BELARUS
Lukashenko rumored unwell
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has not been seen in public since Tuesday last week, did not appear on Sunday at a ceremony in Minsk, triggering speculation that he is seriously ill. The BelTA state news agency reported that Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko read a message from Lukashenko during an annual ceremony at which young people swear allegiance to the former Soviet state’s flag. The agency gave no reason for Lukashenko’s absence five days after he appeared unwell and skipped parts of commemorations in Moscow marking the Soviet Union’s World War II victory over Germany. Lukashenko also did not speak at an event in Minsk marking the anniversary for the first time in his long presidency. Lukashenko’s office has declined to comment. Opposition news outlet Euroradio said that he was taken to an elite Minsk clinic on Saturday.
UNITED STATES
Cyberattack hits newspaper
The Philadelphia Inquirer experienced the most significant disruption to its operations in 27 years due to what the newspaper has called a cyberattack. The company was working to restore print operations after a cyberincursion that prevented the printing of the newspaper’s Sunday print edition, the Inquirer reported on its Web site. The Inquirer “discovered anomalous activity on select computer systems and immediately took those systems off-line,” Inquirer publisher Lisa Hughes said. The cyberattack has caused the largest disruption to publication of Pennsylvania’s largest news organization since a massive blizzard in January 1996, the Inquirer reported. The cyberattack precedes a mayoral primary election scheduled for today. Hughes said the operational disruption would not affect news coverage of the election, but journalists would be unable to use the newsroom on election night.
CHAD
Pardon for coup suspects
Eleven men accused of planning a “coup d’etat” have been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the attorney general in N’Djamena said on Sunday, but the presidency said they would be pardoned. In early January, the government announced that 10 army officers and prominent rights campaigner Baradine Berdei Targuio had been arrested, accused of “attempting to destabilise ... the constitutional order” and the country’s institutions. On April 21, President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno vowed to free the men. “The president will keep his promise,” presidency spokesman Brah Mahamat said, adding that the sentence must be announced before a pardon can be given.
UNITED STATES
Kelly Clarkson on allegations
Kelly Clarkson has responded to a Rolling Stone report accusing her daytime talk show of being a toxic workplace. Eleven current and former employees complained about being overworked and underpaid on The Kelly Clarkson Show and called their work “traumatizing to their mental health” in the report on Friday. The anonymous employees said Clarkson was “fantastic,” but the show producers were “monsters” who made their lives “hell.” “To find out that anyone is feeling unheard and or disrespected on this show is unacceptable,” Clarkson said. “As we prepare for a move to the East Coast, I am more committed than ever to ensuring that not only our team is moving, but also our new team in NY is comprised of the best and kindest in the business,” she said. “Part of that build will include leadership training for all of the senior staff, including myself.”
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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