While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 20
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Mr Herzog sought to ease concerns that his country is losing its democratic, pluralistic tradition. PHOTO: REUTERS
REUTERS
Israel’s Herzog addresses Congress amid policy tensions
President Isaac Herzog of Israel addressed Congress on Wednesday at a fraught moment in the US relationship with his nation, and amid fresh signs of strain in the long-standing bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill to fervently support the Jewish state.
A day after 10 left-wing House Democrats declined to back a resolution declaring strong support for Israel, Mr Herzog sought to ease concerns that his country is losing its democratic, pluralistic tradition – a message equally aimed at members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who wish to move towards a state where power is more centralised in the prime minister’s office.
He also acknowledged the divisions that have appeared both in his country and among leaders in the United States, but compared the relationship between the two countries to a family, where disagreement does not mean disunity.
A handful of Democrats boycotted the speech, including Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who last week said that Israel “is a racist state.”
Prigozhin: No more fighting in Ukraine, prepare for Africa
Russia’s mutinous mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the war in Ukraine for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa.
Wagner’s failed June 23-24 mutiny has been interpreted by the West as a challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule that illustrates the weakness of the 70-year-old Kremlin chief and the strain of the Ukraine war on the Russian state.
The footage, reposted by his press service on Telegram, is the first video evidence of Mr Prigozhin’s whereabouts since the night of the mutiny.
Ukraine expects ‘long and difficult’ counteroffensive
Ukraine expects its fight to regain land lost to the Russian invasion to be long and grinding, a senior presidential aide in Kyiv told AFP on Wednesday.
Moscow’s forces still occupy swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine and over a month into Kyiv’s long-anticipated counteroffensive, large parts of the front appear to be frozen.
Speaking to AFP, presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak admitted progress was “slower than we want.”
Fiery bus crash kills 34 in Algeria’s remote Sahara region
A road crash in Algeria killed 34 people when a passenger bus collided head-on with a pickup truck carrying fuel cans and burst into flames on Wednesday, deep in the southern Sahara region, officials said.
The North African country’s deadliest road crash in years also left 12 others injured, many with severe burns, Algeria’s civil defence agency said.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on a state visit to China, expressed “his deep distress and sadness” and offered “his sincere condolences” to the victims’ families.
‘Hurt’ Nyck de Vries breaks silence after AlphaTauri exit
Nyck de Vries spoke on Wednesday of his hurt at losing his AlphaTauri Formula One seat to Australian Daniel Ricciardo after only 10 races and before he got a chance to race at his home Dutch Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old was dropped by the Red Bull-owned team last week and replaced by eight times grand prix winner Ricciardo, 34, who had been filling a reserve role since leaving McLaren at the end of last year.
“Of course, it hurts that the F1 chance I dreamed of for so long ended prematurely,” de Vries wrote on Instagram, in his first public comment on the dismissal.