NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Refugee crisis: Austria reimposed controls Monday on its border with Hungary, with police checking vehicles at the main crossings and soldiers patrolling other stretches of the border. Police say the controls are meant to ensure that no one crosses illegally and to prevent the smuggling of migrants into Austria and other EU nations. They have reported more such smuggling attempts into Austria since countries along the Balkan migration route closed their borders to migrants earlier this year.
2 Poland politics: Three former Polish presidents and other prominent former leaders accused the right-wing government Monday of harming the country’s democracy and its international standing. They also urged lawmakers and other politicians to disregard what they call the “draconian” new legislation the government is proposing. The appeal on the front page of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily added to the current political conflict in Poland. It was signed by former Presidents Lech Walesa, Aleksander Kwasniewski and Bronislaw Komorowski. Prime Minister Beata Szydlo reacted by saying that victorious fall elections have given her government the mandate to introduce sweeping reforms.
3 Hostage killed: The decapitated head of a hostage was recovered Monday night in the southern Philippines — one of three Western hostages who had been threatened with beheading by ransom-seeking Muslim extremists, police said. The victim was identified as John Ridsdel, 68, of Calgary, Alberta. Two men on a motorcycle left the head along a street in Jolo town in Sulu province and then fled, police said. Abu Sayyaf militants had threatened to behead one of three men — two Canadians and a Norwegian — they kidnapped last September from a marina on southern Samal Island if a large ransom was not paid by 3 p.m. Monday.
4 Mideast violence: Israel on Monday charged seven young Israeli Jews in connection with crimes committed against Palestinians. The seven, among them two minors and a soldier, were charged with arson, assault and weapons possession, among other counts. The indictment says the suspects torched cars and residences of Arabs in Israel and the West Bank. The group is accused of being behind many “price tag” attacks, referred to as such because they are meant to exact a cost for Palestinian attacks or for Israeli steps seen as favoring the Palestinians.
5 Brussels attacks: The subway station where 16 people were killed by a suicide bomber reopened Monday just over a month after the attacks. Security remains high across the underground network, which was hit during the March 22 peak morning commute. The opening of the Maelbeek station brought the Belgian capital’s underground network back to full capacity. The bomb-hit Brussels airport, however, is still not at full capacity.
6 Factory explosion: Mexico’s state oil company says searchers have recovered four more bodies from a petrochemical plant destroyed by a huge explosion on the country’s Gulf coast, raising the death toll to 32. Petroleos Mexicanos said rescuers reached some of the area’s most affected by Wednesday’s blast and had located more bodies. All the workers in the plant that day have now been accounted for. The company said more than 130 people in all suffered injuries when the explosion rocked the plant in Coatzacoalcos, 370 miles southeast of Mexico City.