NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Leader backs down: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro yielded Wednesday to growing criticism around his nomination of a new federal police chief seen as too close to his family, revoking the controversial appointment just hours after it was temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro’s abrupt removal last week of the former federal police chief, in the midst of a health crisis, and the nomination of Alexandre Ramagem, who has been photographed with Bolsonaro’s sons, had prompted concern that Bolsonaro would give his family preferential treatment. At least one of the president’s sons is reportedly under investigation.
It’s a boy: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, on Wednesday announced the birth of a baby boy, adding another milestone to a year of dizzying ups and downs for the British leader. Two days after Johnson returned to work following a serious illness caused by the coronavirus, he and Symonds, 32, said their baby had been born at a London hospital and was healthy. Symonds had also suffered symptoms of the virus and had isolated herself during the period when Johnson, 55, was hospitalized. After three nights in intensive care, he was released on Easter Sunday. Symonds and the baby are “doing very well,” a spokeswoman for Johnson and his fiancee said.
Polio outbreak: The World Health Organization says Niger has been struck by a new outbreak of polio following the suspension of immunization activities during the COVID19 pandemic. The U.N. health agency reported that two children were infected by the highly infectious, waterborne disease and that one was paralyzed. The outbreak was sparked by a mutated virus that originated in the vaccine and was not connected to a previous polio epidemic Niger stopped last year, WHO said. Across Africa, 14 other countries are struggling to contain their polio epidemics, which have also been caused by a rare mutation of the virus in the oral vaccine. Health officials had initially aimed to wipe out polio by 2000.
Afghan bombing: A suicide bomber on Wednesday targeted a base belonging to Afghan special forces on the southern outskirts of the capital, Kabul, killing at least three civilians and wounding 15, officials said. The government blamed the Taliban for the attack, which took place a day after the country’s defense minister and the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan visited the facility. The bombing happened outside the base for army commandos as civilian contractors working in the facility waited outside to get into the base, said a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the Taliban and the Islamic State are active in Kabul and its surroundings and have repeatedly struck military and civilian targets.
NeoNazi charged: German prosecutors have charged a farright extremist with the killing of a regional politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party last year, and a nearfatal attack on an Iraqi asylumseeker in 2016. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that Stephan Ernst, 46, who has previous convictions for a string of violent antimigrant crimes, is accused of murder, attempted murder, serious bodily harm and firearms offenses. A second man, identified only as Markus H. due to privacy rules, was charged with accessory to murder. Walter Luebcke, who led the regional administration in the central region of Kassel, was shot on his porch on June 1, 2019, and died that night. His killing sparked widespread outrage and warnings about the danger of farright extremism.
Chronicle News Services