INDONESIA
‘Tank Man’ photographer dies
The photographer who took the defining image of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, known all over the world as “Tank Man,” has died in Indonesia, according to US officials. US authorities confirmed the death of 64-year-old Charlie Cole in Bali, where the Texan had been a long-time resident. “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a US Department of State official said. Cole won the 1990 World Press Photo award for his picture of a man, with a shopping bag in each hand, standing in front of a column of tanks and armored vehicles the day after Chinese troops killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in the heart of Beijing.
AUSTRALIA
Third Iran detainee named
One of three Australians recently revealed to be detained in Iran was yesterday identified by her family as a Melbourne University lecturer. Academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who specializes in Middle Eastern politics with a focus on Gulf states, has been held for a “number of months” in Iran on charges that remain unclear. “Our family thanks the government and the University of Melbourne for their ongoing support at this distressing and sensitive time,” a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on behalf of the family said. Perth-based travel-blogging couple Jolie King and Mark Firkin are the other two to have been arrested. Moore-Gilbert’s arrest is unrelated to that of the couple, whose charges also remain unclear.
INDIA
Dozens of devotees drown
More than 30 Hindu worshipers have drowned in swollen rivers and in a lake in India as thousands participated in religious ceremonies in which figures of a Hindu god are immersed in water, officials and news reports said on Friday. At least 11 people drowned when their boat capsized earlier in the day on a lake in central India, rescuers said. Six people were able to swim ashore in the lake in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state, and a search was on for one missing person, National Disaster Response Force spokesman Krishan Kumar said.Eleven bodies were recovered from the lake, Kumar said. The Press Trust of India news agency said that 18 other people drowned when they were swept away by flooded rivers in a half dozen towns in western Maharashtra state on Thursday and Friday. Four other worshipers drowned in the Yamuna river in New Delhi during religious ceremonies.
VENEZUELA
Guaido faces photo probe
The state prosecutor’s office on Friday said that it would open an investigation into National Assembly President Juan Guaido after Minister of the Interior Nestor Reverol presented photographs on state television showing the opposition leader in the company of two suspected members of a Colombian drug-trafficking group. Guaido said the two men had asked to take a photo with him when he secretly crossed into Colombia from Venezuela in February. He denied knowing who the men were. “We didn’t ask for their criminal record to take a photo,” he told reporters in Caracas. Colombian police sources confirmed the men were members of the Rastrojos, a criminal group that engages in drug trafficking. Colombian President Ivan Duque sought to downplay the photos. “Beyond whether there are photos or not, if he greeted or didn’t greet a lot of people ... I want to emphasize who he is. He is a titan, a hero fighting for his country’s democracy,” Duque said.
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