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World in brief: August 17, 2023
Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is embraced by Yolanda Diaz before the start of a voting session at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, August 17, 2023

SPAIN: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s candidate for the Parliament’s chamber speaker won the vote for the position in Mr Sanchez’s first trial in the newly elected house and raises the possibility for a new government headed by the Socialist Party leader.

Francina Armengol won with the support of 14 votes from two pro-Catalonia independence parties, including seven from Junts (Together) which is led by fugitive politician Carles Puigdemont, who resides in Brussels after fleeing Spain following his unsuccessful 2017 secession bid.

 

WEST BANK: A Palestinian man was fatally shot in the head, chest and abdomen by the Israeli military in Jenin this morning after the forces stormed the city with bulldozers.

Israeli forces raided a home above a bakery where 32-year-old Mustafa al-Kastouni was after claiming he was a militant who shot at the soldiers. Clashes also broke out in the streets.

 

SLOVAKIA: Former and current heads of the Slovak spy agency and five other police and intelligence officers were accused today of abuse of power and criminal conspiracy.

The seven are being accused of conspiring as a criminal group led by a businessman to obstruct investigations in corruption cases, including by manipulating testimonies and attempting to get rid of other officers.

 

WILDFIRES: Huge swaths of Spain’s Tenerife island have been burned by an out-of-control fire, forcing some 7,600 people to evacuate or be confined, with some 250 firefighters and soldiers tackling the blaze.

In Canada, air evacuations began today to move residents in Yellowknife out of the path of the fires near the city of 20,000 people, as more than 1,067 wildfires burn across the country.

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