NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Royal lawsuit: The Duchess of Sussex on Friday lost an early round in her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday newspaper over its publication of a letter to her estranged father. Meghan is suing for invasion of privacy over a 2018 article that included portions of the letter she had written to Thomas Markle. Judge Mark Warby struck out parts of Meghan’s case, but said they may be revived at a later stage if they are put on a proper legal basis. Thomas Markle was scheduled to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018, but pulled out at the last minute, citing heart problems.
2 Stabbing attack: Australian police fatally shot a man who stabbed and slashed seven people at and near a shopping mall on Friday. None of the victims of the rampage in the northwestern town of South Hedland suffered lifethreatening injuries. Five were hospitalized with stab wounds, including two who remain in serious but stable condition, officials said. Police have not revealed a motive. There was no indication the assailant, aged in his 30s, was politically or ideologically motivated, Western Australia state Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said. Two police officers tasered the man but he still lunged at them with the knife, Dawson said. An officer fired several shots and killed him, he said.
3 Deadly explosion: An old explosive device left during Nepal’s decadelong communist insurgency killed four children in a mountain village, official said Friday. The children picked up the device and were playing with it when it detonated Thursday night and killed them, said government administrator Navaraj Sharma. Nepal’s communist insurgency began in 1996 and ended a decade later after the rebels entered a United Nationsmonitored peace process. Some 17,000 people are believed to have been killed in the fighting. Rolpa district, located 250 miles west of Kathmandu, was the rebel stronghold during the fighting. Government investigators reached the village but delayed retrieving the bodies because of safety concerns. Villagers protested the deaths.
4 North Korean leader: State media reported Saturday that leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in 20 days amid rumors about his health. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim, who is believed to be 36, attended a ceremony marking the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang with other senior officials, including his sister, Kim Yo Jong. The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published several photos of Kim wearing black and smiling as he looked around the factory and cut a red ribbon. Kim had been last seen during a ruling party meeting on April 11 to discuss coronavirus prevention. Speculation about his health swirled after he missed the April 15 celebration of the birthday of his late grandfather and state founder, Kim Il Sung, the country’s most important holiday.
5 Yemen fighting: Explosions rocked Yemen’s Socotra archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site, on Friday as an armed unit funded by the United Arab Emirates fought to wrest control of the provincial capital Hadebo, the former prime minister and witnesses said. The unit is part of the separatist Southern Transitional Council, which declared selfrule earlier this week in the south, sparking fears of new violence in a country already mired in more than five years of civil war. The governors of Socotra and several other southern provinces rejected the selfrule bid and voiced support for President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Yemen’s internationally recognized leader. Socotra Gov. Ramzi Mahrous said his forces confronted the separatist militia and “managed to stop their advance.” Chronicle News Services