NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Malawi politics: Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in as Malawi’s new president Sunday after the announcement the previous night that he had won the country’s rerun elections. Chakwera urged national reconciliation in his inaugural speech in the capital, Lilongwe. He won with 58% of votes cast, beating the incumbent president Peter Mutharika, according to official results. Chakwera’s victory came after months of street protests against the results of the election in May 2019 in which Mutharika had been declared the winner. The Constitutional Court struck down the results, citing widespread irregularities.
_2 Arctic pollution: A Russian company said Sunday that it improperly pumped wastewater into the Arctic tundra and that it has suspended the responsible employees. The statement from Nornickel is the second time in a month the company has been connected to pollution in the ecologically delicate region. In May, around 21,000 tons of diesel fuel leaked at a Nornickeloperated power plant; some of the fuel entered a lake that feeds into an arm of the Arctic Sea. Sunday’s statement came after the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that water tainted with heavy metals at a nickelprocessing plant were being pumped into a river. Both facilities are near Norilsk, north of the Arctic Circle.
_3 Amazon slayings: Two members of the Yanomami ethnic group in Brazil’s Amazon rain forest were shot to death by illegal gold prospectors inside the Indigenous community’s territory, according to reports from the group. Junior Hekurari Yanomami, a member of the group who is head of the local health council, said Original Yanomami, 24, and Marcos Yanomami, 20, were slain June 12. The deaths were only reported recently due to the remoteness of the region in Brazil’s Roraima state and communication difficulties. The SocioEnvironmental Institute, an environmental and Indigenous advocacy group, says more than 26,000 Indigenous people live in Yanomami territory and they have faced invasions by prospectors and contamination of their waterways since the 1980s.
_4 Evangelical station: Israeli regulators announced Sunday that they ordered a U.S. evangelical broadcaster taken off the air, saying the channel hid its missionary agenda when it applied for a license. Asher Biton, chairman of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, said he informed “GOD TV” on Thursday that it had seven days to stop broadcasting. The controversy over GOD TV’s “Shelanu” station has put Israel and its evangelical Christian supporters in an awkward position, exposing tensions the two sides have long papered over. Israel has welcomed evangelicals’ political and financial support, especially as their influence over the White House has risen during the Trump administration. But most Jews view any effort to convert them to Christianity as deeply offensive, a legacy of forced conversion by Christian rulers.
_5 Gay pride: The Taiwanese capital held its annual LGBT pride parade Sunday, making it one of the few places in the world to proceed with such an event in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The parade in Taipei has drawn tens of thousands of people in the past, but participant numbers Sunday were reduced by both virus concerns and heavy rain. Those who did take part said it was a testament both to Taiwan’s ability to contain the pandemic and its commitment to rights for people of all sexual orientations. In all, the island of 23.7 million people has confirmed only 447 cases, including seven deaths. Taiwan is the only place in Asia where samesex marriage is legal, and its liberal political system has long promoted human rights, free speech and freedom of assembly.