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CNN Journalist Amanpour Undergoing Treatment For Ovarian Cancer
Veteran Cable News Network (CNN) reporter, Christiane Amanpour, on Monday, announced that she is undergoing a round of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In a message to viewers, Amanpour said the past four weeks, during which she has not appeared on CNN’s international outlets, has been “a roller coaster” for her and announced her diagnosis. “During that time, like millions of women around the world, I have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” she said. “I’ve had successful major surgery to remove it and I’m now undergoing several months of chemotherapy for the very best possible long term prognosis.” Amanpour, who is based in London, said she was grateful to have health insurance through work and “incredible doctors in a country underpinned by of course the brilliant NHS.” “I’m telling you this in the interest of transparency,” she said. “But in truth really mostly as a shout out to early diagnosis. To urge women to educate themselves on this disease to get all the regular screenings and scans that you can, to always listen to your body, and of course, to ensure your legitimate medical concerns are not dismissed or diminished.” Amanpour hosts the network’s flagship international affairs program. …
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Bennett Replaces Netanyahu As Prime Minister Of Israel
Israel’s parliament has narrowly voted in favor of a new coalition government, ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic 12-year rule. Naftali Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu turned bitter rival, becomes prime minister, presiding over a diverse and fragile coalition comprised of eight parties with deep ideological differences. Netanyahu remains head of the Likud party and will hold the post of opposition leader. Netanyahu sat silently during the vote. After it was approved, he stood up to leave the chamber, before turning around and shaking Bennett’s hand. A dejected Netanyahu, wearing a black medical mask, then sat down in the opposition leader’s chair. Sunday’s vote, passed by a 60-59 margin, ended a two-year cycle of political paralysis in which the country held four elections. Minutes later, Bennett was sworn into office, followed by members of the new Cabinet. AP
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Kim Jong-un Condemns K-Pop, Calls It ‘Vicious Cancer’
North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un has described the South Korean pop culture, as a ‘vicious cancer’ corrupting young North Koreans’ “attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors.” That has now prompted him to introduced harsher punishments for anyone caught listening to K-pop or watching dramas from the South after his state media warned that if left unchecked, it would make North Korea “crumble like a damp wall.” The decision comes as South Korean music, television shows, and movies are enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world. The New York Times reported that state media has slammed the spread of ‘anti-socialist’ influence – particularly through South Korean movies, K-dramas and K-pop music videos – on a near-daily basis in recent months. Kim has ordered his government to clamp down on the cultural invasion, which he said is corrupting the ‘attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviours’ of North Korea’s youth, the paper reported. In December, the Communist state brought in a new law that could see anyone caught watching or possessing South Korean entertainment sentenced to 15 years in a labour camp. Previously, the maximum punishment was five years of hard labour. Those smuggling the content into North Korea could face even harsher punishments, including the death penalty. …
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France’s Macron Slapped In Face During Crowd Stop
French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face while greeting a crowd in southeast France on Tuesday, in a shock incident he shrugged off as “isolated” but which drew widespread condemnation in a tense political climate. Video footage on social media showed Macron approach a barrier to meet and shake hands with voters, where a man in a green T-shirt took hold of his elbow and said a few words before slapping him. Macron’s bodyguards quickly intervened and two people were detained, local officials said. “At around 1:15 pm (1115 GMT) the president got into his car after visiting a high school, but got back out because onlookers were calling to him,” the prefecture for the Drome region said. “He went to meet them and that’s when the incident took place,” it said. Two 28-year-old men living in the region are being questioned, the local prosecutor’s office said, but “at this stage of questioning, their motives remain unknown”. The incident took place in a tense and increasingly polarised political climate in France, weeks ahead of regional elections and less than a year before presidential polls. In an interview with the Dauphine Libere newspaper, Macron insisted he felt no fear …
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Rare ‘Ring Of Fire’ Solar Eclipse To Take Place On June 10
The ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at its furthest from Earth. This means it is too far away to completely cover the Sun, leaving a ring of light A rare type of solar eclipse that creates a ‘ring of fire’ around a blacked out Sun will cast a dramatic shadow over Russia and Canada later this week. Skygazers in the UK and US won’t miss out entirely though, as a partial solar eclipse will be visible, with about 30 per cent of the Sun blocked out in Scotland, 20 per cent in southern England and as much as 70 per cent over Eastern US states. This is known as an annular eclipse, occurring when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line with the Earth, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. It results in the Sun appearing as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the Moon, a phenomenon dubbed ‘the ring of fire by astronomers. British and Irish observers will see a crescent Sun instead of a ring, and in the US, viewers will be able to see a partial eclipse at sunrise, another rare phenomenon. …
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Lightning Strikes Kill 27 During India Monsoon Storm
