The world at a glance ... NEWS 9
Jerusalem
Gantz gets his shot: Following Israel’s third incon-
clusive election in a year, President Reuven
Rivlin has given opposition leader
Benny Gantz the first chance to form
a coalition government. That’s a
blow for Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who is under indictment
for corruption and has argued that he
should hold on to the nation’s top job during the coronavirus cri-
sis. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party won 36 seats in the 120-
seat Knesset in an election earlier this month, while Gantz’s cen-
trist Blue and White took 33. But Gantz received the support of
61 lawmakers to form a government, to Netanyahu’s 58. Rivlin
has urged the two men to compromise. “The citizens of Israel are
exhausted,” the president said to a Knesset chamber empty but
for the two party leaders. “Give them a government.”Baghdad
Troops pull back: The U.S.-led coali-
tion fighting ISIS is withdrawing
from three of its eight bases in Iraq
and relocating hundreds of troops
to larger bases in the country. The
Pentagon said the redeployment has
been planned for months and is not a
response to a wave of rocket attacks
by Iran-backed militia groups that have killed and wounded some
two dozen coalition troops in recent weeks. “These bases remain
under Iraqi control,” said Col. Myles B. Caggins III, a spokesman
for the anti-ISIS mission, “and we will continue our advising part-
nership for the permanent defeat of [ISIS] from other Iraqi military
bases.” One of the abandoned bases is Camp Taji, where two
American service members and a British soldier were killed in a
suspected militia rocket attack last week. The U.S. responded with
a series of airstrikes on the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.Sydney
Hanks charms Aussies: Hollywood power couple
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, both 63, were released
from an Australian hospital this week after being
treated for coronavirus acquired while Hanks was
shooting a film. “They’re still self-quarantined,
obviously, but they’re feeling a lot better,” their
son Chet Hanks said. The elder Hanks tweeted
a photo of a plush kangaroo holding a mini
Australian flag beside a plate of toast slathered with
Vegemite yeast spread. He captioned the photo
“Thanks to the Helpers”—a reference to a quote
by Fred Rogers, whom he portrayed in A Beautiful
Day in the Neighborhood. Concerned Aussies
responded that Hanks had way too much Vegemite
on his toast. “Okay you need to scrape around 60%
of that Vegemite off, otherwise it’s gonna be nasty
and hurt your mouth friend,” one fan tweeted.Beijing
Blame America: The Chinese government is
pushing a conspiracy theory that the coronavirus
originated in a U.S. biodefense lab. Zhao Lijian,
spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, leaped
on a video of Robert Redfield, director for the
Centers for Disease Control, telling Congress
this month that some earlier deaths in the U.S.
attributed to influenza were in fact caused by
Covid-19. Zhao claimed that this was evidence
that the disease began in America and was
brought to China by U.S. troops who attended
the Military World Games in the city of Wuhan in October. “U.S.
owe us an explanation!” tweeted Zhao. He later shared a report
by a Canadian conspiracy outfit that claimed the virus leaked
from a U.S. bioweapons lab. In fact, scientists agree that the virus
originated at an exotic animal market in Wuhan.Yokohama, Japan
Death penalty: A Japanese man who stabbed 19 people to
death at a home for disabled adults where he once worked as
a caregiver has been sentenced to hang. Satoshi Uematsu, 30,
told officials he was inspired by Adolf Hitler to rid the country
of those with mental or physical handicaps. He killed nine men
and 10 women—ranging in age from 18 to 70—and wounded
26 more in his 2016 stabbing spree, which was Japan’s deadliest
mass attack since World War II. A few months before the mas-
sacre, Uematsu tried to give a lawmaker a letter outlining his plot;
he was detained in a psychiatric home for two weeks but then
released. Japan is the only G-7 nation beside the U.S. that has the
death penalty, which it reserves for mass murderers.Ne
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Bringing home a U.S. soldierZhao: ConspiracyIn quarantineCan he build a coalition?Beijing
Kicking out reporters: China this week expelled American jour-
nal ists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Jour-
nal, and The Washington Post, including Mandarin speakers
with decades of experience. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said
the expulsions were a response to the “unreasonable oppression”
of Chinese news outlets in the U.S. In early March, the Trump
administration limited the number of Chinese citizens from five
state-run media organizations who could work in the U.S. to 100,
which forced some 60 Chinese to leave. Some of the expelled
American journalists were among the first to report in depth
about the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Times executive edi-
tor Dean Baquet called the ban “especially irresponsible at a time
when the world needs the free and open flow of credible informa-
tion about the coronavirus pandemic.”