BHUTAN – Greeted by a Bhutanese girl and boy with bouquets of flowers, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived on a windy Thursday morning in Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for a daylong visit at the invitation of its king and queen. Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, stepped from their jet onto the airport tarmac in the picturesque hilltop resort town of Paro and a red-carpet welcome led by Princess Ashi Chimi Yangzom Wangchuck, sister to the Bhutanese king.

A vehicle stood waiting to drive them about 40 minutes to their hotel in the capital of Thimphu. The British royals watched an archery match and met Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema, who are wildly popular in the nation of 800,000. In the evening, they met the Bhutanese royal couple’s baby, born in February, and dined with Bhutan’s king and queen. Today, the British royal couple will hike to a Buddhist monastery called Tiger’s Nest, perched at an altitude of 3,000 meters, though there will be ponies on standby to help carry them should they tire on the trek…[+]

ISRAEL – Israel promoted an Arab police officer to deputy commissioner, the highest rank obtained by a Muslim in the nation. Jamal Hakrush will be in charge of improving the policing services in Arab neighborhoods and towns in Israel.  He will be responsible for establishing police stations in new Arab towns while strengthening the existing stations.

Israeli Arabs make up roughly a quarter of the country’s population. Internal security minister Gilad Erdan presented the officer with his rank, calling it a historic occasion. “If we are honest with ourselves and I refer to all the governments in Israel through the generations … we cannot look at the Arab society in Israel with the violence and crime in its midst, with a clear conscience,” Erdan said. “Until this day, we have not provided the Arab sector with equal law enforcement capabilities.”

(CNN)…[+]

USA – United States health officials have confirmed the worst fears of many pregnant women in the US and Latin America by saying there is no longer any doubt the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects. Since last year, doctors in Brazil have been linking Zika infections in pregnant women to a rise in newborns with microcephaly, or an unusually small skull. Most outside experts were cautious about drawing such a connection. But now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says enough evidence is in.  “There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly,” CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden said. The CDC said it is also clear that Zika causes other serious defects, including damaging calcium buildups in the developing brain.

(The Independent UK/AP)…[+]