AUSTRALIA
Warning over Russia travel
Canberra yesterday warned its citizens about the risk of “anti-Western sentiment or harassment” while traveling in Russia, as the diplomatic fallout builds over a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain. The warning comes less than three months before Australian fans are expected to follow the Socceroos soccer team to the World Cup in Russia. “Due to heightened political tensions, you should be aware of the possibility of anti-Western sentiment or harassment,” the travel advisory from the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
INDIA
Crash topples building
Ten people have died after a car crashed into a dilapidated building on Saturday evening in the city of Indore and brought down the nearly century-old structure, burying them beneath rubble, police said yesterday. The driver lost control of his vehicle and struck a pillar holding up the structure, police Deputy Inspector General Harinarayanchari Mishra said. “The impact was such that the entire building collapsed,” he said. “Rescue workers pulled out 12 people from the rubble, 10 of them were already dead. The other two are being treated in hospital.”
INDIA
Fighting triggers protests
Officials say at least eight rebels have been killed in fighting with troops in disputed Kashmir, triggering an intense protests and clashes in several parts of southern Kashmir. A civilian was also killed and four soldiers injured. Police say the battles in southern Kashmir began after government forces raided two villages in Shopian and Anantnag districts following a tip that rebels were hiding there and came under fire. The fighting was still raging in the Shopian area yesterday.
SOUTH KOREA
Warship deployed off Ghana
The government has deployed an anti-piracy warship to the sea off Ghana after three sailors were kidnapped by pirates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late on Saturday. The Marine 711 with about 40 Ghanaian and three South Korean sailors was boarded by unidentified pirates on Monday last week. The pirates seized the three South Koreans and escaped in a speedboat, and their current whereabouts unknown. The Marine 711, registered in Ghana, later arrived at a port at Ghana where the rest of the crew disembarked, the Yonhap news agency said. “We are closely coordinating with local countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin, as well as the US and the EU to locate our nationals and secure their release,” the ministry said.
CHINA
No colonization: Namibia
Namibian President Hage Geingob said Beijing is not colonizing Africa and that growing cooperation between the world’s No. 2 economy and Africa benefits both sides, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Geingob, currently on a state visit to Beijing, said “comments smearing bilateral cooperation” are “doomed to fail... We are mature, we can choose our friends, we can choose what we want for, and what’s good for us.”
VENEZUELA
Five officials held over fire
Chief Prosecutor Tarek William Saab on Saturday said that five police officials are suspected of being responsible for a fire that killed 68 people on Wednesday. The five have been detained, Saab wrote on Twitter, without further details. The detained officials include the sub-director of the police station where the fire took place.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of