World this week
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents announced they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the country's longest-serving leader. The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came moments before a midnight deadline and prevented the country from plunging into what would have been its fifth consecutive election in just over two years.
In a statement on Twitter, Lapid said he had informed the country's president of the deal. "This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didn't," he said. Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett will serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years. The historic deal also the first Arab party ever to be part of a governing coalition in Israel.
The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the country's vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West. The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. Wednesday, June 2. Firefighters tried to contain it, the Fars news agency reported, but their efforts failed to save the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises.
State media reported 400 sailors and trainee cadets on board fled the vessel, with 33 suffering injuries. The ship sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometres (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz - the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analysed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off Jask with no sign of a fire as late as 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 1.
The world's largest meat processing company was able to resume most production after a weekend cyberattack, but experts say the vulnerabilities exposed by this attack and others are far from resolved. Brazil-based JBS SA notified the U.S. government of a ransom demand from the ransomware gang REvil, which is believed to operate in Russia, according to a person familiar with the situation who is not authorized to discuss it publicly.
REvil has not posted anything related to the hack on its dark web site. But that's not unusual. Ransomware syndicates as a rule don't post about attacks when they are in initial negotiations with victims - or if the victims have paid a ransom. It's not clear if JBS paid a ransom. The White House referred questions about the ransom demand to the company, but JBS hasn't discussed it in its public statements. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the U.S. is considering all options in dealing with the attack.
Canada's government called on Pope Francis to issue a formal apology for the role the Catholic church played in Canada's residential school system, days after the remains of 215 children were located at what was once the country's largest such school. Justin Trudeau's government also pledged again to support efforts to find more unmarked graves at the former residential schools which held Indigenous children taken from families across the nation.
Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia has said the remains of 215 children were confirmed last month at the school in Kamloops, British Columbia, with the help of ground-penetrating radar. So far none has been excavated. The Kamloops Indian Residential school was Canada's largest such facility and was operated by the Roman Catholic church between 1890 and 1969 before the federal government took it over as a day school until 1978, when it was closed.
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