Top five international stories of the week

Every Friday, we bring to you the top five international stories of the week, with a particular emphasis on religious liberty, justice issues, and geopolitical issues that impact liberty and justice.

Today, President Obama becomes the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima. President Obama did not apologize for the bombing, which brought about an end to the Pacific theater of World War II. The president used the moment to advocate against the use, stockpiling and proliferation of nuclear weapons. In his own speech, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, "At any place in world, this tragedy must not be repeated again." Residents of Nagasaki have asked why their city is not on the president's itinerary.
Greece begins deportation of migrants living in Idomeni, on the border with Macedonia. The city was once a crucial entry point to one stream of the refugee highway that ran along the Balkan Peninsula, connecting Eurasia to Europe. This week, the camp housed around 8,000 migrants, most of whom have been trapped in the city for months, hoping to get to Europe. But this pathway was closed off as part of the EU's migrant deal with Turkey, and these migrants will be sent to state-run camps near Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece. Ahead of the evacuation, riot police were readied, but Greek authorities have emphasized that the evacuation has been running relatively smoothly.
Taliban leader killed in Pakistan by drone strike; Taliban announces replacement. Mullah Mansour was killed in a quiet Pakistani province called Baluchistan. This marked the first strike the U.S. has conducted in the province, as Pakistani forces had refused to grant permission for U.S. drones to operate in the area. The New York Times reported that the death of Mullah Mansour has shattered a feeling of security that senior Taliban leaders enjoyed operating in Pakistan. The Taliban announced a replacement, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, a hard-line religious scholar who formerly had charge of the Taliban's religious courts. Most analysts do not anticipate a major change in the Taliban's direction under Akhundzada's leadership.
President Obama visits Vietnam, lifting the decades-long arms sale ban. President Obama said, “Sales will need to still meet strict requirements, including those related to human rights, but this change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself.” However, the move has drawn the ire of human rights experts, who argue that the move was made without adequate concessions from the Vietnamese government on human rights issues.
Iran's Assembly of Experts, a major power center in Iran, has elected a new ultraconservative hard-line leader. From the AP: “The selection of 89-year-old Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, an ultraconservative who called for the execution of opposition activists after Iran's disputed 2009 election and asked Iraqis to be suicide bombers against U.S. forces in Iraq in 2003, signals the power hard-liners still wield in Iran despite a recent nuclear deal with world powers.”