While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 19
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Mr Benny Gantz, a retired top Israeli general, is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most formidable political rival.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Israel’s Gantz demands Gaza plan, threatens to quit Cabinet
Israeli war Cabinet minister Benny Gantz demanded on May 18 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commit to an agreed vision for the Gaza conflict that would include stipulating who might rule the territory after the war with Hamas.
Mr Gantz told a press conference he wanted the war Cabinet to form a six-point plan by June 8.
If his expectations are not met, he said, he will withdraw his centrist party from the conservative premier’s broadened emergency coalition.
Mr Gantz, a retired top Israeli general who opinion polls show is Mr Netanyahu’s most formidable political rival, gave no date for the prospective walkout, but his challenge could increase strains on an increasingly unwieldy wartime government.
Dozens killed, wounded in Gaza as Israeli forces push deeper
REUTERS
Israeli troops and tanks pushed on May 18 into parts of a congested northern Gaza Strip district that they had previously skirted in the more than seven-month-old war, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, medics and residents said.
Israel’s forces also took over some ground in Rafah, a southern city next to the Egyptian border that is packed with displaced people and where the launch in May of a long-threatened incursion to crush Hamas hold-outs has alarmed Cairo and Washington.
Israel has conducted renewed military sweeps in May of parts of northern Gaza where it had declared the end of major operations in January. At the time, it also predicted its forces would return to prevent a regrouping by the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza.
Ukraine investigates civilian injuries, as battles rage
REUTERS
Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating attacks on civilians in two cities in the northeastern region of Kharkiv and President Volodymyr Zelensky reported successes by troops fighting a fresh Russian assault there on May 18.
Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address that Ukrainian forces had grown in confidence, particularly in the Kharkiv region.
In the eastern Donetsk region around Chasiv Yar, a city seen as a key target in Russia’s campaign, Mr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had repelled a Russian assault.
Armed robbers hit jewellery store in Paris tourist hotspot
Poitout Florian/ABACA via Reuter
A group of armed robbers snatched jewels on May 18 from a high-end shop near Paris’ world-famous Champs Elysees avenue before making their escape on motorbikes, a police source said.
The three-strong team, one of them armed with a long weapon, may have made off with several million euros in loot, based on a double robbery at the same Harry Winston jeweller’s in 2007 and 2008.
A gunshot was heard outside the shop on Avenue Montaigne, a police source familiar with the case said, with the source saying the robbery happened around 11.45am (5.45pm Singapore time).
Scheffler’s lawyer denies golfer assaulted police officer
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler struggled early in the May 18 third round of the PGA championship a day after being arrested while his attorney was denying charges the golfer assaulted a police officer.
Scheffler, arrested on the morning of May 17 after a confrontation with police at the entrance to Valhalla Golf Club, returned from jail to fire an adrenaline-fuelled five-under par 66 on May 17 and shared fourth on nine-under 133 – three back of 36-hole leader Xander Schauffele.
But on May 18, the two-time Masters champion stumbled with a double bogey at the second hole followed by back-to-back bogeys.
