UNITED NATIONS
Palestine key for G77 head
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday took over as head of the key group of developing countries at the UN with a promise to confront “assaults” on multilateralism and a pledge to seek a peaceful two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abbas accepted the chairmanship of the Group of 77, a coalition of 134 mainly developing nations and China, on behalf of Palestine, which is a non-member observer state of the UN. Before the ceremony, Abbas reiterated to reporters in Arabic that Palestinians would seek full UN membership, but gave no timetable. In his acceptance speech, Abbas said the G77 would strive to ensure the rights and development of all people living under foreign and colonial occupation. “Palestine cannot be an exception. We also suffer under the yoke of foreign occupation,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Senator to run for top job
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand entered the growing field of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders on Tuesday, telling television host Stephen Colbert that she is launching an exploratory committee. “It’s an important first step, and it’s one I am taking because I am going to run,” the New York senator said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She listed a series of issues she would tackle as president, including improved healthcare for families, better public schools and more accessible job training. Gillibrand, 52, has already made plans to campaign in Iowa at the weekend, more than a year before the leadoff caucus state votes. She joins what is expected to be a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination that could feature more than a dozen candidates. Already, Senator Elizabeth Warren has announced her own exploratory efforts, and decisions by a number of other senators are expected in the coming weeks.
UNITED STATES
LA teachers’ strike continues
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is working to bring negotiators for 30,000 striking teachers and the nation’s second-largest school district back to the bargaining table for the first time since talks collapsed last week, the head of the teachers union said on Tuesday. United Teachers Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl said in a video posted by the union on Twitter that he expected an announcement about efforts to restart stalled labor negotiations on Wednesday, as the strike stretched into a third day. The teachers, who on Friday last week rejected the latest contract offer from the Los Angeles Unified School District, are demanding higher pay, smaller classes and more support staff.
UNITED KINGDOM
Rights channel launches
The world’s first television channel dedicated to human rights was on Tuesday launched in London with a promise to deliver hidden stories ignored by mainstream media to people’s living rooms. The International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR) said its Web-based channel would bring human rights issues to audiences in more than 20 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. “There are so many people in the world who cannot speak up, and it seems to be getting worse and worse,” IOHR director Valerie Peay said at the official launch at London’s Frontline Club, a gathering place for media. “[This] is about joining up the dots so people hopefully engage with human rights and make a difference,” Peay said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not