NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Baghdad attack: A suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday in a crowded park in Iraq’s capital, killing at least seven people in the first such attack in Baghdad since the start a week ago of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, security officials said. They said police intercepted the bomber as he entered the park in Shoala, a mainly Shiite district, but he managed to set off his bomb before being caught. There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State. Iraq has been plagued by nearly daily attacks blamed on militants for most of the 15 years since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
_2 Ebola outbreak: Congo’s Ministry of Health said Thursday the number of confirmed Ebola cases has reached 30, including eight deaths in the three affected health zones in the country’s Equateur province. The ministry gave the toll after surveillance teams in the capital, Kinshasa, were deployed along the Congo River to monitor people coming in there. Health brigades have also been set up at various entry points to Kinshasa and other cities as part of prevention, said the World Health Organization’s Congo representative Allarangar Yakouide.
_3 Starvation warfare: The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution that for the first time recognizes the link between conflict and hunger and condemns the use of starvation as a method of warfare. The resolution adopted Thursday calls on all parties in the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law that bans attacks on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure including farms, markets, water systems and other essential items to produce and transport food. The U.N. World Food Program reported in March that between 108 and 124 million people in conflict situations suffer from severe malnutrition. _4 West Bank settlements: Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday that he will seek approval to fast-track construction of 2,500 new West Bank settlement homes in 2018, an announcement likely to further ratchet up tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Lieberman said in a statement that he aimed to fulfill a commitment to expand construction in the West Bank settlements, including some remote outposts and the Jewish settler enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron. Besides the 2,500, Lieberman said he will advance another 1,400 units that are in preliminary planning stages. The announcement came two days after Palestinians urged the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, to open an investigation into Israeli policies in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, including settlement construction, accusing Israel of systematic crimes, including apartheid in the occupied territories. _5 Parachute sabotage: A jury has found a British army sergeant guilty of attempted murder of his wife by sabotaging her parachute and tampering with a gas valve at her home. Jurors convicted Army Sgt. Emile Cilliers, 38, on Thursday of two attempted murder charges and a third count of damaging the gas fitting following a trial at Winchester Crown Court. The prosecution says he tried to kill Victoria Cilliers, 42, by damaging her main and reserve parachutes in a jump April 5, 2015. She survived by landing on a newly plowed field. The prosecution claimed that Emile Cilliers was deeply in debt and that he wanted his wife’s life insurance money to pay off his bills and start a new life with his lover.