Netanyahu under pressure, reinstates dissenting minister Gallant

Today's headlines: Chinese naval and air forces remain around Taiwan; Indian military worried by Chinese construction on Bhutan border; Seoul says US intelligence documents posted on web are fake; Burmese military bomb village and kill 11 civilians; Tensions in Ukraine between population and Orthodox clergy loyal to Moscow.

ISRAEL

Benjamin Netanyahu reinstated yesterday as head of the Defense Ministry Yoav Gallant, who was fired two weeks ago for calling for a freeze on controversial judicial reform. The Israeli premier is under pressure from street protests, clashes in the Palestinian Territories, attacks from Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, and a drop in public approval.

CHINA-TAIWAN

Chinese ships and warplanes remain stationed around Taiwan at the end of three days of military exercises announced by Beijing on April 9. The maneuvers began upon the return to the island of President Tsai Ing-wen, who days earlier had met with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

INDIA-CHINA

The Indian Armed Forces expressed serious concern about massive construction by the Chinese in the Amo Chu Valley. The area lies on the disputed Himalayan border between Delhi and Beijing, and is formally part of Bhutan. In 2017, the two armies faced off against each other in this section of the mountain range.

SOUTH KOREA-USA

The South Korean government said today that a significant portion of the U.S. intelligence documents leaked on the web are false, especially regarding Seoul's alleged opposition to arms transfers to Ukraine. For Washington, publication of the material poses a serious threat to national security and relations with allies.

MYANMAR

An airstrike by the coup military junta killed 11 civilians in Falam, a village in Chin State. The bombing was triggered yesterday after local opposition forces stormed and set fire to a police station.

UKRAINE-RUSSIA

Residents of the Ukrainian city of Kamenetsk-Podolsky gathered en masse in front of the gates of the local Orthodox church to demand that priests break away from the Orthodox patriarchate in Moscow and move from Upz jurisdiction to the autocephalous Pzu jurisdiction. In Ternopol, Upz worshippers were forced to enter the church amid two wings of crowds protesting them.

TURKMENISTAN

In the velayat of Balkan, local hospitals have begun accepting, as payment for treatment of patients also on the list for urgent operations, blood donations from relatives and friends, who crowd in front of laboratories for blood samples.

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