News in Brief
Italy’s PM wins parliamentary backing for extra borrowing
REUTERS – Italy’s government on Friday won parliamentary backing for additional borrowing, after a first attempt resulted in a major setback for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The government’s request to marginally raise this year’s budget deficit to 4.5% of gross domestic product from 4.4% under current trends was eventually approved by parliament following a surprising defeat on Thursday.
Three Pakistani soldiers, seven militants, killed in clashes
AFP – Three Pakistani soldiers and seven militants were killed in multiple clashes in the country’s restive northwest, the military said on Friday.
The clashes occurred in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which shares a border with Afghanistan.
UAE astronaut exits ISS for first Arab space walk
AFP – Emirati astronaut Sultan Alneyadi stepped out of the International Space Station (ISS) Friday for the first space walk by an Arab astronaut, a moment touted by the UAE as a “milestone”.
UN expert
urges Japan
to sanction
Myanmar junta
AFP – Japan should sanction Myanmar as it has done for Russia over its Ukraine war, a UN expert said Friday, slamming the junta’s “barbarism and oppression.”
Thomas Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, also urged Japan to immediately end a training program for Myanmar troops, warning it was tarnishing the image of the country’s military.