NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Tunisia election: Tunisia is hoping to break through barriers with its first local election since its 2011 Arab Spring revolution — a vote that could produce the first female mayor of the capital, the first Jewish official with an Islamist party and new flock of mayors with greater powers. The North African country is trying to consolidate its young democracy with Sunday’s election, in which Tunisia’s 5.3 million voters will choose local leadership from 2,000 lists of candidates. More than half of the candidates in the local elections are under 35 and 49 percent are women, a rarity in the Arab world.
2 War crimes charges: Hundreds of war veterans and civilians rallied Friday in support of a Bosnian Muslim wartime military commander who is suspected of war crimes against Serb civilians during the 1992-95 conflict. The protesters gathered in central Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, carrying a huge banner saying “Heroes, not criminals!” Last week, police briefly detained Atif Dudakovic and 12 other members of the Bosnian army for alleged war crimes against hundreds of Serb civilians in northwestern Bosnia. The arrests angered many Bosnian Muslims who view Dudakovic and his men as defenders of the northwestern region that was under siege for much of the war. About 100,000 people died during the war in Bosnia that erupted when Bosnian Serbs rebelled against the country’s independence from the Serbia-dominated former Yugoslavia.
3 China denial: China on Friday denied allegations that its forces targeted U.S. military aircraft with high-powered lasers near China’s military base in Djibouti, resulting in minor eye injuries to two pilots. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had informed the U.S. that “after strict verification, we have told the U.S. side that what they alleged is absolutely untrue.” Lasers present a serious problem because when aimed at aircraft they can injure pilots or temporarily blind them — which can present safety risks particularly as they are taking off and landing. China opened its first foreign military base in Djibouti last year, joining the U.S. and a number of other country’s with military installations in the Horn of Africa nation.
4 Mexico violence: A lone gunman killed the mayor of the small town of Pacula in the central Mexico state of Hidalgo. More than 60 mayors or mayors-elect have been killed in Mexico since 2006, often by criminal gangs. The Hidalgo state prosecutors’ office said Mayor Alejandro Gonzalez Ramos was traveling in a truck with two town employees when a gunman killed him on Thursday. The two employees were not seriously injured. Two mayors were killed in April alone. There have been concerns that the violence could affect the country’s July 1 elections.
5 Record temperature: Even in Pakistan, no stranger to blistering heat, the temperature Monday stood out: 122.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The reading came from Nawabshah, a city of 1.1 million people in southern Pakistan, and meteorologists said Friday that it is the highest temperature ever reliably recorded, anywhere in the world, in the month of April. Life-threatening heat waves have become more frequent as the climate has warmed, and Asia has been especially hard-hit. Worldwide, 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, and the past four are the four warmest.