SPAIN
Holy anniversary!
The dome of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona was illuminated with Batman’s signal on Saturday evening as part of a worldwide celebrating the 80th anniversary of DC Comics’ hero. The company organized “Batman Day” to the first appearance of crimefighter Bruce Wayne and his masked identity. Fan gatherings were held around the globe, but the bat signal projections started in Fed Square in Melbourne, Australia, and were spotted in Tokyo, Berlin, Rome, Paris, London, Montreal, New York City, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg and more than 120 other cities.
SRI LANKA
New Easter bombings probe
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday ordered a new inquiry into the Easter suicide bombings that killed at least 258 people, after concerns from the Catholic Church that current probes are not independent. The government has blamed the National Thowheeth Jama’ath for the April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels. Sirisena said the commission has wide judicial powers to gather evidence on those responsible for the bombings, and to probe security and intelligence lapses. It is to report back with recommendations within three months.
ALBANIA
Quake injures 105 people
Many people in Tirana and the port city of Durres are staying in temporary shelters following a magnitude 5.8 earthquake on Saturday afternoon that injured 105 people and damaged hundreds of homes. Authorities said the quake was followed by more than 100 aftershocks. It also knocked out power and water facilities in Tirana, Durres and other areas. The Institute of GeoSciences, Energy, Water and Environment said the quake struck 13km north of Durres at 2:04pm and was mainly felt along the west coast.
TANZANIA
WHO warns on Ebola
The government has failed to provide information on suspected cases of Ebola, potentially hurting efforts to curb the spread of the virus, the WHO said on Saturday. It said it had learned on Sept. 10 of a suspected case in Dar es Salaam, and that the person had tested positive for Ebola. Two other suspected cases were unofficially reported. On Sept. 14, the government officially reported there was no Ebola in the country, but declined “secondary confirmation testing” at a WHO center, the WHO said. Because the initial patient traveled widely in the country and due to the lack of information, “the risk was assessed as very high at national level,” it said.
AUSTRALIA
Joining up with NASA
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday announced the government would join the US’ Moon-to-Mars project, including the NASA Artemis lunar program. Morrison pledged to more than triple the Australian Space Agency’s budget, according to a statement from NASA during Morrison’s visit to the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Morrison said the government would invest A$150 million (US$101 million) in a five-year plan to help businesses support US automation systems, build equipment for space craft and play a role in mineral exploration.
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