MALAYSIAN TURMOIL TAKES NEW TWIST AS MAHATHIR AND ANWAR ALLY AGAINMalaysia's Mahathir Mohamad will stand for the premiership on behalf of theformer ruling coalition, the interim prime minister said on Saturday, lessthan a week after he quit and plunged the country into turmoil."I am now confident that I have the numbers needed to garner majoritysupport," Mr. Mahathir said in a statement.That meant that Mr. Mahathir, who is the world's oldest government leader at94, would reunite with on-off ally and long-term rival Anwar Ibrahim (72),resuming a pact that swept the coalition to a surprise election victory in2018."Pakatan Harapan states its full support towards Dr Mahathir as candidatefor prime minister," said a statement from the coalition formed by the twomen whose struggle has shaped Malaysian politics for two decades.Mr. Mahathir has thus secured the likely support he needs to return as primeminister full-time, less than a week after he resigned and was appointed asinterim leader.Tension had persisted between Mr. Mahathir and Mr. Anwar over the primeminister's promise to one day hand power to the younger man. No date forthat was ever set, however.Neither Mr. Mahathir nor Pakatan Harapan made any mention of that promise inSaturday's statements.UN CHIEF DECLARES WOMEN'S INEQUALITY 'STUPID' AND A GLOBAL SHAMEUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called women's inequality"stupid" and a cause for global shame on Thursday, as he pledged to pressgovernments to end discriminatory laws in the face of a "strong andrelentless pushback" against women's rights.While Guterres did not name and shame, US President Donald Trump'sadministration has led a push at the UN against the promotion of sexual andreproductive health services for women because the administration sees thatas code for abortion.Speaking ahead of the annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status ofWomen in New York next month, Guterres warned that the state of women'srights was dire and said he would seek to end "default male thinking" acrossthe United Nations."Just as slavery and colonialism were a stain on previous centuries, women'sinequality should shame us all in the 21st. Because it is not onlyunacceptable; it is stupid," Guterres said in a speech to The New School inNew York.He said legal protections against rape and domestic violence were beingdiluted or rolled back and that in 34 countries rape within marriage wasstill legal."There is a strong and relentless pushback against women's rights," Guterressaid. "Women's sexual and reproductive rights are under threat fromdifferent sides."Guterres said on Thursday he would urge governments to achieve gender parityin senior leadership. He said he achieved gender parity among his seniorleadership team - on Jan. 1, 90 women and 90 men were in the ranks offull-time senior leadership, two years ahead of the target date he set."Women have equaled and outperformed men in almost every sphere," he said."It is time to stop trying to change women, and start changing the systemsthat prevent them from achieving their potential."BUS, TRAIN COLLISION KILLS 30 IN PAK: REPORTAt least 30 people were killed and several others seriously injured when apassenger bus hit a train in Pakistan's Sindh province on Friday, accordingto a media report.The accident happened at Rohri area in Sukkur district when the bus wastrying to cross an open unmanned railway crossing and hit the train, theExpress Tribune reported."At least eight bodies have been shifted to the nearest hospital as therescue is still underway," the report quoted a senior police official assaying.GRETA THUNBERG TO DRAW THOUSANDS AT BRITISH CLIMATE RALLYGreta Thunberg, the teenage activist who has reprimanded governments acrossthe world for failing her generation with climate change, is expected todraw a crowd of thousands on Friday when she leads a protest in Britain.Known simply as Greta, 17-year-old Thunberg has captured the imagination ofmany young people with impassioned demands for world leaders to take urgentaction to prevent what she says will be an environmental cataclysm.She will address a "Youth Strike for Climate" rally in the English city ofBristol, though police issued a safety warning due to the number of peopleexpected to attend."The worlds youth are waking up and taking action on the climate crisis,"said the event organisers, the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate group, whichinsisted it had prepared properly and did not need to be "patronised" bysafety worries.The group is part of a global movement of school students who stage protestsin school time over what they say is the lack of government action onclimate change.Britain is targetting net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and wants tobring forward a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to 2035 at thelatest.Organisers say they expect between 15,000 and 60,000 protesters from acrossthe country to attend the event on Friday.PRO-DEMOCRACY MEDIA TYCOON ARRESTEDHong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a high profile critic of Beijing, wasarrested on Friday for taking part in last year's pro-democracy proteststhat rocked the city for seven months.The 72-year-old owner of the Apple Daily newspaper is accused of joining arally on August 31 that had been banned by the police for security reasons.Mr. Lai was arrested and charged along with veteran pro-democracy activistsLee Cheuk Yan and Yeung Sum, the police said. The trio could be jailed forup to five years if convicted of taking part in an "unauthorised assembly".They are due to appear in court on May 5.Tens of thousands of protesters defied the police ban on the demonstrationmarking the anniversary of Beijing's rejection of a call for universalsuffrage for Hong Kong that sparked the 2014 "Umbrella Movement".Some gathered in the name of a religious procession - which does not requirepolice approval - while others claimed they were shopping.In a separate charge, Mr. Lai is accused of intimidating a reporter in 2018during a vigil for the victims of China's bloody Tiananmen crackdown on June4, 1989.Amnesty International said the legal action against the trio was politicallymotivated. "These unjustifiable arrests are a shameless attempt to harassand silence those in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement," said the rightsgroup's Man-kei Tam.LUXEMBOURG BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO PROVIDE FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORTLuxembourg will become the first country in the world on Saturday to offer afree public transport system as the government tries to reduce particularlydense car traffic.Some cities have already taken similar partial measures but the transportministry said it was the first time such a decision would cover an entirecountry.The free transport, which is being flagged as "an important social measure",will affect approximately 40 percent of households and is likely to saveeach one around 100 euros ($110) per year.The measure is part of a plan intended to reduce congestion.