ISRAEL
Netanyahu recovering
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was still undergoing tests in a hospital yesterday after a dizzy spell, but was expected to be released later in the day, his office said. The 73-year-old leader was rushed to a hospital on Saturday after feeling mild dizziness. His office said test results yesterday were normal and that he was feeling “very good.” He had spent the previous day at the Sea of Galilee, a popular vacation spot where temperatures climbed to about 40°C, his office said. After a series of tests, the initial assessment was that he was dehydrated. After being hospitalized, Netanyahu released a video on social media last night. Smiling, he said that he had been out in the sun on Friday without wearing a hat and without water. “Not a good idea,” he said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Wallace plans to exit
Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace said in an interview published on Saturday that he would step down at the next Cabinet reshuffle and not contest the next general election. Wallace, 53, has been a leading figure in Western allies’ support for Ukraine against Russia and was the UK’s pick to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary general. He failed to get crucial US backing to succeed him, and Stoltenberg has extended his term at the head of the alliance. The decision was because his constituency in northwest England was being scrapped under boundary changes, he told the Sunday Times. Wallace, a straight-talking former British army officer, has been in the UK parliament for 18 years, and is the longest-serving Conservative defense secretary since Winston Churchill.
FRANCE
War photographer dies at 75
Marie-Laure de Decker, the model who stepped behind the camera to become an internationally recognized war photographer, has died at the age of 75, her family said on Saturday. She died in a hospital on Saturday following a long illness, her family said. Born in Algeria — when it was still a French colony — she started her career as a model before deciding to branch out into photography. She covered the Vietnam War early in her career and met with success despite her relative lack of experience. She is also known for her photos of celebrities, the money from which helped finance her missions in conflict zones, she had said. “When you take photos of the poor, no one’s interested. You have to take photos of the rich to sell [them].” In 2013, her work in conflict zones was recognized by the Albert Kahn International Planet Prize.
UNITED STATES
Prisoner flees on bed sheets
Looking dirty, wet and “worn out” from living in the wilderness to evade arrest, a homicide suspect who used bed sheets to escape a northern Pennsylvania jail has been captured, authorities said. Michael Burham, 34, fled the Warren County jail in the late evening hours of July 6 by climbing on exercise equipment, going through a window and scaling down a rope fashioned from jail bedding, authorities said. He was found on Saturday after authorities received a tip about a suspicious-looking person, they said. Burham had taught himself survival skills and had military reserve training, authorities said. Before his capture, law enforcement personnel had found “small stockpiles or campsites” believed to be associated with him.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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