ISRAEL
Armenian bill delayed
The government postponed voting on a bill to recognize the “Armenian genocide” over concern its advancement could benefit Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the June 24 elections, an official said yesterday. A ministerial committee was due to hold a preliminary vote on the bill yesterday. “The foreign ministry advised prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] to postpone the discussion on recognizing the Armenian genocide until after the elections in Turkey, since such a discussion is liable to aid Erdogan in the elections,” ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement. “The prime minister accepted the foreign ministry’s recommendation.
CUBA
New constitution planned
Legislators on Saturday took the first step toward drafting a new constitution. President Miguel Diaz-Canel convened a special session of parliament to propose a list of people to undertake a rewrite of the Soviet-era charter. Delegates gave their approval for a commission presided over by former president Raul Castro and about 30 others, including Diaz-Canel. There is no pending draft, but officials have made clear that the constitution will maintain a Communist Party-led system in which freedom of speech, the press and other rights are limited by “the purposes of socialist society.” One change expected to be adapted would limit presidents to two five-year terms and impose an age limit.
VENEZUELA
More activists released
The government on Saturday freed dozens more opposition activists from jail, bringing to almost 80 the number of prisoners whose release authorities hope will unite the nation. Among the 40 people released were two substitute lawmakers, one of whom had been held since 2014 for allegedly inciting violence in protests that year. Authorities said more releases could take place this week. Those freed have been barred from speaking with the press or on social media.
CANADA
Ontario premier concedes
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on Saturday conceded defeat ahead of Thursday’s election, but called on voters to vote for her party to keep the next government in check. Wynne, who has been premier since 2013 and whose Liberal Party has governed for 15 years, told reporters she will not be premier after the poll. Her decision came as the left-leaning New Democrats have gained ground, according to opinion polls, setting up a two-way race with the right-leaning Progressive Conservatives.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cumberbatch a hero
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch has been hailed as a hero for an incident in November last year in which he chased away four assailants trying to steal a delivery cyclist’s bicycle in London. Cumberbatch, 41, jumped out of his Uber tazi and ran to the aid of the Deliveroo cyclist as he was set upon by the muggers, the Sun reported on Saturday. “The cyclist was lucky, Benedict’s a superhero,” the Uber driver, Manuel Dias, told the paper. “Benedict was courageous, brave and selfless. If he hadn’t stepped in the cyclist could have been seriously injured.” “One of the males attempted to grab the victim’s cycle... He was then punched in the face, struck on the head and hit with his helmet,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement, adding that no arrests have been made.” No explanation has been given as to why the incident was only just reported.
INDIA
Pakistan kills border forces
Two paramilitary soldiers were yesterday killed and eight civilians wounded when Pakistani soldiers attacked dozens of forward posts along the highly militarized frontier in the disputed state of Kashmir, officials said. Border guards said that Pakistan “yet again blatantly” violated the 2003 ceasefire agreement and they were retaliating. They said the Pakistani shelling was “indiscriminate and unprovoked” and was not just targeting paramilitary outposts, but also villages. Local authorities were first trying to evacuate sick and injured villagers living near the frontier in bulletproof vehicles amid intense shelling and automatic gunfire, police officer S.D. Singh said. Singh said police have kept temporary shelters ready to receive frontier residents.
AFGHANISTAN
Half of children not in school
Nearly half of all children in the country are out of school due to conflict, poverty, child marriage and discrimination against girls, with the number rising for the first time since 2002, humanitarian organizations said in a report yesterday. Spreading violence has forced many schools to close, undermining fragile gains in education for girls. About 3.7 million children between the ages of seven and 17, or 44 percent of all children, are out of school, 2.7 million of them girls, Afghan Minister of Education Mirwais Balkhi told a seminar explaining a study conducted by UNICEF, the US Agency for International Development and the independent Samuel Hall think tank. “Education of children is the most important development in all human communities,” he said. “It is the most important tool in fighting war, poverty and unemployment.” In the worst affected provinces, up to 85 percent of girls are not going to school, the aid groups said.
SAUDI ARABIA
Eight rights activists freed
The government temporarily released eight people accused of communicating with organizations opposed to the kingdom as it kept nine others in detention, state news agency SPA said on Saturday. The public prosecutor said they had interrogated people arrested last month identified by human rights groups and campaigners as women’s rights activists. The detainees have admitted to communicating and cooperating with individuals and organizations opposed to the kingdom, recruiting people to get secret information to hurt the country’s interests, and offering material and emotional support to hostile elements abroad, the public prosecutor said. The statement did not identify the detainees. A total of 17 people have been arrested, eight of whom have been temporarily released, including five women and three men, the statement said. Nine people, five men and four women remain in detention “after sufficient evidence was made available and for their confessions of charges attributed to them.”
THAILAND
Whale swallows plastic, dies
A small male pilot whale has died on a southern beach after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags, officials said, ending an attempted rescue that failed to nurse the mammal back to health. It was found barely alive in a canal near the border with Malaysia, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources said on Facebook on Saturday. A veterinary team tried “to help stabilize its illness, but finally the whale died” on Friday afternoon, the post said. An autopsy revealed 80 plastic bags weighing 8kg in the animal’s stomach, the department added. The whale vomited up five bags during the rescue attempt before it died, the department 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
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema