NEWS OF THE DAY

_1 Shark attack: A 15yearold surfer died Saturday when he was mauled by a shark, the second fatal attack in a week in Australia and already at least the fifth this year. Police said the boy was surfing at Wooli Beach, near Grafton, about 370 miles north of Sydney when he was attacked. Several surfers came to the aid of the boy and helped him to shore for medical attention. Despite efforts to revive him, he died at the scene. It’s unusual for Australia to have five fatal shark attacks in the first six months of a year. On average, three people die from shark attacks each year in the country, according to figures kept by the Australian Shark Attack File.

_2 Brazil politics: President Jair Bolsonaro announced Friday his second pick to head the education ministry in 11 days, naming a college professor and church pastor to the post. Milton Ribeiro, a former deputy dean of Mackenzie University in Sao Paulo who preaches at a Presbyterian church, was chosen. Religious groups supporting the president say the education ministry is key to boosting Christian values in Brazil and casting aside what they contend is leftist influence in the schools. Ribeiro’s predecessor, economist Carlos Alberto Decotelli, left June 30 after only five days on the job amid allegations that he had embellished his academic credentials.

_3 Russia rally: Thousands of demonstrators in the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk protested Saturday against the arrest of the region’s governor on charges of involvement in multiple murders. Local news media gave estimates of the crowd ranging from 5,000 to 35,000. No arrests were reported even though the demonstration was unsanctioned. Sergei Furgal, the Khabarovsk region governor, was arrested Thursday and flown to Moscow where he was interrogated and ordered held in jail for two months. Russia’s main criminal investigation body says he is suspected of involvement in several murders of businessmen in 2004 and 2005, before his political career began. Furgal, a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was elected governor in 2018 and is widely popular in the region. His victory reflected growing public frustration with President Vladimir Putin’s policies and marked a setback for the main Kremlin party, United Russia. _4 Mali unrest: Police fired tear gas Saturday in the capital of Bamako as groups came out for a second straight day of antigovernment demonstrations, defying the president’s latest call for dialogue. The turnout was smaller than the thousands who surged through the streets Friday, briefly occupying the state television station and setting fires. In all, at least three people were killed and around 70 were injured, a hospital official said. The developments mark a major escalation in the growing movement against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who still has two years left in office in a country long destabilized by Islamic extremists.

_5 Women’s rights: Sudan’s ruling body ratified a law banning the practice of female genital mutilation, the justice ministry announced, handing the movement for women’s rights in the African country a longsought victory. The Sovereign Council passed a set of sweeping amendments to the country’s criminal code, including one that criminalized the deeprooted practice. The draft law had been approved by the transitional government that came to power last year following the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar alBashir. A U.N.backed survey in 2014 estimated 87% of Sudanese women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have been subjected to the procedure.