KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker is expected to formally join next year’s race for North Carolina governor this weekend, entering a Republican primary already filled with the standing lieutenant governor and state treasurer.

Walker, a former pastor, scheduled a Saturday morning announcement at a Christian K-12 school in Kernersville to reveal his plans for the governor’s race. A spokesperson for a political consulting firm advising Walker said last month that the Guilford County Republican was preparing to enter the race.

19 May 2023; MEMO: An Israeli army officer serving as a captain was arrested on Wednesday on charges of raping a female officer, reported the Times of Israel.

The officer, whose name has not been made public, will remain in custody until Tuesday when an investigation will confirm if he is suspected of "serious sex offences."

TAIPEI, May 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island.

Taiwan will not provoke and will not bow to Chinese pressure, Tsai said in a speech in the presidential office in Taipei marking the seventh anniversary of her governance.

AMSTERDAM, May 20 (Reuters) - The member states of the International Criminal Court on Saturday said they are "deeply concerned" by Russia's decision to place a court prosecutor and several judges on a wanted list.

The ICC's British prosecutor, Karim Khan, has been added to the Russian Interior Ministry's wanted list, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Friday, citing the ministry's database.

ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned storming of Al Aqsa Mosque by a member of the Israeli occupation authority and members of the Knesset under protection of Israeli occupation forces.  

“Pakistan calls upon the international community to take urgent action to put an end to Israeli transgressions in the occupied territories that have been conspicuously ascendant since the beginning of this year,” Foreign Office Spokesperson said in a press statement.  

TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday dismissed the U.S. and EU criticism against Iran's execution of three convicts who killed security officers in an armed attack as "meddlesome" and "ridiculous."

"Instead of intervening in the internal affairs of other countries ... Western politicians had better listen to the voices of their own citizens' protests and meeting their demands," Nasser Kanaani said in a statement published on the ministry's website.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — At least 19 inmates were left with minor injuries after a car ran a red light and crashed into a bus Friday morning in downtown Sacramento, authorities said.

The car crashed a few blocks away from Sacramento County Main Jail, the Sacramento Fire Department said in a tweet showing damage to a white bus.

Fire officials said there were 23 inmates on board and three were taken to the hospital, KCRA-TV reported. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, officials said.

TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that some foreign sides seek to cause problems in the country's relations with its neighbors, calling on Iranian officials to prevent the implementation of such policies.

The leader made the remarks in a meeting held in Tehran with the Iranian Foreign Ministry's officials as well as the country's ambassadors, elaborating on Iran's foreign policy principles and priorities, according to the leader's website.

NEW DELHI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Indian Air Force (IAF) has decided to ground the fleet of Russia-made MiG-21 until investigation will determine the cause of the crash of one of these fighter jets in the western state of Rajasthan earlier this month, local media reported on Saturday.

The IAF has as many as three squadrons of the MiG-21's Bison variant, among the total 31 squadrons, with a total of around 50 MiG-21 aircraft. The MiG-21 was inducted into the IAF in the 1960s, and 800 variants of the MiG-21 have been in service.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — An F-18 fighter jet crashed at an airbase in the Spanish city of Zaragoza but the pilot ejected successfully, the Spanish defense ministry said Saturday.

The aircraft landed within the perimeter of the base, the defense ministry said on Twitter.

The base, which lies about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside the city, belongs to the Spanish Air and Space Force.

Videos posted on social media showed a plane in flames falling towards the ground.

The pilot was already in hospital and his life was not in danger, the air force said.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy charged with trying to protect children caught in conflicts is in Moscow, where she is reported to be meeting Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, who is charged with war crimes for deporting children from Ukraine.

Human Rights Watch strongly criticized Virginia Gamba’s reported meeting with Maria Lvova-Belova, saying the Russian commissioner should be behind bars and not meeting with senior U.N. representatives.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private army Wagner claimed Saturday that his forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmut after the longest and most grinding battle of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Ukrainian defense officials denied it.

In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance.