PHILLIPINES
Yutu death toll hits 15
At least 15 people have been killed and dozens more are missing after Typhoon Yutu hit the nation on Tuesday, authorities said. The deaths were mostly due to landslides caused by heavy rains in the mountainous region of Cordillera in the north, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. The worst hit area was Natonin in Mountain Province. The military are continuing to search for 20 people who are still missing.
PALAU
Sunscreen ban to save reefs
The island nation is to ban “reef-toxic” sunscreens from Jan. 1, 2020, in what it says is a world-first initiative to stop chemical pollution killing its famed corals. It is regarded as one of the world’s best diving destinations, but the government is concerned its popularity is coming at a cost. A spokesman for President Tommy Remengesau said there is scientific evidence that the chemicals found in most sunscreens are toxic to corals, even in minute doses. He said the nation’s dive sites typically host about four boats an hour packed with tourists. Under the ban, anyone importing or selling banned sunscreen will face a US$1,000 fine, while tourists who bring it into the country will have it confiscated. Hawaii announced a ban on reef toxic sunscreens in May this year, but it does not come into force until 2021.
AUSTRALIA
Nauru children to be moved
The country plans to relocate dozens of children forcibly settled on the Pacific island of Nauru by the end of the year, officials have said, softening its anti-asylum stance amid criticism at home and abroad. Canberra sends asylum seekers to remote Pacific camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for processing. However, the government has been “quietly” transferring children off Nauru, amid mounting concerns for their welfare. “There are hardly any children in Nauru and [Papua] New Guinea, and we expect that by the end of this year there will be none,” High Commissioner to the UK George Brandis said yesterday.
PERU
Fujimori sent back to jail
Former first daughter Keiko Fujimori was on Wednesday ordered back to jail in a case that has captured attention in the South American nation reeling from a series of corruption scandals reaching into the highest echelons of power. Judge Richard Concepcion ruled the 43-year-old opposition leader should be detained as a preventative measure as prosecutors investigate allegations that she led a criminal network within her party that received about US$1 million in illegal payments from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
UNITED STATES
Woman survives desert crash
A 53-year-old woman survived six days in the Arizona desert on grass and water after crashing her car, before being rescued by a rancher and highway workers who were chasing a cow, police and local media said on Wednesday. The woman, whose name was not disclosed, lost control of her car on Oct. 12 on a rain-slicked road near Wickenburg, Arizona, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said. The car plunged about 15m down a ravine, “landing in a mesquite tree, where it remained suspended above the ground,” the department said. Seriously injured from the crash, she remained in the car for several days before climbing out and trying to walk to a nearby railway line for help, it said. She made it 457m before collapsing in a dry river bed where she was found.
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
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the