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.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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