UNITED KINGDOM
Harry, Meghan to ‘step back’
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, plan “to step back” as senior members of the royal family, a statement issued on Wednesday by Buckingham Palace said. “Harry and Meghan intend to become financially independent” and to “balance” their time between the UK and North America, the statement said. “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” it said. “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen.”
CANADA
Bieber announces illness
Pop super star Justin Bieber on Wednesday announced that he has Lyme disease. In a post on Instagram, Bieber said he would address his struggle with the illness, which is contracted through a tick bite, in a YouTube documentary. “It’s been a rough couple years, but getting the right treatment that will help treat this so far incurable disease and I will be back and better than ever,” the 25-year-old entertainer wrote in the post’s caption. He called out critics who he says have been saying he looks like he is “on meth.” He said: “They failed to realize I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, not only that but had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my, skin, brain function, energy, and overall health.”
MEXICO
Mayor-elect’s body found
The body of a missing mayor-elect who disappeared in the nation’s south more than a year ago has been found, authorities said on Wednesday. Prosecutors in Guerrero State said that information obtained from people linked to the case led investigators to a river bank where remains were found. Those remains were matched to Daniel Esteban Gonzalez by DNA testing. Gonzalez disappeared on Sept. 2, 2018, after winning the mayorship of the town of Cochoapa el Grande. Gonzalez was the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party. Representatives of that party have blamed the disappearance on the rival Institutional Revolutionary Party, whose candidate had disputed the election.
UNITED STATES
Twitter to test new controls
Twitter on Wednesday said that it would test new features early this year that would allow people to control who can reply to their tweets, as it looks to limit abuse and harassment on the platform. “We want to help people feel safe participating in the conversation on Twitter by giving them more control over the conversations they start,” the San Francisco-based company said in a tweet.
UNITED STATES
Old paper finds new owner
A retiree has canceled an around-the-world trip to save the Mountain Messenger, California’s oldest weekly newspaper, which was set to shut down when editor Don Russell retires this month. The paper began in 1853. Its claim to fame is that Mark Twain once wrote there under his real name, Sam Clemens. Carl Butz said he is to take over the Mountain Messenger. “I’ve been a widower for three years and this is a new chapter in my life,” Butz told SFGate. “What am I going to do? Go on another trip around the world? Instead, I’m doing something good for the community, and I feel good about it.” Known in the area as the “Mountain Mess,” the paper covers school board meetings, federal land use and other issues.
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