While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 6
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) is welcomed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to an Arab League summit in May.
PHOTO: AFP
Ukraine seeks progress towards peace at Saudi Arabia talks
Senior officials from some 40 countries including the US, China and India held talks in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that Kyiv and its allies hope will lead to agreement on key principles for a peaceful end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The two-day meeting is part of a diplomatic push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers by reaching out to Global South countries that have been reluctant to take sides in a conflict that has hit the global economy.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who hopes to agree principles for a summit of global leaders that he is seeking on the issue in the autumn, said it would be important to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Jeddah meeting.
Speaking on Saturday, he acknowledged there were differences among the countries attending, but said the rules-based international order must be restored.
Crowd of 1.5 million brave heat to see Pope in Portugal
An estimated 1.5 million people packed a riverside park in Portugal’s capital on Saturday, braving a relentlessly scorching sun for hours for an evening prayer service with Pope Francis.
The Parque Tejo, a new venue created for the event, covers 100 hectares and has no shade or structures. Some participants had to wait up to 20 minutes to refill their water bottles as temperatures reached 38 deg C.
Some arrived more than eight hours before the pope appeared in the early evening, riding in a open popemobile that took more than half an hour to snake through the crowd.
At least 16 killed in landslide in Georgia
At least 16 people were killed and dozens were missing after a landslide at a resort town in northwestern Georgia, officials said on Saturday.
The landslide took place on Thursday in Shovi, a small resort town in Georgia’s mountainous north-west famed for its vast forests and mineral water springs.
“Sixteen bodies have been found in the disaster area and their identification is under way,” said Mr Teimuraz Mghebrishvili, from the interior ministry.
Influencer Kai Cenat charged with inciting a riot
Social media influencer Kai Cenat has been charged with inciting a riot after he announced a giveaway of video game consoles that drew thousands of people to a New York City park on Friday and sparked violent clashes with police.
Sixty-five people were arrested, including 30 juveniles, and several police officers and civilians were injured in the melee at Union Square park, Mr Jeffrey Maddrey, the New York Police Department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, told a news conference.
Some in the crowd threw projectiles at police, climbed onto the roof of a subway entrance and jumped on top of cars.
Dad swigs a bottle of beer as 11-year-old son flies his plane
An unsettling video has surfaced on social media, showing a Brazilian rancher swigging a bottle of beer while his 11-year-old son is piloting his private plane.
Mr Garon Maia, 42, and his son, Francisco, died when the same aircraft – a US$1.2 million (S$1.6 million) twin-engine Beechcraft Baron 58 – crashed on July 29 in a forest between the states of Rondonia and Mato Grosso, in Brazil.
Overcome with grief, Mr Maia’s wife, Ms Ana Pridonik, took her own life with a gun hours after her husband and stepson were buried on Aug 1.