Lightning strikes killed 27 people and four passengers on a flight were hospitalised after severe turbulence during monsoon storms in eastern India, officials said on Tuesday. Lightning strikes during the June-September annual monsoon are fairly common in India. Officials said West Bengal was hit by thunderstorms on late Monday, with lightning strikes in parts of the state. “Many of the 27 killed on Monday evening… in the state were farmers and working in the fields,” West Bengal disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan told AFP. A flight from the western city of Mumbai to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, was caught in the storm as it was about to land, officials added. Eight passengers were injured with four taken to hospital. “One passenger is still admitted in the hospital. The others have been discharged,” the airport’s director C Pattabhi told AFP. “It was a close shave for the passengers.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial compensation for the families of the victims and those who were injured. Nearly 2,900 people were killed by lightning in India in 2019 according to the National Crime Records Bureau — the most recent figures available. The monsoon is crucial to replenishing water supplies …
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Armed Groups Threatening Central Africa’s Fragile Stability – UN
Francois Fall, Head of UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), says attacks by armed groups, including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are threatening Central Africa’s fragile stability. Fall, also the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Central Africa, said this on Monday while briefing the Security Council, spotlighting crucial democratic gains that should be protected. He said recent incidents, including the death of President Idriss Déby Itno of Chad at the hands of rebel fighters, and that country’s subsequent political transition illustrated serious obstacles to lasting peace in the sub-region. Noting that Chad sat at the nexus of the region’s toughest security challenges, Fall said dynamics in neighbouring Libya, Sudan, and the Central African Republic could negatively impact the country as it pressed forward with unexpected political changes. “Those risks are further exacerbated by the activities of terrorist groups in the Lake Chad basin. “Supporting the country’s rapid transition to democratic and constitutional rule must be a priority for regional actors and the international community,’’ he said Fall welcomed the convening of two extraordinary summits of Heads of State and Government, including one focused on the situation in Chad on June 4, as evidence that leaders …
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Why India May Ban Twitter, Facebook & Instagram
If these social media platforms fail to accept govt guidelines, they risk losing status as social media platforms and protections as intermediaries. Government can also take action against them as per the law of the land for not following the rules Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram may face ban in India if they fail to comply with the new intermediary guidelines for social media platforms. The three-month deadline given by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITy) to accept these guidelines ends today i.e. May 25 but none of the giants have so far accepted the new regulations. The rules will be effective from tomorrow despite these companies seeking a total six-month delay in their implementation. Homegrown social media platform Koo, which is the Indian version of Twitter, is the only platform that has so far accepted the Centre’s intermediary guidelines. Businesday
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Mali Suspended From African Union After Second Coup
The African Union announced it was suspending Mali with immediate effect and threatened the impoverished country with sanctions, after a second military coup in nine months. The putsch has sparked deep concerns over stability in the volatile Sahel region and warnings of economic penalties from across the international community. The AU “decides… to immediately suspend the Republic of Mali from participation in all activities of the African Union, its Organs and institutions, until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country”, the body’s Peace and Security Council said in a statement late Tuesday. The move follows a similar suspension on Sunday from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In its statement, the AU called for the military to “urgently and unconditionally return to the barracks, and to refrain from further interference in the political processes in Mali”. It warned that if the military did not hand back power to civilian transitional leaders, “the Council will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions and other punitive measures”. Condemning the coup “in the strongest terms possible”, it added it was “deeply concerned about the evolving situation in Mali and its negative impact on the gains made thus far in the …
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Root Out Racism, Biden Tells US Citizens
U.S. President, Joe Biden, has urged Americans to reflect on the deep roots of racial terror in the nation and root out systemic racism across our country. Biden stated this in “A Proclamation on Day of Remembrance: 100 Years After The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” issued to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the massacre of successful Black Americans. In 1921, a violent white supremacist mob raided, firebombed, and destroyed approximately 35 square blocks of the thriving Black neighbourhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to reports. Families and children were murdered in cold blood, with homes, businesses, and churches burnt while as many as 300 Black Americans were killed and nearly 10,000 were left destitute and homeless. Before the massacre, Greenwood was a thriving Black community that had grown into a proud economic and cultural hub while at its centre was Greenwood Avenue, commonly known as “Black Wall Street.” In the decades following the civil war and reconstruction, Greenwood became a place where Black Americans were able to make a new start and secure economic progress in spite of the continued pain of institutional and overt racism. The community was home to a growing number of prominent Black entrepreneurs as …
