DUTCH KING WIDELY EXPECTED TO ISSUE APOLOGY FOR SLAVERY

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS—King

Willem-Alexander is widely expected to make a royal apology for the Netherlands’ involvement in slavery on Saturday at an event marking 150 years since slaves were freed in former colonies.

Thousands of descendants of slaves from the South American nation of Suriname and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao will attend the celebrations in Amsterdam for “Keti Koti” (“breaking the chains” in Surinamese).

Dutch media reported that the king is expected to make some form of apology on behalf of the royal family, to follow on from an official government apology in December.

However Willem-Alexander has stopped short of confirming that he will say sorry for a trade that researchers say brought vast riches to his ancestors in the House of Orange.

“I think we will have to wait until July 1,” the Dutch monarch told journalists when asked on a recent state visit to Belgium whether he would apologize at the ceremony. AFP the interior ministry still reported 994 arrests nationwide overnight, and 79 injuries among police and gendarmes.

This is more than on any night since the protests began Tuesday, sparked by the death of 17-yearold Nahel by a police bullet.

Provisional ministry numbers released early Saturday also included 1,350 vehicles and 234 buildings torched, and 2,560 incidents of fire set in public spaces.

The clashes continued despite France deploying 45,000 officers, the highest number of any night since the start of the protests, backed by light armored vehicles and elite police units.

They were unable to stop looting in the cities of Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble, with bands of often-hooded rioters pillaging shops.

Despite rain pouring down on Paris and its suburbs since the small hours of Saturday, rioting also flared up there, with close to half the nationwide arrests, 406, made in and around the capital, a police source told AFP.

But during a visit to Mantes-la-Jolie west of Paris on Saturday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin maintained that the night’s violence had been of “much less intensity”.

Darmanin had announced an “exceptional” deployment of police and gendarmes to deal with the riots over the death of Nahel, who will be buried on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where he lived and died.

Dozens of police vans were positioned not far from the entrance to the Vieux Pont district of Nanterre, which was the epicentre of the unrest, and nine people had been arrested for carrying Molotov cocktails and petrol canisters. AFP

CHINA’S ANTI-ESPIONAGE LAW COMES INTO EFFECT

BEIJING, CHIN—A revised law dramatically expanding China’s definition of espionage came into force on Saturday, giving Beijing more power than ever to punish what it deems threats to national security.

The United States government, analysts, and lawyers say that the revisions to Beijing’s antiespionage law are vague and will give authorities more leeway in implementing already opaque national security legislation.

Originally released for public comment in December 2022, the revisions were formally approved by China’s top legislative body in April.

Chinese law already meted out harsh punishment for those involved in alleged espionage, from life in prison to execution in extreme cases.

In May, a 78-year-old US citizen was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges.

Under the revised law, “relying on espionage organizations and their agents” as well as the unauthorized obtaining of “documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests” can constitute a spying offence. AFP

BIDEN’S NEW MEASURES TO EASE STUDENT LOANS

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES— President Joe Biden said Friday that millions of Americans are “angry” after the Supreme Court brought down his student loan forgiveness program but he announced new measures to ease the financial burden.

“I know there are millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little bit angry,” Biden said. “I must admit I do too.”

Biden announced measures to “provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible.”

One measure is a 12-month pause on penalties for missing debt repayments on federal loans used by many students to finance their time in the notoriously expensive US higher education system. This will “protect the most vulnerable borrowers,” the White House said. AFP