Comment on Mexico swine flu death toll jumps to 19 (AP)

There is nothing surprising about a Prime Minister seeking a third consecutive term returning to power with a weakened mandate. Voter fatigue and anti-incumbency factors can erode margins. That Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is projected to win 240 parliamentary seats (out of 543) in India, though short of a majority, would be considered a good outcome in most other settings.

U. S. intelligence officials are issuing a stark warning to America’s former “Top Gun” pilots: Don’t help China. A new threat bulletin issued Wednesday warns that China’s People’s Liberation Army “continues to target” current and former Western fighter pilots to help teach Chinese pilots how to master one of the hardest maneuvers in aviation: taking off and landing on aircraft carriers.

FLORENCE, Italy — An Italian court reconvicted Amanda Knox of slander on Wednesday, even after she was exonerated in the brutal 2007 murder of her British roommate while the two were exchange students in Italy. The court found that Knox had wrongly accused an innocent man, the Congolese owner of the bar where she worked part time, of the killing.

Hong Kong, the Chinese enclave that’s still struggling to revive its tourism economy post-pandemic and in the wake of a Beijing-influenced crackdown on civil liberties, has taken a new approach to wooing visitors: curbing its residents’ reputation for rudeness. Earlier this week, the city government launched a new campaign to promote politeness.

BEIRUT — A gunman was captured by Lebanese soldiers after attempting to attack the U. S. Embassy near Beirut on Wednesday, the military said. The attack took place as tensions continued to simmer in the tiny Mediterranean country, where months of fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops has displaced thousands along the border, following years of political deadlock and economic hardship. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read More: Militant Group Hezbollah Is on the Sidelines of the Israel-Hamas War.

Damaran Baru, Indonesia — In a lush jungle at the foothills of a volcano in Indonesia’s Aceh province, the song of gibbons in the trees mixes with the laughter of the seven forest rangers trekking below them. An hour into their patrol, the rangers spot another mammal in the forest with them. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Where are you going?