Hamas military drill
Trump eyes next firing
President Donald Trump is planning to oust embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin amid an extraordinary rebellion at the agency and damaging government investigations into his alleged spending abuses, three administration officials said yesterday. Two officials said an announcement on Shulkin could happen this week, subject to Trump’s final decision as the White House hones in on possible replacements to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. One of the officials rated Shulkin’s chances of being pushed out in the next day or two at ‘‘50-50’’. The three officials demanded anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter. Trump, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, told associates that he would keep two other administration officials who had been under fire: White House chief of staff John F Kelly and Housing Secretary Ben Carson. ‘‘He did say that he’s expecting to make one or two major changes,’’ said Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a Trump confidant.
Russia fire deadly
A shopping mall fire in a Siberian city killed 37 people and 27 are considered missing, the Russian government said yesterday. The fire at the four-story Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo was extinguished after burning for hours. State news agency Tass cited the Russian Emergencies Ministry as saying the earlier report of 64 missing included the 37 victims whose bodies had been recovered but not yet identified. Many of the dead and missing were children. An additional 43 people were injured in the blaze, the report said. The mall is about 3000km east of Moscow. Tass said the fire started on the top floor but the cause wasn’t immediately known. A criminal investigation was begun. The shopping mall, which opened in 2013, has a cinema, petting zoo, children’s centre and bowling.
The Islamic militant group that rules Gaza staged a large-scale military drill in the impoverished territory yesterday. Hamas detonated bombs, launched missiles and fired machine guns in the streets during the 24-hour exercise. Air raid sirens sounded across southern Israel, and Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system launched multiple projectiles into the night sky. Israeli media also reported the military fired tank shells at targets in the northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokesman afterward said that no missiles were fired at Israeli territory, and the sirens and Iron Dome missiles were triggered by machine gun fire in the Gaza Strip.