ISRAEL
Abbas’ health ‘improving’
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ condition has seen a “clear improvement” after he was taken to hospital with a fever, an Arab lawmaker in parliament with close ties to the 83-year-old said yesterday. Abbas was hospitalized on Sunday with a fever, just days after undergoing ear surgery. Palestinian officials on Sunday had said that Abbas has pneumonia and was on a respirator, receiving antibiotics intravenously. They said he was conscious and lucid. Lawmaker Ahmad Tibi told Israeli Army Radio that Abbas could be discharged as early today. He did not elaborate on his condition nor say why he thought Abbas was expected to be released.
ISRAEL
Paraguay moves embassy
Paraguay yesterday opened its embassy in Jerusalem, the second nation to follow the US in making the politically sensitive move from Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes attended the inauguration ceremony. “This is a historic day that strengthens ties between Paraguay and Israel,” Cartes said at the ceremony. Palestine Liberation Organization official Hanan Ashrawi denounced the move. “By adopting such a provocative and irresponsible measure that is in direct contravention of international law and consensus, Paraguay has conspired with Israel, the United States and Guatemala to entrench the military occupation and to seal the fate of occupied Jerusalem,” Ashrawi said in a statement.
NEPAL
Two Everest climbers die
Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki, who lost nine fingertips to frostbite in a previous expedition, died yesterday during an attempt to climb Mount Everest, an official said. The 35-year-old was found dead while sleeping in a Camp 2 tent at 7,400m on the 8,850m mountain, Department of Tourism official Gyanendra Shrestha said from base camp. Kuriki had fallen ill and was descending when his team lost contact with him. He had made seven unsuccessful attempts to scale Everest. Macedonian Gjeorgi Petkov, 63, also died over the weekend climbing Everest, hiking officials said, without giving further details.
UNITED STATES
New claims against Batali
Celebrity chef Mario Batali, who already faces sexual harassment accusations from four women, is reportedly under criminal investigation by the New York Police Department for sexual misconduct, CBS television program 60 Minutes said on Sunday.Batali “vehemently” denied the new allegations in a statement to CBS. The chef is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at one of his restaurants in 2005 in the new criminal investigation, the show said. Other restaurant workers said that they had witnessed Batali inappropriately touching other women.
BRAZIL
African migrants rescued
A boat with two dozen migrants from West Africa was rescued off the north coast, officials from the state of Maranhao said on Sunday. A fishing boat came upon the drifting vessel with 27 people aboard, including migrants from Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde, along with two Brazilians, the state government said in a statement. Some were suffering from dehydration. The rescued Brazilians have been arrested for human trafficking after reportedly being paid to smuggle the others into the country. The boat had been at sea for five weeks, police said.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion