NEWS OF THE DAY
Rare mammal: Prague’s zoo says two Chacoan peccaries have been born there for the first time, a vital step in efforts to save an endangered species that was once considered extinct. The Chacoan peccary is a wild pig-like mammal whose existence was described in 1930 based on fossils that dated to the Pleistocene epoch. In the early 1970s a small population was discovered in an isolated area on the border of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. Due to overhunting, deforestation and disease, the population of several thousand has been shrinking. There are currently 37 Chacoan peccaries in seven European zoos.
Syria war: Opposition fighters said Wednesday they recaptured a village on the edge of their stronghold in northwestern Syria that had been seized two weeks earlier by government forces in an offensive that wrecked a months-old cease-fire in the densely populated area. The capture of Kfar Nabuda by government forces on May 8 was the most serious challenge to the cease-fire in Idlib province and surrounding areas negotiated by Russia and Turkey in September. It was the first ground advance by government forces on the rebel stronghold, home to 3 million people, since the cease-fire averted an earlier offensive. The area is among the last still held by antigovernment rebels in the country’s eight-year civil war.
Cleric abuse: Poland’s bishops are acknowledging that they have not done enough to prevent clerical abuse of minors and say there are “no words” to describe their shame about sex scandals involving priests. The acknowledgement on Wednesday comes as Poland, a country where Catholic traditions and faith remain strong, is grappling with the problem of abuse. The primate of Poland, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, told reporters in Warsaw that the Polish Bishops’ Conference prepared a letter to be read out in all churches on Sunday. The letter begins: “There are no words to express our shame because of sexual scandals involving clerics.”
Trump visit: President Trump will visit Ireland on June 5, meeting with the Irish prime minister and spending a night at one of his golf resorts, the White House has confirmed. Trump is scheduled to fly into Shannon Airport, in western Ireland, after his three-day state visit to Britain, the administration said Tuesday. He will leave again the next day to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France. Bilateral talks with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will be held at the airport, a trans-Atlantic refueling hub in County Clare that has a long history of hosting international meetings.
Brexit offer slammed: British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a chorus of calls Wednesday to rip up her tattered Brexit blueprint and call an end to her embattled premiership after her attempt at compromise got the thumbs-down from both her own Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers. May received a flurry of criticism in the House of Commons as she implored lawmakers to support a bill implementing Britain’s departure from the European Union that she plans to put to a vote in Parliament in June. Almost three years after British voters opted to leave the EU, May said “we need to see Brexit through, to honor the result of the referendum and to deliver the change the British people so clearly demanded.” She said that if Parliament rejected her deal, “all we have before us is division and deadlock.”