NEWS OF THE DAY

_1 Gays targeted: In the face of growing international concern about reported detentions and killings of gay men in Chechnya, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says the Kremlin does not have confirmed information on the targeted violence. The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported this month that police in the predominantly Muslim republic rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality and that at least three of them have been killed. Chechen authorities have denied the reports. But the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights and prominent international organizations have urged the Russian government to investigate the reported abuse. But Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday: “We do not have any reliable information about any problems in this area.”

_2 South Sudan violence: The World Food Program said Friday it is “horrified” to learn that three of its South Sudan workers were killed this week in violence in the western town of Wau, as the country’s civil war continues under warnings of possible genocide. A statement from the U.N. agency said the three men had been contracted to work as porters and appear to have been killed Monday on their way to a warehouse. At least 50,000 people have died since the civil war began in December 2013, and the country has created Africa’s largest migrant crisis with 1.8 million refugees.

_3 Ecuador vote: Election officials have agreed to recount nearly 1.3 million votes as opposition leader Guillermo Lasso claims fraud in the presidential election. The National Electoral Council said it would recount all ballots contested in complaints filed by both parties, about 10 percent of the total vote. Official results from the April 2nd election showed former banker Lasso lost by less than 3 percentage points to Rafael Correa’s handpicked successor, Lenin Moreno. International observers including the Organization of American States have said they found no irregularities.

_4 Somalia deployment: The U.S. military is sending dozens of regular troops to Somalia in the largest such deployment to the Horn of Africa country in roughly two decades. The United States pulled out of Somalia after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down in the capital, Mogadishu, and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets. The U.S. Africa Command on Friday said the deployment is for logistics training of Somalia’s army, which is battling the extremist group al-Shabab. About 40 troops are taking part. _5 Mideast stabbing: A Palestinian man stabbed a young British woman to death Friday in Jerusalem near the Old City, which was packed with Christians celebrating Good Friday and Jews enjoying Passover, officials said. It was the latest bloodshed in a wave of attacks by Palestinians against Israeli civilians and security forces that erupted in 2015. Police said that as a tram approached City Hall, the Palestinian pulled a knife out of his bag and stabbed the woman in her early 20s multiple times in the upper body. Shin Bet intelligence service said the attacker had recently tried to commit suicide in a hospital by swallowing a razor blade and that he was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter in 2011. Apart from Friday’s fatality, Palestinians have killed 42 Israelis and two visiting Americans since September 2015. Israeli forces have killed at least 243 Palestinians during that time, most of them identified as attackers by Israeli authorities.