ISRAEL'S ANNEXATION OF PARTS OF WEST BANK OPPOSED BY WORLD LEADERS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears determined to carry out

his pledge to begin annexing parts of the occupied West Bank - the

5,650-square-km chunk of land - which finds itself at the centre of an

intense territorial conflict between Israel and Palestine.

His vision of redrawing the map of the Holy Land, in line with President

Donald Trump's Mideast plan, has been welcomed by Israel's religious and

nationalist right wing and condemned by the Palestinians and the

international community.

After earlier announcing a July 1 deadline to begin forcibly annexing parts

of the highly disputed region, Netanyahu has delayed his original plans as

he is still awaiting approval from the White House, Israeli officials have

said.

Netanyahu's bid to declare sovereignty over several Jewish settlements in

the area aligns with US President Donald Trump's controversial Middle East

Peace Plan. While the Israeli government and the Trump administration have

insisted that these settlements are legal, the larger international

community disagrees and believes these settlements to be illegal under the

provisions of international law.

Several foreign leaders from across the world have threatened to sever

diplomatic ties with Israel if Netanyahu goes ahead with his plans. Key

international bodies like the United Nations and the European Union have

warned the Israeli Prime Minister that his sovereignty claims could trigger

a diplomatic and human rights disaster in the area.

RULING PAP PARTY WINS SINGAPORE'S GENERAL ELECTION

The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 83 of the 93 parliamentary seats

in Singapore's general election, Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui said on

Saturday.

The PAP won the election with 61.24 percent of votes, compared to 69.86

percent in last election in 2015.

The Workers' Party (WP), which got six seats in the 2015 election, won 10

seats this year.

A total of 191 candidates from 11 political parties and an independent

candidate competed for 93 seats in the election, which is organized into 14

Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 17 Group Representation

Constituencies (GRCs).

The PAP won the 83 seats from 13 SMCs and 15 GRCs, while WP retained the 10

seats from Hougang SMC, Aljunied GRC and Sengkang GRC.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his team won Ang Mo Kio GRC with 71.91

percent of the votes.

Lee told a press conference that the percentage of popular votes the PAP won

in the election was not as high as he had hoped. Nevertheless, the result

reflected broad-based supports for the PAP, he added.

The prime minister, also PAP's secretary-general, said he was honored and

humbled by the faith Singaporeans had put in the ruling party and the heavy

responsibility Singaporeans had entrusted with the party.

"I will use this mandate responsibly to deal with COVID-19 and economic

downturn, and to take us safely through the crisis and beyond," he said.

CORONAVIRUS | ERADICATION OF VIRUS UNLIKELY, SAYS WHO

Dr Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organisation's emergencies programme,

said on Friday it was unlikely that the coronavirus would be eliminated.

"In the current situation it is unlikely we can eradicate this virus," he

told an online briefing from Geneva.

He said that, by extinguishing clusters of infection, the world could

"potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to move

backwards in terms of lockdown".

Pneumonia in Kazakhstan

Dr. Ryan said that an outbreak of pneumonia in Kazakhstan, reported to be

highly lethal, was "certainly on our radar".

But he also said it was possible it might be COVID-19.

"The upward trajectory of COVID-19 in the country would suggest that many of

these cases are in fact undiagnosed cases of COVID-19," he told an online

briefing from Geneva.

SLEW OF WHITE NATIONALIST TWITTER ACCOUNTS SUSPENDED

Twitter on Friday said it suspended more than 50 white nationalist accounts

for violating policies against violent extremism.

"The accounts in question were suspended for violating our policies in

relation to violent extremism," a Twitter spokesman told AFP, confirming a

report by NBC News.

The move came days after release of a report by nonprofit Global Project

Against Hate and Extremism saying that propaganda pushed by white

supremacist network Generation Identity is "rampant" on Twitter and YouTube.

"At this point, it is well accepted that white supremacy is as significant a

threat for generating mass casualty terrorist acts internationally as other

forms of extremism," the report concluded.

"Yet, there is a double standard when it comes to how online platforms treat

content produced by white supremacists compared to content by Islamic

extremist groups like ISIS or Al-Qaeda."

Research by the GPAHE found 67 Twitter accounts for Generation Identity

chapters in 14 countries with nearly 140,000 followers.

The nonprofit contended that Generation Identity propaganda has "inspired" a

half-dozen mass attacks since late 2018, including the mosque attacks in

Christchurch, New Zealand.

Propaganda includes contending white people are being replaced in their home

countries by immigrants, according to the report.

"It would be inconceivable for social media platforms to allow ISIS

propaganda to spread and grow unchecked, but that is exactly what is

happening with Identitarianism - the ideology that underpins Generation

Identity," the report said.

