Comment on Russian balloonist claims new round the world record

(PARIS) — President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of France’s parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to choose lawmakers, after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right in the European elections Sunday. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The legislative elections will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. The announcement came after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union’s parliamentary elections, handing a chastening loss to Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes. Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party was estimated to get around 31%-32% of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, which was projected to reach around 15%. Macron himself wasn’t a candidate in the EU elections and his term as president still runs for three more years. He said the decision was “serious” but showed his “confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say.” “In the next few days, I’ll be saying what I think is the right direction for the nation.

Mustafa Nayyem, the top official overseeing Ukraine’s defense fortifications and reconstruction efforts, announced his resignation on Monday. The news marks the latest high-profile departure that has shaken Western confidence in Ukraine’s government. Nayyem, who resigned alongside two other officials in Ukraine’s Restoration and Infrastructure Development agency, claimed his work was being undermined by the government. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Nayyem told the Financial Times that prior to his resignation, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal prohibited him from attending the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference on June 11 and 12 in Berlin.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — They arrived in the middle of the day, when the squat concrete buildings of the Nuseirat refugee camp are stifling and the narrow streets outside are filled with people. No one suspected a thing until the shots rang out. The Israeli raid caught everyone off guard, from the Hamas militants guarding four hostages in two different buildings to the thousands of civilians who soon found themselves running for their lives through a blistering crossfire. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] By the time it was over, four Israeli hostages had been brought home alive and mostly unscathed, at least physically, and at least 274 Palestinians, and an Israeli commando, had been killed. For Israel, it was the most successful operation of the eight-month war, bringing nationwide elation and removing some of the stain from the army’s unprecedented collapse on Oct.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s dramatic weekend rescue of four hostages from the Gaza Strip, in an operation that local health officials say killed 274 Palestinians, came at a sensitive time in the 8-month-old war, as Israel and Hamas weigh a U. S. proposal for a cease-fire and the release of the remaining captives. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Both sides face renewed pressure to make a deal: The complex rescue is unlikely to be replicated on a scale needed to bring back scores of remaining hostages, and it was a powerful reminder for Israelis that there are still surviving captives held in harsh conditions.

Over the weekend, a number of tributes to public intellectual Noam Chomsky were posted on social media, remarking on his life and career. But the 95-year-old linguist, by all public accounts, is not dead yet. What’s been said about Noam Chomsky’s health status? The outpouring came after U. K.-based outlet Media Lens posted on Facebook on June 7: “No doubt like many other people around the world, we have been surprised and profoundly concerned that Noam Chomsky has not commented publicly on current events; in particular, the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.” Media Lens followed with a series of purported updates on Chomsky’s condition, sourced to Reddit posts by Chomsky’s former assistant Bev Stohl, and concluding that “it is very unlikely he will return to the public eye.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Chomsky—who in one of his last media appearances said in April last year that he “first started talking publicly about the criminal nature of Israel’s actions in 1969” but that he regretted not speaking out earlier about the “repression” of Palestinians—has been noticeably absent from public eye over the past year.

JERUSALEM — Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s three-man war Cabinet, announced his resignation Sunday, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of mismanaging the war effort and putting his own “political survival” over the country’s security needs. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The move does not immediately pose a threat to Netanyahu, who still controls a majority coalition in parliament.