DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Saudi Arabia introduces law banning sexual harassment The measure has been passed by the Cabinet and an advisory council, and will become law with a royal decree. The country is making some piecemeal reforms, including ending its notorious driving ban on women. Saudi Arabia passed a draft law Wednesday that criminalizes sexual harassment less than a month before the stridently conservative country lifts a decadesold ban against women driving. The measure, which was passed by the Shura Council, carries a maximum 5-year prison term and fine of up to 300,000 riyals ($80,000, or €70,000). "The law is aimed at combating and preventing the crime of harassment, enforcing penalty on perpetrators, protecting victims and safeguarding the individualʼs privacy, dignity and freedom ensured by the Islamic sharia law," the council said in a statement.
121/2018 • 31 MAY, 2018
Liege assailant killed fourth person day before, minister says Belgium attack:
Israel launches retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza after Hamas rocket attacks The fighting is the worst episode of violence since Israel and Hamas fought a brief war in 2014. The United States, European Union and United Nations have condemned the rocket and mortar attacks against Israel. Israel has launched airstrikes against targets throughout the Gaza Strip after the armed wing of the ruling group in the Palestinian territory launched dozens of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel. The confrontation, which continued into Wednesday morning, is the worst episode of violence between Israel and Hamas since they fought a sevenweek-long war in 2014. The Israeli military said around 70 rockets and bombs had been fired into Israel by 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday (1700 GMT). One mortar shell landed near a kindergarten.
Paris police clear 1,700-strong
Syria recognizes Georgiaʼs breakaway regions in nod to Russia The Georgian government has hit back at Syria by severing diplomatic ties with the Arab republic. Syria is now one of five countries that have recognized the Moscowbacked regions. The Syrian government has recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two Georgian breakaway regions backed by Russia, as independent countries. "A deal has been reached between the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia to exchange recognition and set up diplomatic ties at the embassy level," said a Syrian Foreign Ministry official in comments circulated by the staterun SANA news agency on Tuesday. The move prompted the Georgian government to announce its decision to sever official ties with Syria, blaming Russia for orchestrating the diplomatic stunt.
Millenaire migrant camp The gunman later killed two police officers and a bystander in Liege on Tuesday. Prosecutors say they were treating the attacks as "terrorist murder" and were trying to ascertain whether the attacker acted alone. The gunman whokilled two female police officers and a bystanderin the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, had killed a man the previous day, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told broadcaster RTL. Jambon confirmed that the victim was a former inmate who did prison time with the assailant, identified as a Belgian national called Benjamin Herman. The attacker is alleged to have killed the man by hitting him over the head with a blunt object. During Tuesdayʼs attack, Herman, who was on a two-day release from prison, approached the two female officers from behind and stabbed them several times, before seizing one of their weapons and shooting them dead. He then shot dead a 22year-old man in a vehicle parked nearby and fled to a nearby school where he took a woman hostage. Herman was later gunned down after a shoot-out between him and the police. An investigation has been
launched into the incident, including the circumstances surrounding the attackerʼs release from prison, Jambon said. "Itʼs really an isolated case. He wasnʼt part of a network, he did not receive instructions from anyone else, so there is no need to raise the terror threat alert level," Jambon said. Later in the day, a Belgian federal magistrate said investigators were treating Tuesdayʼs attacks as a "terrorist murder" and were trying to ascertain whether the attacker acted alone. The magistrate, Wenke Roggen, confirmed reports that the attacker shouted "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for God is great, several times during the shooting rampage. She said the attacker had been radicalized in prison. Roggen said Hermanʼs modus operandi resembled that of "Islamic State," militant group, which exhorts its supporters via video messages to attack police with knives and steal their weapons.
The dawn operation was the 35th camp clearance undertaken in the French capital over the past three years. Those living at the "Millenaire" camp in the northeast the city are being moved to temporary accomodation. French security forces began the evacuation of the largest migrant camp in Paris on Wednesday morning, where up to 1,700 people, mostly from Africa, were living in makeshift conditions. Riot police arrived at dawn to oversee the removal of the migrants, who were taken by bus to temporary accommodation centers elsewhere in the Paris region.
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