A suicide bomber killed 22 people in Manchester, Britain’s third-largest city.
More than 60 were injured. It was the country’s bloodiest terror attack since 2005. The bomb was detonated in the foyer of a venue staging a pop concert. Children were among the victims. The police arrested several people, and think that the bomber was part of a jihadist network. The threat level from terrorism was raised to “critical”, the first time it has reached this highest category since 2007.
Britain’s Conservative Party backed away from the so-called dementia tax.
The Tories reversed the headline policy, a shake-up in social care, less than a week after publishing the proposal in their election manifesto. Fearing a backlash from older voters after it was tagged “the dementia tax”, Prime Minister Theresa May sought to “clarify” the policy, but her U-turn was clear. The situation rekindled memories of the “bedroom tax”, a 2012 welfare-reform proposal, which was also felled by a catchy nickname.
Pedro Sánchez was unexpectedly reelected leader of Spain’s Socialist Party.
Seven months after being ousted by his own members, Sánchez was reelected as leader of Spain’s main opposition party. He must now reinvigorate a party that has lost almost half its support to the far-left Podemos.
More than 20 artists decided to boycott the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole.
The boycott followed reports that a singer had been barred from appearing because she had taken part in protests against the government. The event, one of Poland’s top music festivals, now faces cancellation for the first time since 1982, when the country languished under communist-imposed martial law.
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, a moderate reformist, was reelected.
Rouhani received a solid 57 percent of the vote. Only candidates approved by a committee of 12 Islamic clerics were permitted to run, however.
Authorities in Bahrain broke up a sit-in by supporters of a prominent Shia cleric.
Five people were killed, the government reported, and 286 were arrested.
Eight Kenyan security officers were killed near the border with Somalia.
The vehicles in which they were traveling detonated explosive devices. Al Shabab, a Somali jihadist group, claimed responsibility.
Tedros Adhanom was elected as the new head of the World Health Organization.
A former health minister from Ethiopia, he is the first African to hold the post.
The Democratic Republic of Congo to test an Ebola vaccine.
The republic is working to contain an outbreak that, so far, has killed four people. Around 40 people are suspected to have been infected by the virus.
President Donald J. Trump made his first trip abroad as president.
He received a warm welcome in Saudi Arabia, where he strongly condemned Iran, the Saudis’ arch-rival in the region, and signed a $110-billion arms deal. Israel also embraced Trump, seeing his visit as a reset in relations following a troubled eight years under President Barack Obama. Trump’s whirlwind tour took him to the Vatican to meet the pope and on to Brussels for talks with the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
James Comey agreed to testify before Congress.
The former Image result for Federal Bureau of Investigation director, whose sacking by President Donald J. Trump has sparked a political firestorm, will give his testimony after meeting Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
However, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to appear before a Senate committee.
A congressional election in Montana took an unexpectedly violent turn.
Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate for the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives, allegedly “body-slammed” a journalist who had asked him a question about health care. Gianforte has been charged with a misdemeanor assault.
A landslide buried a swathe of California’s scenic Pacific Coast Highway along Big Sur.
A 12-mile section of the road will be closed for months.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor said 55 people died in the latest antigovernment protests.
About half were killed by government forces. That exceeds the 43 who died in a wave of protests in 2014. One man was set on fire.
President Michel Temer of Brazil wants to be investigated.
Temer dropped his request for the Supreme Court to suspend an investigation into allegations that he had obstructed justice. The inquiry is based in part on a tape recording in which the president appears to endorse the payment of hush money to a politician serving jail time. His lawyers say they want the investigation to continue to clear his name.
Meanwhile federal troops were deployed to Brasília, the capital, after protesters demanding Temer’s resignation set fire to a government building.
Lenín Moreno was sworn in as Ecuador’s president.
He promised to follow the socialist path of his predecessor, President Rafael Correa, but also to engage more with the private sector.
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines declared martial law in Mindanao.
The southern island has been in chaos since clashes between Islamist separatists and the army. The militants took over schools and burned a church in the city of Marawi. Duterte said they also had beheaded a local police chief.
North Korea conducted its second missile test within a week.
The Pukguksong-2 missile flew 310 miles before falling into the Pacific.
Two gay men each received 83 lashes of the cane in Indonesia.
The punishment was inflicted in Aceh, a semi-autonomous province that enforces Islamic law. It was the first time the punishment had been leveled against homosexuals in the province, though people previously have been caned for drinking alcohol and gambling. A cheering crowd watched the beatings.
Taiwan’s constitutional court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.
Supporters of gay rights hailed the decision, in which the court ruled that there was “no rational basis” for same-sex marriage to be banned. The legislature has two years either to legalize gay marriage or to introduce civil partnerships. If it does neither, gay couples will be able to wed under the court’s ruling.
Image credits: AP/Rui Vieira