COLOMBIA
Peace deal still possible
Representatives from Colombia’s right-wing opposition could meet with leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to discuss potential changes to a peace accord signed by the guerrillas and the government, opposition leader Alvaro Uribe said on Tuesday. Uribe had previously said his group would not meet with the rebels, who signed a peace deal with the government last month to end 52 years of war. Colombians rejected the accord with the FARC in a surprise plebiscite result this month. Uribe spearheaded the “No” campaign. “We think that at this time, in the interest of a national deal, spokespeople from ‘No’ could at some point speak with the FARC,” Uribe said. President Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his legacy on a successful deal, has been meeting with opponents in a bid to salvage the accord. In a televised speech on Tuesday, Santos said talks were advancing and he would continue to hear opposition proposals until today before discussing them with the FARC.
UNITED STATES
Taiwanese dies in crash
A 72-year-old Taiwanese woman who was visiting the US on vacation has died from injuries she suffered in a single-vehicle crash on US Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The state highway patrol has identified the victim of Sunday’s fatal crash as Tseng Pao-yi. She was a passenger in the back seat of a westbound Nissan Altima that her husband was driving when it crossed over the shoulder of the right side of the highway and hit a tree north of Glenbrook near the Douglas County line. The couple’s daughter was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Barton Memorial Hospital. The driver, Tseng Jiann-juh, was not seriously injured. The patrol said he was wearing a seat belt. It is not yet clear if the others were. Troopers said impairment is not suspected, but the crash remains under investigation.
UNITED STATES
Biden urges cancer research
Vice President Joe Biden headed to Boston yesterday to talk about the White House’s push to find a cure for cancer. Biden was to speak about the so-called “Cancer Moonshot” initiative at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate. President Barack Obama announced the initiative in his final State of the Union address in January. He has created a task force comprised of the heads of at least a dozen federal departments and agencies, including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services. The task force aims to double the rate of progress in cancer research and treatment, accomplishing what could be achieved in 10 years in five.
UNITED STATES
Send in the frowns
This year’s nationwide creepy clown craze has become a nightmare before Halloween for actual, working clowns. They say their bookings at parties and other events have dropped sharply, even after many of the social media-fueled scary clown sightings have turned out to be hoaxes. Some professional clowns fear going out with their greasepaint makeup and red noses would make them a target of police, or even marauding mobs who take to the streets on so-called “clown hunts.” The World Clown Association, comprised of more than 2,000 members in 30 countries, has been flooded with calls from scared performers. It has been sending out tips for how professional clowns can stay safe.
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