July 6, 2023

*) Fury in Israel after 'lenient' police chief is ousted by Netanyahu ally Thousands of protesters have blocked Tel Aviv's main highway and intersections across Israel in an outburst of anger following the forced resignation of the city's popular police chief. Ami Eshed announced on late Wednesday that he was leaving the Israeli police force under what he said was political pressure. Eshed has regularly clashed with the country's hardline National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has demanded that police take a tougher stance against months of anti-government protests. *) Azerbaijani leader urges Macron to apologise over French colonialism Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has accused France of being one of the countries which continue their neocolonial policy. Aliyev urged French President Emmanuel Macron to apologise to the countries affected by French colonialism. He also said racist and discriminative rhetoric has become common in France, including in the media. *) Children in conflict zones faced over 27,000 'grave violations' in 2022 Children experienced the highest number of "grave violations" in conflicts verified by the United Nations in 2022, the UN children’s agency has said. Omar Abdi, UNICEF’s deputy executive director, told the UN Security Council more than 27,000 grave violations, the highest number verified by the UN since its monitoring reports began in 2005. UNICEF expressed particular concern about their plight in Palestine, Somalia, Haiti, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ukraine. *) Dozens dead as bus careens into gulch in southern Mexico A bus travelling through the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca (Woahaka) has crashed into a ravine, killing 27 people, authorities said. The accident left 13 men, 13 women and an infant boy dead, state’s Interior Minister said in a press conference. Another 21 people were injured, of whom 12 are in critical condition, the minister added. *) Meta launches Threads, its answer to Twitter Meta has officially launched Threads, its text-based Twitter