News of the day from around the world, May 22
In handcuffs and her eyes downcast, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye entered a Seoul courtroom Monday morning for the beginning of a corruption trial that could send her to prison for life if she is convicted.
Protesters set late President Hugo Chavez’s childhood home in western Venezuela on fire Monday afternoon, an opposition lawmaker said, as protests against the nation’s socialist government grew increasingly hostile.
Demonstrators lit the house in the city of Barinas, where Chavez spent his early years, aflame along with several government buildings, including the regional office of the National Electoral Council, said Pedro Luis Castillo, a legislator who represents the area.
While protesters are decrying current President Nicolas Maduro for the nation’s triple-digit inflation, food shortages and rising crime, demonstrators have also destroyed at least five statues commemorating Chavez.
The 68-year-old cleric, a political moderate within Iran who secured a resounding victory over a hard-line opponent, called relations with the United States “a curvy road.”
Israeli police said a Palestinian attacker was shot and killed after he tried to stab officers near Jerusalem as President Trump visited the city on Monday, while clashes erupted in the West Bank as Palestinians declared a strike in solidarity with hundreds of hunger striking prisoners held in Israeli jails.