Trump admin weighs cutting child sex change funds
Bengaluru — US President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing cutting off funds to hospitals that it says provide gender-related treatments for children and teenagers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The reported deliberations come after the US Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a letter in May to a number of hospitals performing “paediatric sex trait modification procedures,” outlining what it said were concerns over quality standards and profits related to the procedures.
The CMS asked hospitals to respond in 30 days — a deadline which passed on Saturday. Reuters
Kim Jong-un mourns soldiers who died for Russia
Seoul — North Korea’s state media showed on Monday leader Kim Jong-un draping coffins with the national flag in what appeared to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, as the countries marked a landmark military treaty.
In a series of photographs displayed in the backdrop of a gala performance by North Korean and visiting Russian artists in Pyongyang, Kim is seen by rows of a half a dozen coffins, covering them with flags and pausing briefly with both hands resting on them.
After months of silence, the two countries have disclosed the deployment of North Korean troops and lauded the “heroic” role they played in Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine to reclaim the Kursk region in western Russia. Reuters
Court declares UK sale of F-35 spares to Israel lawful
London — Britain’s decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was lawful, London’s high court ruled on Monday.
Al-Haq, a group based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had taken legal action against Britain’s department for business and trade over its decision to exempt F-35 parts when it suspended some arms export licences last year.
The UK assessed Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law, in relation to humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees, in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in response to Hamas’ October 2023 attack.
But Britain decided to “carve out” F-35 licences, with the government saying suspending those licences would disrupt a global programme that supplies parts for the aircraft, with a knock-on effect on international security. Reuters
Israel keen on official ties with Syria and Lebanon
Jerusalem — Israel is interested in establishing official diplomatic ties with Syria and Lebanon, but will not negotiate the fate of the Golan Heights in any peace agreement, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said in a press conference on Monday. Reuters
Turkey, France battle wildfires amid early heatwave
Istanbul/Paris/Seville — Firefighters battled wildfires in Turkey and France on Monday as an early heatwave hit the region.
In Turkey, wildfires raged for a second day in the western province of Izmir, fanned by strong winds, forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli said, forcing the evacuation of four villages and two town neighbourhoods.
Turkey’s coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists say is a result of human-induced climate change.
In France, where temperatures are expected to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday, wildfires broke out on Sunday in the southwestern Aude department, where temperatures topped 40°C, burning 400 hectares and forcing the evacuation of a campsite and an abbey, authorities said. Reuters
At least 12 dead, 26 hurt in pharmaceutical firm fire
Hyderabad/Bengaluru — At least 12 people died and more than 26 were injured after an explosion at a unit of pharmaceutical company Sigachi Industries in India’s Telangana state led to a fire on Monday, police said.
Four people are in an “extremely critical condition”, while 10 are still stuck inside the plant, said V Satyanarayana, inspector-general of the Hyderabad region.
“It appears like a blast in and around the reactor unit, which led to the fire,” Satyanarayana said, adding that “there is still fire and flames near the reactor area where it appears like the accident started”. Reuters
Migrant shipwreck off Italian island leaves one dead
Rome — One woman died, two people were feared missing and 87 were rescued after a migrant shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, a UN migration agency official said on Monday.
Lampedusa lies between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island of Sicily and is the first port of call for many migrants seeking to reach the EU from North Africa, in what has become one of the world’s deadliest sea crossings.
More than 25,000 migrants have died or gone missing on the central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy since 2014, according to the International Organisation for Migration, including 1,810 last year and 542 in the year to date. Reuters
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