CHINA
Bus crash kills 36
At least 36 people were killed and 13 injured when a packed bus slammed into a wall at the mouth of an expressway tunnel in Shaanxi Province, authorities said yesterday. The coach crashed at the Qinling tunnel in Ankang on Thursday night, the State Administration of Work Safety said. Photographs published by Xinhua news agency showed the front of the red bus pushed in by the force of the crash. It was unclear whether the crash occurred inside or just outside the tunnel. The photos showed a tow truck at the scene along with rescue workers surveying the damage on the road just outside the tunnel near forested hills. Twisted metal was strewn in front of the bus, several windows were broken and a front tire was blown out. The bus had a capacity of 51 and was carrying 49 people, the statement said. Local media said two children were onboard.
CHINA
US sail-by protested
Beijing expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” with the US over the US Navy’s latest freedom of navigation operation in which a warship sailed past an artificial island in the South China Sea. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) said in a statement late on Thursday that the US move “severely undermines China’s sovereignty and security, and severely endangers the safety of frontline personnel of both sides.” Geng added: “China has the firm determination to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests.” The US move will “compel China to take measures to further raise its capacity to defend national territory,” he said. A US Navy official told reporters that the destroyer USS John S. McCain sailed past Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, on Thursday, but gave no details. US officials say the military will continue to sail, fly and operate wherever permitted by international law. Geng said the People’s Liberation Army Navy “identified the US warship, warned and expelled it.”
PHILIPPINES
Quake strikes near Manila
A strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocked the region south of Manila yesterday, causing buildings in the capital and nearby areas to sway, seismologists and witnesses said. The quake struck just off the coast of Lian Town at 1:28pm at a relatively deep 173km, the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology told reporters. The US Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 6.2. “Due to its depth, we do not expect any damage,” institute director Renato Solidum said on government television. A rescue official at the town closest to the epicenter also reported no damage or casualties.
UNITED STATES
Brownlee to play at Armory
New York’s Park Avenue Armory has a different kind of weapon in its arsenal these days: music. The massive brick building housed the first militia answering former US president Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops to fight slave-owning states. The armory was yesterday evening to host an African-American tenor singing songs and talking about his experiences as a black man. Lawrence Brownlee grew up with gospel in Youngstown, Ohio. He is now one of the world’s top classical singers on stages from Carnegie Hall to those in London, Paris, Moscow and elsewhere. However, the Niceville, Florida, resident has not forgotten his heritage. The program by the Grammy-nominated artist was to start with classical pieces, followed by a discussion touching on the topic of “Black Lives Matter,” with accompanying songs. Also to be featured was jazz pianist Jason Moran, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant
UNITED STATES
Khosla ordered to open road
A San Francisco Bay Area billionaire needs to open an access road to a beloved beach, upholding a lower court ruling against a cofounder of a giant tech company, a California appeals court ruled on Thursday. The California Court of Appeal for the First District ruled 3-0 that Vinod Khosla violated state law when he bought a US$32.5 million beachfront property surrounding Martins Beach, south of Half Moon Bay, and blocked the public from accessing it. The appeals court judges ordered Khosla to open the gates immediately in a ruling released. The California State Lands Commission has been negotiating with Khosla, a venture capitalist who cofounded tech company Sun Microsystems, to purchase a public right of way.
UNITED STATES
Washington upholds gun tax
The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Seattle’s so-called “gun violence tax” against a challenge from gun rights groups, leaving the city as one of the only places in the country that taxes the sale of firearms and ammunition to raise money for gun violence research. In an 8-1 decision, the justices ruled that the levy fell within the city’s taxing authority and its primary purpose was to raise revenue for “the public benefit.” The tax, which took effect last year, adds US$25 to the price of each firearm sold in the city, plus US$0.02 or US$0.05 per round of ammunition, depending on the type. It raised less than US$200,000 in its first year, with the money earmarked for gun violence research. One gun shop cited the tax in moving out of the city.
IRELAND
Goat to be crowned ‘king’
For a few days this week, a goat will be king of a small town in the rural southwest. Billed as one of the nation’s oldest festivals, the Puck Fair sees locals in the town of Killorglin pluck a wild mountain goat from its habitat and crown him “King Puck” for the duration of the event. This year’s king was on Thursday paraded through the town, where he was crowned by the “Queen of Puck” — an honor bestowed on a local schoolgirl. He appeared relaxed, if occasionally bemused, during his coronation. “I’ve seen it for the last 11 years so it’s nothing new, but when I first moved here from England I thought it was strange,” 25-year-old festival-goer Ben Henry said. “I heard a fella today saying he’s been coming to Puck for 57 years, so that says a lot!”
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