YEMEN
Gunman kills nine
Medical and security officials say a crazed gunman opened fire on Sunday on worshipers marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in in al-Dhale, a governorate about 190km south of the capital, Sana’a, killing nine. The gunman targeted men praying outside a crowded mosque during morning Eid el-Fitr services. Ten people were wounded, the officials said, and the gunman was arrested at the scene. Also on Sunday, a security official said a suicide bomber blew himself up in a town in the southern governorate of Abyan, killing a leading member of a civilian militia that has fought alongside government troops to drive al-Qaeda militants from their southern strongholds.
IRAQ
Sunni cleric attacked
A bomb struck the convoy of a senior Sunni cleric in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing four and critically wounding the anti-extremist Muslim leader, police said. The attack highlights the threats faced by moderate Sunni clerics whom the Shiite government needs to help rebuild the country and establish security. The blast left Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaie badly hurt, a Sunni religious official said. The cleric had just finished leading prayers to mark the beginning of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
PHILIPPINES
Ten new owl species found
Scientists and birdwatchers have discovered 10 new owl species in the country, using advanced recording equipment that can distinguish between their hoots, a conservation official said on Sunday. Eight of the new species were previously considered sub-species, while two are totally new, said Lisa Paguntalan, field director of Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Program. “There is no significant variation in their forms. It was the sound difference of their calls that was very significant in distinguishing between species,” she said. Paguntalan said many of these new species were possibly endangered because they were found only in small isolated islands or in tiny pockets of forests. The research took 10 years, but the results were only announced after coordination between groups, including Michigan State University and Birdlife International.
SOUTH KOREA
Joint military drills begin
Seoul and the US have begun annual military drills that North Korea calls a precursor to war. The US says the two-week Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills started with more than 80,000 troops from the US, South Korea and seven countries that fought with them in the Korean War. Pyongyang has repeatedly denounced the exercises as preparation for an attack.
PHILIPPINES
Temblin brings flooding
Tropical Storm Tembin brought heavy rains, triggering landslides and flashfloods in the north, just weeks after a series of deadly storms and monsoon rains, the government said yesterday. The storm remained almost stationary off the northern tip of Luzon, battering the mountainous region with powerful downpours. The storm caused landslides, damaging eight major highways, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a statement. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Tembin, packing maximum winds of 105kph, with gusts of up to 135 kph, was expected to remain off the northern tip of Luzon for more than a day, the council added. Local communities were warned to monitor the levels of rivers and streams in their area and prepare for evacuations in case they begin to rise.
RUSSIA
Pussy Riot dismiss pardon
The three members of punk band Pussy Riot sentenced to two years in prison for performing an anti-Vladimir Putin song in a famous church are not planning to ask the president for a pardon, their lawyer said yesterday. “Our clients will not ask for a pardon,” defense lawyer Nikolai Polozov said yesterday, adding: “Literally this is what they said: ‘Let them go to hell with their pardon.’” Band members Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich on Friday were each found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for their Feb. 21 protest in the Christ the Savior Cathedral and handed two-year jail terms. In connected developments, a group of Russian activists have sued pop singer Madonna for millions of dollars, claiming they were offended by her support for gay rights during a recent concert in St. Petersburg. Anti-gay sentiment is strong in the country and a recent law passed in St. Petersburg makes it illegal to promote homosexuality to minors. The author of that law has pointed to the presence of children as young as 12 at Madonna’s concert on Aug. 9.
MEXICO
Airport police replaced
Federal police have replaced all 348 officers responsible for security at the capital’s biggest airport after three agents were killed by corrupt colleagues smuggling drugs from Peru. The Ministry of Public Security said the officers had been reassigned to different states. One of the three police agents sought in the June 25 shooting at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport has been captured. Two others remain at large. From their hiding place, the fugitive officers told Proceso magazine that they had no links to drug trafficking, and accused their superiors of trying to coerce them into getting involved in organized crime.
UNITED STATES
Lawmakers party probed
The FBI has investigated an incident that saw at least one Republican congressman swim naked at a drinking party in Israel last year attended by top leadership staff, the news Web site Politico reported on Sunday. It said Representative Keving Yoder of Kansas stripped and jumped into the Sea of Galilee during the privately funded trip, joining colleagues and their family members who were partially or fully clothed. “Regrettably, I jumped into the water without a swimsuit,” Yoder told Politico. “It is my greatest honor to represent the people of Kansas in Congress and [for] any embarrassment I have caused for my colleagues and constituents, I apologize.” More than 20 people participated in the late-night dip on Aug. 18 last year, according to the news Web site. Some of the lawmakers who jumped in said they did so because of the religious significance of the waters, where Jesus is said to have walked on water and performed other miracles.
UNITED STATES
Ads where they should be
Two brothers have created toilet tissue paper that is printed with ads and sometimes even coupon codes that can be read by cellphones. The Journal-News said on Sunday that Bryan and Jordan Silverman expect their product to appear this fall in the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library. Twenty-two-year-old Jordan Silverman came up with the idea for Star Toilet Paper in 2010. His 18-year-old brother said he was initially skeptical, but came to see it as advertising to “a really captive audience.” The brothers from Rye Brook have entered their concept in a contest run by Entrepreneur magazine.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
South Korea would soon no longer be one of the few countries where Google Maps does not work properly, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade stance to approve the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers. The approval was made “on the condition that strict security requirements are met,” the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. Those conditions include blurring military and other sensitive security-related facilities, as well as restricting longitude and latitude coordinates for South Korean territory on products such as Google Maps and Google Earth, it said. The decision is expected to hurt Naver and Kakao
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
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