NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Yemen war: Fighting between Saudi-led coalition forces and Yemen’s Shiite rebels flared up again around the Red Sea port city of Hodeida despite U.N. calls for a cease-fire, Yemeni officials and witnesses said Tuesday. The escalation, which followed a lull that had been in place since earlier this month, began late on Monday with coalition air strikes hitting the rebels, known as Houthis, in and around Hodeida. The renewed fighting undermines the latest U.N. efforts to end the three-year war. The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition has been battling the rebels since March 2015 to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government to power. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed much of the country to the brink of starvation.
2 Rebellion reprieve: British Prime Minister Theresa May got a reprieve in one of her Brexit battles Tuesday as party rebels said they did not yet have the strength for a leadership challenge. But she faced a new headache as parliamentary allies warned they could remove support from May’s minority government if she does not alter her divorce deal with the European Union. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party struck a deal last year to back May’s Conservatives on major legislation. But the Protestant, pro-United Kingdom party opposes the Brexit deal’s plans for keeping the border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland open after Brexit, saying it weakens the ties binding Britain by creating separate trade rules for Northern Ireland. The draft agreement reached last week triggered an avalanche of criticism in Britain and left May fighting to keep her job even as British and EU negotiators raced to firm up a final deal before a summit on Sunday where EU leaders hope to rubber-stamp it.
3 Foiled attack: Three men inspired by the Islamic State were charged on Tuesday with planning a mass-casualty attack in Australia’s second-largest city, police said. The Australian citizens of Turkish descent — Hanifi Halis, 21, and brothers Samed Eriklioglu, 26, and Ertunc Eriklioglu, 30 — were arrested in pre-dawn raids on their Melbourne homes, police said. All had their passports canceled this year on suspicion that they intended to fight with extremists overseas. They each could face a life prison sentence if convicted.
4 Kosovo vote: Kosovo failed in its bid to join Interpol on Tuesday in a vote held during the international law enforcement organization’s annual general assembly in Dubai, dealing a blow to the country’s efforts to boost recognition of its statehood. If it had been approved, Kosovo would have been able to request “red notices” from Interpol for the arrest of Serbian officials or figures that authorities in Kosovo consider war criminals. Supported by its ally Russia, Serbia had been lobbying against Kosovo’s entry into Interpol. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. The United States and most other Western countries support Kosovo’s statehood.
5 Train derails: A commuter train traveling toward Barcelona was derailed by a landslide on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring dozens, Spanish authorities said. The regional civil protection agency said that two train cars of a convoy of six came off the tracks near Vacarisses, some 28 miles northwest of Barcelona. Firefighters and emergency workers evacuated 131 commuters and sent to hospital 11 of the 44 people injured.
Chronicle News Services