IRAQ
Four killed in clashes
Two soldiers and two fighters of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were on Sunday killed as the two sides clashed in a mountainous northern area, both sides’ security sources said. Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani ordered that a high-level committee be formed to investigate, a military spokesperson for Sudani said in a statement. Fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party had evacuated positions near the town of Makhmour on Saturday and handed them over to the Iraqi army, but Peshmerga fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan, tried to retake the positions on Sunday, triggering the clashes, the sources said. Army and Peshmerga sources said earlier that two Iraqi army soldiers and one Peshmerga fighter were killed. Another Peshmerga lieutenant colonel died of his wounds, the sources said. Six Iraqi soldiers and five Peshmerga fighters were wounded. Two of the Iraqi soldiers were in critical condition, health service sources said. Iraqi army troops are still in control over the mountainous positions, three army sources said. However, both sides are sending reinforcements to the area, military sources said, calling the situation “fragile.”
SWITZERLAND
The right dominates vote
The right-wing People’s Party (SVP) scored one of its best results ever in national elections, reaping the rewards of a campaign that leveraged concerns over immigration. The SVP won 28.6 percent of votes, up from 25.6 percent four years ago. That is an even stronger win than anticipated in opinion polls and close to its 2015 record of 29.4 percent. The party has been Switzerland’s most popular for two decades, thanks to a focus largely on domestic issues such as immigration and the economy. The SVP wants to limit the country’s population to 10 million people, citing overstretched infrastructure and lack of housing. “The worry about an explosion of the population is big,” SVP lawmaker Thomas Matter told Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. “I do hope that the conservative parties now work together on immigration matters, so the SVP doesn’t have to tackle this alone.” The party also seeks to enshrine the country’s traditional neutrality — despite calls to respond more forcefully to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and to cap the costs of the switch to sustainable energy.
SPAIN
Sheep take over Madrid
Bleating sheep replaced beeping vehicles on the streets of Madrid on Sunday, as shepherds guided their flocks through the capital city center following ancient herding routes to southerly pastures for the winter. The annual event was revived in 1994 as part of Madrid’s annual Fiesta de la Trashumancia, after the Spanish parliament recognized the traditional routes used to herd livestock. Once they passed through quiet countryside, but on Sunday the shepherds, many of whom wore traditional dress, had to cross some of the busiest areas of the city, including the Puerta del Sol, one of Madrid’s main squares. Locals and tourists lined the way, snapping pictures of the sheep that wore tinkling bells around their necks. “I really didn’t expect this in the city, in the capital. This reminds me of my village,” said student Ana Sar, from Mallorca. “It’s amazing,” said Sandra Van Arkelem, 57, from the Netherlands. “So many people are joining and enjoying it.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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