NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Corruption trial: In handcuffs and her eyes downcast, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye entered a Seoul courtroom Monday morning for the beginning of a corruption trial that could send her to prison for life if she is convicted. The hearing at the Seoul Central District Court is Park’s first public appearance since she was jailed March 31. She emerged from a bus in handcuffs, her inmate number 503 attached to her clothing, and was escorted into the courtroom by police. She ignored a large crowd of journalists recording her entrance. Park has been charged with extortion, bribery and abuse of power. Her arrest came weeks after she was removed from office in a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which upheld the December impeachment by lawmakers after massive street protests over the corruption allegations began last October.
2 Venezuela unrest: Protesters set late President Hugo Chavez’s childhood home in western Venezuela on fire Monday afternoon, an opposition lawmaker said, as protests against the nation’s socialist government grew increasingly hostile. Demonstrators lit the house in the city of Barinas, where Chavez spent his early years, aflame along with several government buildings, including the regional office of the National Electoral Council, said Pedro Luis Castillo, a legislator who represents the area. The burnings capped a violent day in Barinas — known as the cradle of Chavez’s socialist revolution — during which protesters clashed with national guardsmen, businesses were shuttered and roads were blocked with fire-filled barricades. While protesters are decrying current President Nicolas Maduro for the nation’s tripledigit inflation, food shortages and rising crime, demonstrators have also destroyed at least five statues commemorating Chavez.
3 Iran rips U.S.: Iran’s newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani took barbed swipes at the U.S. and its ally Saudi Arabia on Monday, hitting back at both a day after President Trump used his first foreign trip to the kingdom to call for further isolation of Iran. The 68-year-old cleric, a political moderate within Iran who secured a resounding victory over a hard-line opponent, called relations with the United States “a curvy road.” He was less flattering in his assessment of the Trump administration saying in Tehran that Iranians are “waiting for this government to become stable intellectually.”
4 Palestinian slain: Israeli police said a Palestinian attacker was shot and killed after he tried to stab officers near Jerusalem as President Trump visited the city on Monday, while clashes erupted in the West Bank as Palestinians declared a strike in solidarity with hundreds of hunger striking prisoners held in Israeli jails. Police said the attempted stabbing occurred near Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem. 5 Hunter killed: A South African big game hunter was killed in Zimbabwe on Friday when an elephant that had been shot by another hunter fell on him. The hunter, Theunis Botha, 51, from South Africa, had been leading paying tourists on hunting trips for more than three decades. He was guiding a group of hunters Friday near a village called Gwai in western Zimbabwe, when a member of the group shot the elephant, killing it. It crushed Botha as it fell to the ground, said Simukai Nyasha, a national park spokesman.