ARGENTINA

Infrastructure minister resignation confirmed

The Argentine government said on Saturday that Infrastructure Minister Guillermo Ferraro will resign in the coming days for "personal reasons". "Progress will be made in the original plan to merge the infrastructure area within the Ministry of Economy," the president's office said on social media platform X. It said such a merger "will generate greater coherence in the economic policy of the national government, and will allow for further adjustment of the budget to the current crisis context." Ferraro's resignation will be the first at the ministerial level since President Javier Milei took office on Dec 10. With the cabinet reshuffle, the Argentine government will soon have eight ministries instead of nine.

EUROPE

EU council chief drops bid for parliament seat

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, on Friday abandoned his plan to seek a seat in the European Parliament in the face of criticism that the move would undermine his current role at a crucial time. Michel's reversal came just a few weeks after he announced he would run in June's European Parliament election, a move that sparked criticism as it meant he would have to leave his post months before it officially ends on Nov 30.In a statement on Facebook, Michel, 48, a former Belgian prime minister, said he would now stay in his post as president of the European Council until the end of his term. Michel has been in his current post since 2019.

CAMBODIA

Elephant found dead with sharp force injury

A seven-month-old endangered Asian elephant was spotted dead in Cambodia's Mondulkiri province, with a sharp force injury in the lower part of its chest, said a Ministry of Environment's statement on Saturday. Rangers found the 200-kilogram elephant dead in a forest in Kaoh Nheaek district on Friday, the statement said. "An autopsy was carried out, but authorities did not find a bullet in the mammal," the statement said, adding that a further probe is underway. Listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, Asian elephants are some of the largest mammals on the planet.