MONTENEGRO
Police disperse protesters
Police on Saturday fired tear gas at opposition supporters who hurled fire bombs and torches to demand the resignation Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic’s government, which hopes to steer the country toward NATO membership later this year. Several thousand protesters charged at the parliament building in downtown Podgorica, shouting “Milo Thief” and throwing various objects, including fire bombs, at riot police guarding the site. The police then threw tear gas, chasing away the demonstrators with armored vehicles. Witnesses said that several shop-windows were broken in the unrest, as tear gas smoke enveloped the city center. Police said 15 policemen were hurt, while 24 protesters sought medical assistance because of tear gas. One opposition leader was detained. Police also used tear gas twice last week against stone-throwing government opponents, who are also calling for early elections and a referendum on whether Montenegro should join NATO.
ISRAEL
Arab paraglides into Syria
The military said an Arab citizen has flown into Syria using a paraglider. The military yesterday said it is still examining the incident. Initially there was concern an Israeli citizen on Saturday had been accidentally swept into Syria by the winds and captured by one of the rebel groups there. Such a scenario would have put Israel is a dire situation of having to reclaim a hostage. However, military officials say it now appears it was a 23-year-old from an Arab town in Israel who planned the maneuver with the intent of joining Syrian rebel fighters. Dozens of Israeli Arabs have sneaked into Syria in recent years to join the civil war. This would appear to be the first case of someone doing so via air.
GUYANA
Task force cleaning drains
The government is taking advantage of the country’s current dry weather to clean out clogged drains, sewer pipes and gutters in hopes of easing flooding during the next rainy season. A multiagency task force said in a statement that millions are being spent on the cleanup. Heavy rainfall during two wet seasons, roughly in January and in May, usually floods large parts of the capital city and coast. Flooding made worse by clogged drains typically forces the closure of schools and government offices and paralyzes large parts of commercial Georgetown. Task force spokesman Freddie Flatts said workers are racing to complete the cleaning before year’s end, when the next rainy season is expected to begin.
UNITED STATES
Police return student’s clock
A 14-year-old Muslim boy arrested after a homemade clock he took to his Dallas-area school was mistaken for a possible bomb has gotten the item back as he and his family prepare to move to the Middle East. Irving police said Reggie London, an attorney for Ahmed Mohamed, picked the clock up on Friday. Mohamed took the clock to his high school to show a teacher on Sept. 14, but another teacher thought it could be a bomb. Police ultimately chose not to charge Mohamed with having a hoax bomb. His family on Tuesday said that they had accepted a foundation’s offer to pay for his high school and college education in Qatar, and that the whole family would be moving there. He had visited Qatar during a whirlwind tour several weeks following the incident that even included a stop at the White House.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia