GERMANY
Merkel computer hacked
A computer in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s legislative office was hit by a cyberattack that targeted the lower house of parliament last month, the Bild reported yesterday. The daily, which did not cite its sources, said the cyberattack was broader and greater than originally anticipated and the Bundestag struggled to control it. The attack “infected” one of the computers in Merkel’s Bundestag office. Bild said the computer was one of the first on which the Trojan Horse-style attack was discovered on Friday. The Trojan Horse software was found on five computers.
MEXICO
Hurricane warning issued
A hurricane warning has been issued as Hurricane Carlos is expected to strengthen and increase its forward speed over coming days as it heads toward the southwest of the country. The US National Hurricane Center said the hurricane’s eye was slowly drifting north on Saturday night and was about 170km south of Acapulco and that Carlos’ winds had increased to 140kph. Carlos is expected to produce 5cm to 10cm of rain across the southwestern coast through tomorrow, which forecasters warned could cause life threatening flash floods and mudslides.
MOLDOVA
Voters go to the polls
Voters went to the polls yesterday in local polls that are seen as a test of whether the nation is committed to European integration or will move closer to Russia. The elections came two days after pro-European Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici resigned after he was questioned about the authenticity of his high school diplomas and university degree. About 2.8 million eligible voters are choosing mayors and local councils. A runoff is slated for June 28 for seats with no candidate who secures 50 percent of the vote.
GUYANA
UN help sought
The government said it plans to formally ask the UN to intervene and help resolve an escalating border dispute with Venezuela. Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge on Saturday said in a statement that it was time for what he called a “judicial settlement.” Venezuela has long claimed about two-thirds of the nation west of the Essequibo River, as well as a large marine area where Exxon Mobil Corp has said it made a significant oil discovery.
UNITED STATES
Body repatriated
The body of a Massachusetts man killed while fighting alongside the Kurds against the Islamic State group has been returned home. WBZ-TV reports a Turkish Airlines plane on Saturday arrived at Logan Airport in Boston carrying the body of 36-year-old Keith Broomfield, who was killed on June 3 in Syria. His parents told the television station that he had no military training, but he felt compelled to fight against what he considered “evil.” He went overseas in February.
ISRAEL
Soldiers quizzed on beating
Seven soldiers yesterday were to face a disciplinary hearing after video emerged of troops beating an unarmed Palestinian in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. In the footage, men in military uniforms were seen repeatedly striking the civilian, including with a rifle butt near the back of the head and a punch in the face. The beating was accompanied by the chanting of obscenities. The army said seven soldiers were being investigated for possible disciplinary action over the alleged assault on Friday in the Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah.
JAPAN
US rower rescued
A US woman attempting to cross the Pacific by rowboat has ended her solo attempt because of expected bad weather. Sonya Baumstein was rescued off the Japanese coast on Saturday after sending out a distress signal, Kyodo news agency reported yesterday. The 30-year-old Baumstein departed from Choshi, Japan, one week ago, hoping to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. She was headed for San Francisco but sent out the signal on Saturday at 2:20pm about 250km off the coast of Japan. A freighter traveling nearby rescued her at about 5 pm on Saturday and passed her on to a coast guard ship around 8:55pm the Japanese coast guard said.
ALGIERS
Man dies in ethnic conflict
A man who was injured in clashes in southern Algeria, site of frequent confrontations between Berber and Arab communities, has died of his wounds, the country’s national news agency said on Saturday. The 33-year-old was wounded during clashes between groups of youths that began late on Friday in Berriane, according to the APS news agency, and later died in the hospital. Four other people were wounded in the clashes, APS reported. It added that riot police used tear gas to disperse the groups. Berriane lies near the southern town of Ghardaia, in the M’Zab valley on the edge of the Sahara desert. The region has seen tensions rise sharply between its Mozabite, or Berber, and Chaamba, or Arab, communities after vandals destroyed a historic Berber shrine in December 2013.
JAPAN
Thousands rally for pacifism
Thousands of Japanese rallied yesterday in protest at plans by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to bolster the role and scope of the pacifist nation’s military. The protest, which surrounded the parliament building, was held as the nationalist premier tries to force through parliament a set of controversial bills making the changes. The bills are a pet project of Abe, who said Japan can no longer shy away from its responsibility to help safeguard regional stability, and must step out from under the security umbrella provided by the US. The draft legislation would broaden the remit of Japan’s well-equipped and well-trained armed forces. It would allow them to go into battle to protect allies — so-called “collective defense” — something which is banned by a strict reading of Japan’s pacifist constitution. Opponents of the bills accuse Abe of trying to move the country away from pacifism, while three scholars summoned to parliament testified this month that the bills are unconstitutional.
the WEST BANK
Palestinian killed by jeep
An Israeli army jeep struck and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank yesterday, with the military and locals giving conflicting accounts of the circumstances. A military spokeswoman said the jeep, which was in Qafr Malik village as part of an operation to arrest suspected militants, accidentally hit the Palestinian after he threw a petrol bomb at it. “The driver was startled and swerved, hitting the man,” she said, adding that a military investigation would be launched. Local resident Nail Abdul Latah al-Hajj denied the Palestinian had attacked the jeep, however, saying the man was walking to work at a chicken farm when he was run down on the main street and then crushed as the vehicle crashed into a wall and overturned.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
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