NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 U.S. missiles to Estonia:
The United States says it has delivered 128 antitank Javelin missiles to Estonia as part of a larger contract with the Baltic NATO member and the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. Embassy in Tallinn said in a statement on Thursday that “the shipment will continue to build upon Estonia’s defensive capabilities and further strengthens our nations’ strategic integration” within NATO, of which Estonia has been a member since 2004. Washington has provided Estonia, a staunch military ally, with over $100 million in joint defense cooperation over the past few years, the U.S. Embassy said.
2 Cardinal charged:
Australia’s highest court will deliver its ruling next week on whether to overturn the convictions of Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse. Pell, 78, is one year into a sixyear sentence for molesting two 13yearold choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral while he was the city’s archbishop in the late 1990s. The High Court said Thursday a single judge will deliver the verdicts of all seven Tuesday in the east coast city of Brisbane. It had heard his appeal March 1112 before the court’s hearings were canceled due to the coronavirus risk. The court’s decision could be the last chance for Pope Francis’ former finance minister to clear his name.
3 El Salvador homicides:
El Salvador’s oncestartling homicide numbers have fallen again, the government reported Wednesday, and some experts said the lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic may be playing a role. Videos and audios have circulated of street gang members enforcing the lockdown, though the government says the decline is due to law enforcement measures. The Central American country said there were 65 homicides in March, an average of 2.1 a day in a country that once saw as many as 600 slayings in some months. El Salvador had about 37.5 homicides per 100,000 people in 2019, down from 50.3 in 2018 and far below the 103 recorded in 2015.
4 Migrants expelled:
South African police wearing riot gear forced their way into a church in central Cape Town on Thursday to remove hundreds of foreign migrants who had been sheltering there for months. The operation at the Central Methodist Church was aimed at ending a long standoff between the group of foreign nationals and city authorities. The migrants refused to leave the church and had previously demanded that South Africa relocate them to other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, because they had been victims of xenophobic threats in South Africa last year. Local media reported that police broke down the doors of the church in the historic Greenmarket Square to remove the migrants. The migrants were led onto buses and driven away, reportedly to a temporary camp outside the city.
5 Trump warns Iran:
President Trump warned Iran this week against using its proxy forces to attack U.S. troops, vowing to retaliate by going “up the food chain,” a hint that the American military was considering a more direct strike on Iranian forces. But senior Democrats cautioned Trump against attacking Iran without consulting Congress, a step he chose to forgo before the January killing of a top Iranian commander that pushed the countries to the brink of war. In a letter on March 27, Democratic leaders wrote that Trump must discuss with lawmakers any potential military actions overseas. Tensions with Iran have deepened since the start of the year when Trump ordered the killing of the top Iranian military and intelligence commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani.