NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 China-India summit: Chinese President Xi Jinping called for stepped-up cooperation with India during an informal summit Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, amid tensions along their contested border and a rivalry for influence with their smaller neighbors that could determine dominance in Asia. Xi greeted Modi in the city of Wuhan at the start of two days of talks between the heads of the world’s two most populous nations. The countries fought a border war in 1962 and last year engaged in a 10week standoff in the neighboring nation of Bhutan. New Delhi has also been alarmed by China’s moves to build strategic and economic ties with Indian Ocean nations including Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India’s longtime rival Pakistan.
2 Syria conflict: Fighting between Syrian troops and Islamic State fighters in southern neighborhoods of the capital Damascus left dozens of people dead or wounded on Friday, according to a war monitor and Syrian state media. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government bombardment killed 17 people, including seven children and two women in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk mostly controlled by Islamic State. The area is the last district out of government control in Damascus and its capture would boost security in Syrian President Bashar Assad’s seat of power.
3 Russian lawyer: An organization established by an exiled Russian tycoon says it has obtained emails showing collaboration between Russian government officials and the lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. in 2016 and has denied having connections to the Kremlin. The emails the Dossier organization said it was sent suggest Natalia Veselnitskaya worked closely with a top official in Russia’s prosecutor-general’s office to fend off a U.S. fraud case against one of her clients. Veselnitskaya has denied connections to the Russian government since her meeting with then-candidate Donald Trump’s son, son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign chairman Paul Manafort during the 2016 presidential election.
4 Knife attack: A man wielding a knife killed seven children and injured a dozen others outside a middle school in central China on Friday, authorities said, in one of the worst attacks at a Chinese school in recent years. The incident took place at the Mizhi County No. 3 Middle School in Shaanxi province, about 500 miles southwest of Beijing. The police said they had taken into custody a suspect, a man with the surname Zhao. They said the man was a graduate of the middle school and that he had told police he was seeking revenge because he was bullied during his time there. Knives are a weapon of choice in China, where guns and other weapons are strictly regulated.
5 Film banned: Kenya banned its first feature film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, accusing it of having “clear intent to promote lesbianism in Kenya contrary to the law.” Director Wanuri Kahiu said she is “incredibly sorry” to confirm the ban of “Rafiki,” or “Friend” in Swahili, by the Kenya Film Classification Board. Her film depicts a love story between two women. In Kenya, gay sex faces up to 14 years in prison. Many countries across Africa have laws against homosexuality, with people facing severe harassment and physical threats. Gay rights are “not of any major importance” in Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta told CNN in an interview earlier this month.