AUSTRALIA
Town takes Aborigine’s name
The Melbourne electorate of Batman has been renamed after an Aboriginal activist, following a public campaign to rid it of its ties to a man accused of involvement in the massacre of Aborigines. Batman is now to be called Cooper, after Yorta Yorta activist and leader William Cooper, the Australian Electoral Commission said yesterday. The electorate had been named after Melbourne founder John Batman, who was allegedly involved in massacring Aborigines in Tasmania before journeying to Victoria and attempting to purchase land from the Wurundjeri people. The newly renamed electorate’s parliament member, Ged Kearney, was among those who lobbied for the name to be changed and said she was “absolutely thrilled” at the decision.
YEMEN
Coalition seizes airport
Emitari-backed Yemeni government forces yesterday seized Hodeida International Airport from Houthi rebels, their commander said, in a major step towards retaking the key Red Sea port city. “The airport was completely cleared — thank God — and is under control,” coalition commander Abdul Salaam al-Shehi said in a video posted by the United Arab Emirates’ official WAM news agency. Government forces on Wednesday last week launched an offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and commercial food imports through the city’s docks.
IVORY COAST
Floods kill 19 in Abidjan
At least 19 people were killed on Tuesday by flooding in Abidjan, after intense rainfall overnight, authorities said. A rushing flood of brown water struck the tropical, lagoon-side city of about 5 million people in the early hours, carrying away cars, destroying homes and leaving hundreds stranded. Nineteen people had died, the government said in a provisional toll posted on its Web site. Another 115 people had been rescued and taken to shelters. “I broke the ceiling and called my neighbor for help. He came to bring the children out of the roof,” said Kadidiatou Diallo, standing in the ruined bedroom of her home in the Palmeraie District.
UNITED STATES
Pearl Harbor survivor saluted
More than 500 sailors saluted Pearl Harbor survivor Ray Emory as he visited the storied naval base in Hawaii for what could be the last time. The 97-year-old lived through the early morning Japanese aerial bombing, but never forgot those who did not. He spent the past few decades doggedly pushing for the remains of those buried as unknowns to be dug up, identified and returned to their families. Emory had expected to spend a quiet few minutes at the same pier where his ship was moored during the attack nearly 80 years ago, but instead, sailors lined their ship decks and shouted a cheer of “Hip, Hip, Hooray!”
UNITED STATES
Synthetic virus warning raised
The rapid rise of synthetic biology, a futuristic field of science that seeks to master the machinery of life, has raised the risk of a new generation of bioweapons, a major US report said. Today, the genetic code of almost any mammalian virus can be found online and synthesized. “The technology to do this is available now,” report committee chair and University of Michigan microbiology and immunology professor Michael Imperiale said. “It requires some expertise, but it’s something that’s relatively easy to do, and that is why it tops the list.”
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
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
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