Brazil: A strike by Brazilian truckers that has caused shortages at service stations and supermarkets across Latin America's biggest country entered a seventh day with no immediate solution in sight. Anger over rising diesel prices led truckers to begin striking last week and they've vowed to continue striking until the Government commits itself to lowering those prices. The cost of diesel oil has gone up in recent months as world oil prices have risen and the Brazilian real has weakened against the US dollar. Truck owners also want some tolls reduced. The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said that the strike has resulted in nearly US$3 billion in losses. Police have cleared 132 of the 529 blockades truckers erected across the country, allowing trucks with emergency fuel supplies to reach army facilities and police stations. One proposal being discussed is a 10 per cent discount on diesel prices for at least 60 days with the federal government compensating state-run oil company Petrobras for ensuing losses.
Poland: Polish media are reporting that a fire broke out in the building where a prominent Polish opposition MP lives, and the politician says he fears he could have been the target of an arson attack. The Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that the fire broke out where Krzysztof Brejza lives in Inowroclaw, a city in north-central Poland. Brejza, who belongs to the centrist Civic Platform party, is considered one of the most effective opponents of the populist ruling Law and Justice party. For months, state-run television has run critical reports about him. Brejza is reported as saying the fire spread through walls where gas pipes ran, creating the threat of an explosion had neighbors not noticed the fire and extinguished it.
Colombia: Polls have closed in a first round of voting for president that drew millions of people to the ballot box. Voters now await the results in a polarising contest that pit candidates for and against the nation's peace process against one another. The race is the first in Colombia's recent history in which candidates rallied voters on issues like the economy instead of how to defeat leftist rebels. Rebels with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia signed a contentious peace accord with the Government in 2016. Front-runner conservative Ivan Duque is pledging to make "corrections" to aspects of the accord including to amnesty terms for former guerrillas. He is leading but would need more than 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a run-off election in June.
United States: Former President George H.W. Bush was hospitalised in Maine after he experienced low blood pressure and fatigue, a spokesman said. Jim McGrath, a spokesman for the 93-year-old Bush, said he was awake, alert and not in any discomfort. He said Bush would spend at least a few days in the hospital for observation. Bush, who has a form of Parkinson's disease and a history of pneumonia and other infections, was hospitalised in Houston on April 22, the day after his wife Barbara's funeral, for an infection. He remained hospitalised for 13 days.
Congo: Another person has died in the Congo of a confirmed case of Ebola, bringing the number of fatalities from the latest outbreak to 12, the country's Health Ministry said. The death happened in Iboko, a rural area in northwestern Equateur province. There are also four new suspected cases in the province, the statement reported. Congo now has 35 confirmed Ebola cases. Health workers have identified people who have been in contact with the patients in the confirmed Ebola cases in three areas in Equateur province, Iboko, rural Bikoro and Mbandaka. Health workers will be tracing people who have been in contact with Ebola cases and inoculating them with a new experimental vaccine.
Greece: Police say they have arrested a night watchman at an archaeological museum on the Greek island of Santorini who had been stealing antiquities from the storage room. Police say they found in the night watchman's house 15 clay pots dating from the 17th century BC, two stone and one clay figurines and a "quartz crystal object" dating from at least the 8th century BC. Police said the artifacts have been returned to the museum.
United States: A man who fled the country 25 years ago while facing a prison sentence for attempted murder was arrested when he arrived at a New York City airport. The Daily News reports Freddy Guerra was taken into custody at Kennedy Airport. He had been living in the Dominican Republic. Authorities say Guerra was 18 when he and two friends shot a hardware store owner in Queens in 1992 over spray paint cans. The owner survived, and Guerra pleaded guilty. He skipped a February 1993 court date and was later sentenced in absentia to six to 18 years of prison time.
Libya: France is set to host a UN-sponsored conference on Libya aimed at securing elections in the North African country and commitments to a joint political roadmap from its warring factions. French President Emmanuel Macron's office said the conference at the Elysee Palace will bring together key Libyan players and representatives of two dozen countries and international organisations. Macron's office says Libya's rival leaders are expected to adopt a statement calling for presidential and parliamentary elections, "if possible" by the end of the year. The agreement would also provide for a plan to unify the country's rival security forces and to clarify the roles of competing Libyan institutions. Libya has experienced political instability since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Mexico: Mexican authorities have arrested the wife of the leader of Jalisco New Generation, one of the country's fiercest drug cartels. Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete said that marines arrested Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia the night before in the western city of Zapopan. She's the wife of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho." Gonzalez is accused of managing the cartel's finances, a role previously held by her brother Abigael, who was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2015.
-AP