US LAWMAKERS SEEK ROLLBACK OF DECISION ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

A group of 136 US Democratic Congressmen and 30 senators, including

Indian-origin Kamala Harris, has urged the Trump administration to reverse

its "cruel" order that bars international students from staying in the

country if they do not have in-person classes to attend.

The lawmakers, in separate letters to Acting Secretary, Department of

Homeland Security, Chad Wolf and Acting Secretary, Immigration and Customs

Enforcement (ICE), Matthew Albence on Thursday, expressed concern over the

ICE's recently announced modifications to the Student Exchange and Visitor

Program (SEVP).

The new guidelines have created panic among international students, a

majority of whom come from China and India.

The letter, signed by senators Robert Menendez, Cory Booker and Harris, the

Indian-origin senator from California among others, expressed concern that

the ICE's guidance is motivated not by the public health considerations, but

rather by animus towards non-citizens and immigrants.

It said that the move is a flagrant attempt to hold international students

hostage in order to force schools to reopen even as COVID-19 cases are

rising.

"The ICE's announcement of their plans to force out or deport international

students who remain at US colleges and universities and who are taking a

full online course load is cruel and unconscionable.

"These students are already in the United States, are established members of

educational communities, and have been determined through the visa screening

process to pose no danger to the United States," the senators wrote.

HUNDREDS TRY TO STORM SERBIAN PARLIAMENT AS PROTESTS AGAINST GOVT HEAT UP

Police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators who tried to storm

Serbia's parliament on Friday, the fourth night of protests against the

Balkan country president's increasingly authoritarian rule.

Demonstrators - who were defying a ban on mass gatherings amid a spike in

virus infections - threw bottles, rocks and flares at the police guarding

the domed parliament building in central Belgrade and removed the metal

fences in front of it. Smoke rose above the entry stairway.

Police first used their shields to push back the protesters and prevent them

from entering the building. But after repeated attacks, they fired tear gas

to disperse the crowd, and then ended up in running battles with

demonstrators.

Several people were arrested, and many reporters were injured, mainly in

attacks by the demonstrators.

Some opposition leaders have said the violence was the work of far-right

nationalist demonstrators controlled by the government - with an aim to

discredit the peaceful protests that began in response to President

Aleksandar Vucic's efforts to reimpose lockdown restrictions against the

virus. But, they have mushroomed into an expression of wider frustration

with his hard-line rule.

22 PEOPLE KILLED IN NEPAL LANDSLIDES

The death toll in the multiple landslides triggered by incessant rains

across Nepal in the past 24 hours has risen to 22, the home ministry said on

Friday.

Seven people, including three children, lost their lives due to landslides

in Kaski district. Five of them were killed after a landslide swept away a

house in Sarangkot area in Pokhara in the district in the wee hours of

Friday, police said.

Around 10 people were injured in the same incident and are undergoing

treatment at different hospitals, they said.

In two separate incidents of landslides on Thursday night, three members of

a family were killed in Besishahar of Lamjung district and two others lost

their lives in Aathbiskot area of Rukum district.

Three people lost their lives in landslides in Myagdi district.

In Jajarkot district, among the 12 people who had gone missing during the

landslides, dead bodies of seven, including a 10-year-old child, have been

recovered, the ministry officials said. Seven people were untraceable after

their house was wiped out by a landslide in Myagdi district.

Meanwhile, a landslide that occurred in Jogimara area has obstructed the

Prithi Highway in western Nepal.

Narayani and other major rivers in the country have swollen due to the

continuous downpour for the last 48 hours.

Meteorological Department has forcast that the monsoon rains will last for

another three days.

ROGER STONE: TRUMP COMMUTES EX-ADVISER'S SENTENCE

US President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his former

adviser Roger Stone.

The announcement came just after the Washington DC Court of Appeals denied

Stone's request to delay the start date of his custodial term of 40 months.

He was convicted of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

Stone was the sixth Trump aide found guilty on charges linked to a justice

department probe that alleged Russia tried to boost the Trump 2016 campaign.

The 67-year-old had been due to report to a federal prison in Jesup,

Georgia, next Tuesday.

TURKEY'S PREZ ERDOGAN SAYS HAGIA SOPHIA BECOMES MOSQUE AFTER COURT RULING

President Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul's Hagia Sophia open to Muslim

worship on Friday after a top court ruled that the building's conversion to

a museum by modern Turkey's founding statesman was illegal.

Erdogan made his announcement, just an hour after the court ruling was

revealed, despite international warnings not to change the status of the

nearly 1,500-year-old monument, revered by Christians and Muslims alike.

"The decision was taken to hand over the management of the Ayasofya

Mosque...to the Religious Affairs Directorate and open it for worship," the

decision signed by Erdogan said.