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Macron To Withdraw French Troops From Mali After Second Coup
France President, Emmanuel Macron has warned that France would withdraw troops from West African nation, Mali, following the country’s second military coup in just nine months. France has 5,100 troops in the Sahel region and has helped in the war against Islamist militancy but Macron has warned of the risk of Mali “moving towards” greater Islamist influence if there is no democratic government in place. For decades France has provided military support to its former colonies in Africa, but has told regional leaders that France had no intention of keeping its troops in Africa forever. Macron is also annoyed by a lack of commitment from other European countries to fight the multiple militant Islamist groups in the region as Europe could be affected by possible jihadist attacks on the continent and illegal migration. On Tuesday last week France and the European Union denounced an “unacceptable coup d’etat” after Mali’s interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were detained and stripped of their power. Coup leader Colonel Assimi Goïta was then named transitional president by the constitutional court on Friday. Macron speaking to Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper said; “Radical Islamism in Mali with our soldiers there? Never,” “There …
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At Least 39 Dead In Two Attacks In Eastern DR Congo
At least 39 people have been killed in two new attacks in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, monitors said Monday, as a local official blamed a notorious group linked to the Islamic State group. “At least 20 civilians were killed overnight in the village of Boga and at least 19 in the village of Tchabi,” in Irumu territory in Ituri province, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) group said. A local civil society leader attributed the attacks to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — a historically Ugandan Islamist group blamed for a string of massacres in the past 18 months. Two local officials reached in Boga by AFP said the assailants attacked a camp for displaced people. They said 36 bodies had been found so far in Boga, a figure that had yet to be independently confirmed. The two villages are located about 10 kilometres (six miles) apart on the border between North Kivu province and Ituri, an area that has long had a reputation for ADF attacks and ethnic friction. The KST, a respected NGO that monitors violence in eastern DRC, said the wife of a traditional leader in Benyali-Tchabi had been killed in the attack on Tchabi. The …
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Israel And Hamas Agree To Ceasefire To End Bloody 11-Day War
A senior Hamas leader and Israel’s Security Cabinet have confirmed that a mutual ceasefire deal has been agreed. The senior Hamas leader told CNN that the ceasefire will commence at 2am local time on Friday, though an official announcement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Officer said the ceasefire would go into effect at an hour to be agreed upon later. The decision comes after more than a week of conflict left hundreds of people dead, the vast majority of them Palestinians. Israel Security Cabinet had agreed to a truce put forward by Egypt for a “mutual unconditional ceasefire” over Gaza, according to a statement by the the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. “The Security Cabinet convened this evening. And accepted unanimously the recommendation of all security elements — the Chief of Staff, the head of the Shin Bet, the Head of the Mossad, and the head of the National Security Council — to accept the Egyptian initiative for a mutual unconditional ceasefire that will go into effect at an hour to be agreed upon later,” the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said. The official statement makes clear that the Israel Defense Forces will be instructed to re-start its campaign against …
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Islamic State Remains ‘Potent’ Force In Afghanistan, Says US Envoy
The jihadist Islamic State group remains a “potent” force in Afghanistan and was responsible for a recent attack that killed dozens of schoolgirls, Washington’s top envoy to Kabul told AFP. But Charge d’Affaires Ross Wilson chiefly blamed the Taliban for the rising violence across the war-torn country, accusing them of breaching agreements in peace talks even as American forces continue their withdrawal. “ISIS remains a potent force here — that is among many reasons why we continue to provide security and counter-terrorism assistance to the Afghan authorities,” Wilson said in an interview. He blamed the group for the May 8 bombs outside a girls’ school in Kabul that killed more than 50 people, as well as a blast at a mosque on the outskirts of the capital at the weekend in which 12 worshippers died. No group has admitted responsibility for the school attack, but IS claimed the mosque bombing. Despite Taliban denials — and IS claims of responsibility — the Afghan government routinely blames the former for attacks against civilians, insisting IS was largely crushed two years ago in its main base of Nangarhar province. The group first emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 as NATO combat troops withdrew from …
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Macron Hosts Summit To Bolster Sudan’s Post-Bashir Recovery
The French government promised Monday to lend $1.5 billion to Sudan to help it pay off its massive foreign debt, kicking off an international summit aimed at helping the aspiring democracy emerge from decades of authoritarian rule. The conference hosted by President Emmanuel Macron aims to provide financing breathing room for Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as he pursues economic reforms while paying off a foreign debt bill of $60 billion. “Rebuilding an attractive and resilient market takes time, but today, I hope we will convince private investors that the fundamentals for business are fully there,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said ahead of the summit. “President Macron will confirm later today that France will provide the $1.5 billion bridge loan to clear Sudan’s arrears to the IMF,” he said. Several heads of state are in Paris to also discuss investment in Sudan, as is International Monetary Fund director Kristalina Georgieva, along with top European diplomats including EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Hamdok is pushing to rebuild and reform a crippled economy and end Sudan’s international isolation under former strongman Omar al-Bashir, whose three decades of rule were marked by economic hardship and international sanctions. On Tuesday, a …
