YEMEN
Airstrike kills at least 30
At least 30 people were killed in an airstrike yesterday that hit a small hotel north of the capital, Sana’a, the armed Houthi movement said. Al-Jazeera television said dozens of people were killed and wounded in the attack in the Arhab area. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting the Iran-allied Houthis in the country, was not available for comment. The Houthis, who control Sana’a and the northern part of the country, are fighting the internationally recognized government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies in a civil war. “More than 30 martyrs in airstrike on small hotel in Arhab,” Houthi-run television station Almaseera said in a newsflash.
AFGHANISTAN
Suicide car blast kills seven
A Taliban suicide car bomber yesterday targeted a military convoy in Helmand province, killing at least seven people, a provincial official said. The explosion in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, also wounded 42 people, mostly civilians, Helmand provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak said. Initial reports show that those killed included a small girl, two women and four soldiers, Zwak said, adding that the death toll could rise further. The bombing took place near the police chief’s headquarters. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a Twitter post.
SRI LANKA
Presidents ousts minister
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday sacked his controversial minister of justice for speaking out against a billion-dollar deal to sell a stake in a lossmaking deep sea port to China. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe had publicly denounced the US$1.1 billion sale last month of a 70 percent stake in Hambantota port to state-owned China Merchants Port Holdings. “He [Rajapakshe] had violated collective Cabinet responsibility by openly speaking against the deal,” government spokesman Gayantha Karunathillaka said. The minister was sacked a day after facing sanctions from his own party for alleged breaches of discipline.
SAUDI ARABIA
Teen dancer released
A 14-year-old boy who was detained by police for dancing to the song Macarena at a traffic intersection has been released with a warning about road safety, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The boy was filmed dancing to the catchy 1990s hit song in front of five lanes of cars stopped at a traffic light, in a clip widely shared on social media. Police had said the teenager, whose name and nationality were not given, was questioned because he had shown “improper public behavior” and disrupted traffic. A ministry statement said the boy had been released without charge. It said the boy and his legal guardian “signed a written pledge that the teen will not engage in behavior that could endanger his life and the life of others again.”
PAKISTAN
Ex-PM’s wife to run
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife is to run for a seat in parliament despite having been diagnosed with throat cancer. Kulsoom Nawaz is being treated at a London hospital and plans to return to the country for the vote next month in Lahore, Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said. Earlier this month, Sharif’s ruling party said Nawaz would take part in the election, running for the same seat left vacant after her husband was disqualified from office by the Supreme Court for concealing assets.
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