PHILIPPINES
Eleven killed by police
Police killed 11 suspected drug dealers during operations at the weekend, police said yesterday, adding to a surge of drugs-related killings since president-elect Rodrigo Duterte swept an election last month on promises to wipe out crime. Speculation has been rife in Manila that some police involved in the drugs business were clearing the decks before Duterte takes office by eliminating criminals who could implicate them.
SOUTH KOREA
Ship’s captain stabbed
Two Vietnamese crewmen on a South Korean fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean have allegedly stabbed and killed the ship’s captain and the engineer over a dispute, the coast guard said yesterday. The two, both aged 32, have since been overpowered by other crew members and are locked up aboard the vessel as it sails to the Seychelles capital, Victoria, a coast guard official in Busan said. The attack against the captain and the engineer took place early yesterday morning and was reported to the coast guard by the vessel’s owner located in Busan, coast guard official Kim In-ho said by telephone.
INDONESIA
‘Decisive’ actions defended
The government said it would continue to take “decisive” action against foreign ships operating illegally in waters under its jurisdiction after Beijing criticized its navy for shooting at Chinese fishing vessels. Indonesian Navy spokesman First Admiral Edi Sucipto yesterday confirmed a warship fired warning shots at Chinese fishing vessels in waters off Natuna islands and detained one of the vessels and its seven crew members. He said the incident occurred on Friday. “We will not hesitate to take decisive action against foreign ships, whatever their flag and nationality, when they commit violations in Indonesian territory,” Sucipto said.
NEPAL
Fake doctors arrested
Authorities yesterday said that they have arrested 36 people who were working as doctors with fake credentials and education certificates in a sweeping operation across the nation. Those arrested were working in reputed hospitals, health clinics and medical schools, Central Investigation Bureau official Dibesh Lohani said. They were arrested over the past three days and were charged with forgery. They face up to five years in jail if found guilty. Lohani said that many others are suspected of working as doctors with fake credentials and that the operation would continue. The bureau was working with the Nepal Medical Council and Education Board for months to investigate people suspected of working with fake medical degrees and phony practicing licenses.
INDONESIA
Race to save flood survivors
Authorities yesterday raced to rescue victims of landslides and flash floods caused by torrential rain at the weekend that killed nearly 50 people and left many missing in the main island of Java. Search and rescue teams used earth movers and bulldozers to clear debris in several locations in Central Java province after heavy rainfall damaged thousands of homes and forced residents to evacuate. “Around 200 people ... in joint teams from the military, police, NGOs [non-governmental organizations], and volunteers are continuing to search for victims,” national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said. He added 47 people had died and 15 remained missing.
RUSSIA
Children die in storm
At least 14 children at a summer camp drowned when their boats capsized during a storm on a lake, investigators said on Sunday. The accident happened overnight on Lake Syamozero, close to the border with Finland, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said. “The investigators have finished examining the bodies of the 14 victims. They said that they were all born between 2002 and 2004. There are no adults among the victims,” Markin said in a statement. Four members of the camp staff have been detained for questioning, he added. The children were “apparently not wearing life jackets,” children’s rights watchdog Pavel Astakhov told RIA Novosti.
UNITED STATES
‘Star Trek’ actor dies
Actor Anton Yelchin, best known for playing the young Russian starship navigator Chekov in the rebooted series of Star Trek movies, was killed on Sunday when accidentally crushed by his own car against a driveway wall, police said. The Russian-born Yelchin, 27, died shortly after 1am after he apparently stepped out of his car in the steep driveway of his Los Angeles home and it rolled backwards, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Jenny Houser said. Yelchin was due at a rehearsal, and when he did not show up friends went to his house and found him dead, Houser said. No foul play was suspected, but the accident is under investigation, she said.
TURKEY
Police gas LGBT rally
Police on Sunday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a rally by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Istanbul, in the second crackdown in as many days on protests by secular Turks. Several hundred riot police surrounded Taksim Square to prevent the “Trans Pride” event taking place during Ramadan. As the police swooped in on the rally of about 150 people, the crowd fled into nearby streets. Media reports said that at least two people were detained.
ISRAEL
West Bank gets funding
The government on Sunday approved US$18 million in extra funding for Jewish West Bank settlements, in a move that angered both opposition lawmakers and Palestinians. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the funding aims to assist small businesses, encourage tourism and improve security. About 600,000 Jews live in settlements built on the West Bank and in east Jerusalem on lands Israel captured from Jordan in a 1967 war. Opposition lawmakers said that instead of boosting the nation’s struggling periphery, the government was pouring money into an enterprise that undermined the nation’s security and international standing.
BRAZIL
Gunmen storm hospital
A group of heavily armed men on Sunday stormed the Hospital Souza Aguiar in Rio de Janeiro to free a suspected drug trafficker, starting a shootout with officers that left a patient dead and a nurse and an off-duty policeman wounded. At least five attackers stormed the hospital before dawn and freed the 28-year-old suspect, who was being treated for a gunshot wound, Rio police said in a statement. As many as 15 other gunmen were outside during the attack, witnesses told police. Investigators were studying security camera footage, and Rivaldo Barbosa, head of the state’s homicide unit, said two of the assailants had been identified.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was