Israel's foreign minister Yair Lapid to become PM as country heads to election
Israeli lawmakers will vote to dissolve parliament, opening the way for the country’s fifth election in three years, following weeks of pressure on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s fragile ruling coalition.
Bennett will step aside to be replaced by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, his partner in the unlikely coalition of opposites that ended former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year rule 12 months ago.
Lapid, a former journalist who heads the largest party in the coalition, will serve as interim prime minister until new elections can be held.
A vote will be held in parliament next week, after which Lapid will take over the premiership, according to Bennett’s spokesperson.
Macron to hold talks with French opposition parties over parliament deadlock
French President Emmanuel Macron will this week hold talks with representatives of France’s main political parties to find a way forward after his coalition failed to win a majority in parliamentary elections, the presidency said Monday.
The aim of the talks Tuesday and Wednesday at the Elysee Palace will be to “build solutions to serve the French” at a time when there is no “alternative majority” to that of Macron’s ruling alliance, said a presidential official who asked not to be named.
The official said representatives of the parties represented in parliament would be received at the Elysee separately and successively but without specifying which figures would attend.
Hong Kong floating restaurant Jumbo sinks in South China Sea
Jumbo floating restaurant, a once famed but financially struggling Hong Kong tourist attraction, sank in the South China Sea after being towed away from the city, its parent company said on Monday.
It capsized on Sunday near the Paracel Islands after it "encountered adverse conditions" and began to take on water, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises announced in a statement.
"The water depth at the scene is over 1,000m, making it extremely difficult to carry out salvage works," it added.
No relief as heatwave in US moves east
A heatwave that baked much of the central United States last week will start to move eastward with dangerously high temperatures, forecasters said Monday.
The National Weather Service told Americans to gird for another day of well above normal, near-record or even record-breaking heat from the central Plains to the Upper Midwest.
"Dangerous heat will continue to make headlines," the service said in an advisory.
Fifa, World Athletics review transgender rules after swimming's change
World soccer's governing body Fifa and World Athletics said on Monday (June 20) that they are reviewing their transgender eligibility policies after swimming passed new rules that restrict transgender participation in women's events.
On Sunday, swimming's world governing body Fina voted to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women's competitions and create a working group to establish an 'open' category for them in some events as part of its new policy.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, told the BBC that the organisation's council would discuss their regulations at the end of the year.
