UNITED KINGDOM
Tusk warns on ‘Brexit’
EU President Donald Tusk says that voting to leave the bloc would be a geopolitical setback for Britain and it would take at least seven years to negotiate a new Britain-EU relationship. In an interview with German daily Bild published yesterday, Tusk said a vote to leave in the June 23 referendum “would be a setback not just economically, but above all geopolitically for Britain.” He was quoted as saying that no one can foresee the long-term consequences, but he fears “Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction not just of the EU, but of the entire political civilization of the West.” Tusk said cutting treaty links between Britain and the EU would take about two years and negotiating a new relationship would take at least another five.
SPAIN
Mexican sex suspect caught
Police say they have arrested one of Mexico’s most sought-after sex offenders, a man who allegedly took part in a sexual assault of a minor along with other men last year. Police said the man was arrested in Madrid early on Saturday on a Mexican arrest warrant. He faces charges of group pedophilia, which carry a sentence of 12 to 40 years in prison. He is expected to be extradited to Mexico. The suspect and three other men of wealthy background became known derisively on social media as Los Porkys after a father publicly accused them of assaulting his daughter in the eastern state of Veracruz in January last year. One of the other suspects has already been arrested in Mexico.
UNITED STATES
D-Day flag sold at auction
The national flag flown on the stern of the boat that led the first troops onto Utah Beach on D-Day was sold on Sunday for US$514,000 at an auction in Texas. Heritage Auctions spokesman Noah Fleisher said the 48-star flag from the guide boat was sold during a live auction in Dallas. Fleisher identified the buyer as Dutch businessman Bertram Kreuk, who said in a statement released by Heritage that he wanted to “make sure that the important story this flag represents will be kept alive.” D-Day marks June 6, 1944, the date during World War II when the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from the Nazis.
ITALY
Refugees, migrants rescued
More than 2,500 refugees and migrants seeking to reach Europe were rescued off the coast of Sicily over the weekend in 20 separate operations, the coast guard said on Sunday. Vessels from the navy and coast guard took part in rescue operations, along with ships from volunteer and aid groups. Medical charity Medecins San Frontieres said it had recovered one dead body from one of the boats. Authorities said 1,348 refugees and migrants were picked up on Saturday and 1,230 on Sunday.
UNITED STATES
Man flees after shooting
A New Mexico man is accused of fatally shooting his wife and four daughters in their family home and then fleeing in his car, authorities said on Sunday. Juan David Villegas-Hernandez remained at large a day after the five victims were found dead, Roswell police said. A relative who went to check on the family late on Saturday discovered the bodies, police spokesman Todd Wildermuth said. Officers responded and found all five had suffered gunshot wounds. Investigators say the suspect and his 34-year-old wife had four daughters aged 14, 11, seven and three. The shooting likely occurred earlier in the day, Wildermuth said.
IRAQ
Thousands flee Fallujah
An aid group said that 4,000 more people have fled the city of Fallujah after government forces retook a key road to the Islamic State stronghold over the weekend. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, yesterday said that this brings the total number of residents who have fled Fallujah since the Iraqi offensive to retake the city started in late May to 27,580.
INDONESIA
Ramadan raid draws ire
Netizens have reacted with fury and a flurry of donations after footage emerged of a frail food seller breaking down as her cafe was raided for staying open during the daytime in Ramadan. Video of the 53-year-old business owner desperately begging officials not to confiscate her food went viral over the weekend and social media users have donated about US$20,000 to a crowdfunding site to help her and other vendors. It is common for food outlets in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that remain open during the daytime in the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to fast from sunrise to sunset, to be raided.
MALAYSIA
Sharia air shut down
Rayani Air, Malaysia’s first Islamic-compliant airline, has been shut down, regulators said yesterday, months after it was suspended from flying for breaching aviation regulations. The carrier launched only in December last year with Muslim flight crew wearing the hijab while non-Muslim members were forbidden from wearing revealing clothing. In-flight meals were completely halal and alcohol consumption banned. However, after an “investigation into the administration and safety audit” of the airline, the Department of Aviation (DCA) said it has revoked Rayani’s Air Operator Certificate. The DCA launched an inquiry into the airline in April following a string of criticisms from passengers and the government over delays and last-minute cancellations.
LEBANON
Bank targeted in bombing
Blom Bank was the target in Sunday’s bombing attack in Beirut, the country’s interior minister said, raising questions about whether it was connected to a US law targeting Hezbollah’s finances. The bank’s chairman said it was too soon to assign blame. “The bomb was right by the bank’s wall so there is no question about it,” Nouhad al-Mashnouq said in a telephone interview. While he stopped short of directly blaming the Iranian-backed militant group for the attack, he said he expects banks would “implement the law to the letter.”
SYRIA
Civilians killed in raids
Airstrikes on a market in the al-Qaeda-held city of Idlib killed at least 21 civilians on Sunday, as hundreds fled a besieged Islamic State group bastion near the Turkish border. Five children were among those killed in the air raids on Idlib, which is held by al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and its allies, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It was not clear who carried out the Idlib strikes, but the observatory has reported previous airstrikes by the regime and its Russian ally on Idlib Province, which is also controlled by al-Nusra and rebel allies. Footage the observatory said was filmed after the Idlib strikes showed emergency workers training water hoses on a tall building amid a haze of smoke.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not