NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Mali massacre: Unknown assailants killed at least 95 people in an ethnic Dogon village overnight in the latest massacre to destabilize central Mali, a government official said Monday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, though tensions have been high since an ethnic Dogon militia was accused of carrying out a larger massacre in an ethnic Peuhl village in March. Youssouf Toloba, who leads the Dogon militia known as Dan Na Ambassagou, has denied that his fighters carried out the March bloodshed that left at least 157 people dead. Some Peuhl leaders, however, have vowed to carry out reprisal attacks. The Interior Security ministry said another 19 people were missing after the Dogon village of Sobame Da was attacked early Monday. The unrest in central Mali has displaced some 60,000 people.
Albania politics: The governing Socialist Party called a no-confidence vote against President Ilir Meta, saying Monday it was unconstitutional for him to cancel upcoming municipal elections. The vote will be held at Thursday’s parliamentary session. The Socialists need 94 votes to oust Meta, which they don’t have in the 140-seat parliament. Even if they get the numbers, the Constitutional Court makes the final decision. The court has been dysfunctional for about a year after most of its judges were fired. Meta decided to cancel the June 30 municipal elections, saying that they would be “undemocratic” and that he feared tensions would rise if they were held. Since mid-February, the opposition has been holding protests accusing the government of links to organized crime and demanding a new general election.
Kazakhstan election: An ally of Kazakhstan’s former president was named winner of the presidential election on Monday in a vote marred by a police crackdown on protesters who criticized the result as an orchestrated handover of power. The Central Election Commission said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won nearly 71 percent of Sunday’s vote with all the ballots counted. Tokayev became acting president when Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had led the country since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, abruptly stepped down. Some 500 people were taken into custody after police broke up rallies in Kazakhstan’s two largest cities — NurSultan and Almaty — Sunday. Protests erupted again Monday.
Plastic ban: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced that Canada plans to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021. Trudeau said a sciencebased review will determine which products to ban. The government is considering items such as water bottles, plastic bags and straws. Trudeau said his government is drawing inspiration from what the European Union did. The European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in March to impose a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics to counter pollution from discarded items that end up in waterways and fields. EU member states have given their support, but need to vote on the measure for it to go into effect.
Rape conviction: A court on Monday sentenced three Hindu men, including a police officer, to life imprisonment for kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old Muslim girl in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in a case that exacerbated tensions in the disputed region. The girl was grazing her family’s ponies in the Himalayan foothills when she was kidnapped in January 2018. Her mutilated body was found a week later. The case sparked protests across Kashmir.
Chronicle News Services