Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an international peace conference focused on the Israel-Hamas war and promised more humanitarian aid as he opened a summit with leaders of Arab states Thursday (May 30) in Beijing. "As war is raging causing tremendous suffering, justice can't be absent and the two-state solution can't be shaken," Xi said in a speech opening the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum.

He called on Arab states to deepen cooperation in areas such as trade, clean energy, space exploration and health care. The summit attended by heads of state from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tunisia among others was set to focus on China's expanding trade ties and on security concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war. Beijing has long backed the Palestinians and denounced Israel over its settlements in the occupied territories. It has not criticised the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. However, China does have growing economic ties with Israel.

Police in eastern Pakistan arrested more than 100 Muslim men and charged them under anti-terrorism laws for attacking a Christian father and son over allegations they desecrated pages of Islam's holy book, officials said. The mob went on a rampage after locals said they saw burnt pages of the Quran outside the two Christian men's house and accused the son of being behind it, setting their house and shoemaking factory on fire in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province, said senior police officer Assad Ijaz Malhi. They also attacked the son.

Malhi said police forces rescued the two wounded men and transported them to a hospital where they were in stable condition, and that at least 100 men were arrested following multiple police raids. Authorities were chasing others who may have been involved in the attack, he said. Allegations of desecrating the Quran. have been the precursor to attacks on minorities in the past in Pakistan, including as recently as August 2023.

UN development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti's new prime minister, nearly a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council sought to choose someone else for the position. The long-awaited move came as gangs continued to terrorise the capital of Port-au-Prince, opening fire in once peaceful neighbourhoods and using heavy machinery to demolish several police stations and prisons.

Council member Louis Gérald Gilles told The Associated Press that six out of seven council members with voting power chose Conille earlier Tuesday. He said one member, Laurent St. Cyr, was not in Haiti and therefore did not vote. Conille has been UNICEF's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean since January 2023 and previously served as Haiti's prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012 under then President Michel Martelly. He replaces Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was named interim prime minister after Ariel Henry resigned via letter in late April.

Three black men filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging that the carrier briefly removed them from a flight after a complaint about body odour. The men, who were not seated together and did not know each other, say that every black man was removed from the January 5 flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York. "American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us," the men said in a joint statement this week.

The Texas-based airline said it was investigating the matter as the allegations did not align with its values. According to a federal lawsuit filed by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, the men had already taken their seats and were preparing to depart Phoenix when a flight attendant approached each of them and asked them to exit the plane. Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal allege that, as they were leaving, they realised that "every Black man on the flight was being removed".