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.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing