NEWS OF THE DAY

1

Polish high court: Backing down from a showdown with Brussels, Poland’s government reversed its purge of the country’s Supreme Court, as the president signed a law Monday that will reinstate the judges who had been forced out of their jobs. It was a remarkable turnaround after months of Poland’s top officials saying they would resist pressure to stop the overhaul of the judiciary. The ruling party, Law and Justice, had put tightening its grip on the courts at the center of its agenda, claiming that it was vital to rid the courts of corrupt judges and communist-era vestiges. The European Union sees the changes Poland has made to its judiciary in the last three years as a violation of the bloc’s core values, a threat to the rule of law and the end of judges acting as a check on political power. Last year, the union chastised Poland and took the first steps toward stripping the country of its voting rights in Brussels — a penalty that has never been used against a member nation.

2

Illegal tunnels: U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon said Monday that two of the four tunnels discovered by Israel and allegedly dug by the Hezbollah militant group cross the border in violation of the cease-fire agreement that ended the 2006 war. UNIFIL said it has been investigating the tunnels uncovered in an Israeli operation launched earlier this month. Israel says the militant group dug the tunnels in order to infiltrate the country and carry out attacks. Hezbollah has not commented on the operation. UNIFIL said two tunnels cross the so-called Blue Line that demarcates the border between Israel and Lebanon. It called on Lebanese authorities to take “urgent follow-up” actions. Israel and Lebanon are technically at war, and Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war that ended in stalemate in 2006. The cease-fire called on Israel to withdraw from the south and Hezbollah to keep away from the border.

3

Kidnap victim freed: A relative of the late Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been freed after being kidnapped and held for ransom for over three months. Colombian President Ivan Duque announced Monday the military rescued Melissa Martinez Garcia in a special operation in which about a dozen people were detained. The great niece of the famed writer was kidnapped in August while returning home to Santa Marta from her job overseeing work on a banana farm.

4

Accident arrests: Turkey’s official news agency says three people have been arrested for their alleged roles in a deadly train accident. Three employees of Turkey’s railway authority were put under pre-trial arrest Monday on the charges of reckless manslaughter and injury, according to Anadolu news agency. They worked as a dispatcher, switchman and controller in Turkish State Railways. A high-speed train on Thursday morning hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital Ankara, killing nine and injuring dozens of others.

5

Fatal fire: At least six people died and 129 others were injured in a fire that broke out Monday in a hospital in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, police said. The fire in the five-story government-run ESIC Kamgar Hospital in the suburban Andheri area was believed to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, police said. A top fire official said the smoke engulfed the entire building and rescuers were searching all of the floors to see if any patients, hospital staff or visitors were still trapped there.