NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 South Africa protests: South Africa’s president cut short a visit to Britain to return home and deal with violent protests in a provincial capital. President Cyril Ramaphosa left the Commonwealth summit in London to respond to the turmoil in the North West capital of Mahikeng, where residents brought life to a standstill with protests over alleged corruption and calls for the premier to resign. The North West premier, Supra Mahumapelo, has faced accusations of corruption from residents who say mismanagement has led to a decline in government services. Similar protests have been common across South Africa, which the World Bank this year called, by any measure, “one of the most unequal countries in the world.”
2 Al Qaeda attack: Extremists claimed responsibility for an attack in northern Mali that killed a U.N. peacekeeper and wounded seven French soldiers. SITE Intelligence Group reported Friday that the al Qaeda branch in Mali posted a message saying it had carried out the attack nearly a week ago. Witnesses said the attackers struck the town of Timbuktu in vehicles disguised as belonging to the Malian military and the U.N. peacekeeping mission. Extremists controlled Timbuktu and other northern towns in 2012 before a French-led military operation forced them from power the following year. They have continued to attack Malian and international forces.
3 Teen jailed: A British teenager has been jailed for two years for compromising the email and phone accounts of senior U.S. government officials in what a judge called acts of “cyberterrorism.” Prosecutors say that in 2015-16, Kane Gamble conned call centers into revealing information that got him into the accounts of then-FBI director Mark Giuliano, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, then-CIA chief John Brennan and other top officials. They say Gamble, who was part of a group of hackers called “Crackas With Attitude,” leaked some of the information he gathered online. The 18-year-old was sentenced Friday at London’s Central Criminal Court to two years in youth detention.
4 World War II bomb: German police officers and firefighters went door to door Friday in a 1-mile area of downtown Berlin, telling workers and residents that they had to get out. A 1,100-pound World War II-era bomb was found last Saturday, and it was time to remove it. The 70-year-old bomb, which Berlin police said had mostly likely been dropped by a British bomber during the war, was found during construction in the center of the German capital, just north of the main train station, government buildings and major tourist sites. The city estimated that there are still roughly 3,000 bombs in Berlin. Since 1947, 1.8 million ordinances have been found and disposed of in the city, according to the police.
5 Respecting red lines: Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the U.S. sought out and respected Moscow’s positions in Syria when it launched its air strikes last week. Sergei Lavrov noted that despite the escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington, the U.S. made sure it didn’t harm any Russian personnel and positions during the strikes against the government of President Bashar Assad following a suspected chemical attack on the town of Douma. “We told them where our red lines were,” Lavrov told Russian state television. “The results have shown that they haven’t crossed those lines.”