible.”

19 May 2019; DW: The Turkish president has described plans to help Russia build its next generation missile defense system. The move is likely to further strain Turkey's relations with the United States.

Russia and Turkey will jointly produce the next generation S-500 aerial missile defense system, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

Tehran (ISNA) - Iran is now the permanent member of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Iranian deputy Transport Minister, Saieed Rasouli announced.

According to Rasouli, who is also the head of public relations department at Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the membership, ratified during the 70th meeting of CIS in Helsinki, can reinforce Iran's railway transit ties with Middle-Asian counties and facilitate transit at International North-South Transport Corridor.

NEW YORK, May 18 (APP): The ongoing US-Iran tensions have exposed the growing strains among President Donald Trump’s top foreign policy advisers: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, according to an American media report.

Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran has exacerbated fissures between the two men, especially “over the tight control Bolton has tried to exert over the national security decision-making process,” Politico, an online news service, said.