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Zuma Arrives Court To Defend Decade-Long Corruption Case
South Africa’s scandal-tainted ex-president Jacob Zuma arrived in court Monday for the expected start of a trial in a 20-year-old bribery case. Zuma is facing 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering relating to a 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear from five European arms firms for 30 billion rand — equal to almost $5.0 billion at the time. The 79-year-old Zuma, who was at the time serving as deputy president to Thabo Mbeki, is accused of accepting bribes amounting to four million rand from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales. Over the years, the case has been postponed numerous times as Zuma lodged a string of motions to have the charges dropped. In the latest snag last month, all of Zuma’s lawyers quit, without giving a reason. It is unclear whether at Monday’s hearing Zuma will ask for a new postponement to reorganize his defence, or whether he chooses to represent himself during the proceedings, which he has called a political witch hunt. Dozens of people, including senior ruling ANC officials like the recently suspended party secretary-general Ace Magashule, rallied in a show of support for the embattled former head of state at …
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Over 120 Retired Military Generals Question Biden’s Mental Health
A group of more than 120 retired military officers have written President Joe Biden a letter to tell him his election was illegitimate while raising questions about his mental acuity. The letter talks about former US President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud and comes a day after Rep. Liz Cheney was voted out of the Republican party leadership for criticisms of Trump for still peddling claims of electoral fraud. The letter from the group which calls itself ‘Flag Officers 4 America’ and consists of retired military officers including generals and admirals reads:’Without fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the ‘will of the people’ our Constitutional Republic is lost,’ ‘The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020,’ they wrote. The letter, called an ‘Open Letter from Retired Generals and Admirals,’ was first reported by Politico. The letter buttresses Trump’s claims that absentee ballots are not secure. ‘Election integrity demands insuring there is one legal vote cast and counted per citizen. Legal votes are identified by State Legislature’s approved controls using government IDs, verified signatures, etc,’ they write. ‘Today, many are calling such commonsense [voter …
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World Powers Call For De-escalation After Israel Clashes
Calls grew on Wednesday for a de-escalation of violence after intense hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians that have left at least 48 dead and hundreds injured. The Israeli army has launched hundreds of air strikes on the Gaza Strip since Monday, while Palestinian militants have launched more than 1,000 rockets in some of the worst violence in seven years. Calls for calm emerged from around the world, here is a roundup of reactions: – Russia, Turkey – President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to halt fighting in a call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the world needs to give Israel a “strong” lesson. “Serious concern was expressed about the continuing clashes and the growing number of people killed and wounded,” the Kremlin said in a statement. It added that Putin had “called on the parties to de-escalate tensions and peacefully resolve the emerging issues”. – Britain – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to “step back from the brink”, calling for both sides to “show restraint”. “The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties and we want to see an urgent de-escalation …
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UN Security Council Meets On Jerusalem But Holds Off On Statement
The UN Security Council held an urgent meeting Monday on unrest in Jerusalem but issued no immediate statement, with diplomats saying the United States believed public comments would be counterproductive. Negotiations were continuing among the 15 nations on the Security Council on a text that could be watered down from an initial draft proposed by Norway, diplomats said. The United States, according to one diplomat, said in the closed-door videoconference that it was “working behind the scenes” to calm the situation and that it was “not sure that a statement at this point would help.” The Security Council meeting came after the US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, telephoned his Israeli counterpart and voiced “serious concerns” about potential Israeli evictions of Palestinians in the holy city that have helped fuel tensions. Shortly after the Security Council meeting, organizers of a pro-Israel march that had become a flashpoint canceled the event. The draft Security Council statement, seen by AFP, would call on Israel to “cease settlement activities, demolitions and evictions” including in east Jerusalem. The Norwegian draft was jointly put forward with Tunisia, a fellow non-permanent member that called Monday’s meeting, as well as China. In the draft statement, which is …
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Dozens Wounded In Clashes At Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Compound
Dozens of people were wounded when clashes erupted Monday between Palestinians and Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, an AFP correspondent reported. The injured were evacuated in ambulances that were deployed outside the esplanade, the third holiest site in Islam, located in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. (AFP)
