INDONESIA
Sea patrols increased
The country is stepping up sea and aerial patrols of islands near the disputed South China Sea, an official said yesterday, following a diplomatic spat over “trespassing” Chinese vessels. Military aircraft and three warships with about 600 navy, army and air force personnel have been deployed to waters around the Natuna Islands, which border the South China Sea. “Territorial violations by foreign vessels in Indonesian exclusive economic zone ... is a threat to Indonesian sovereignty,” defense commander Vice Admiral Yudo Margono said in a statement. The move came after the country summoned the Chinese ambassador this week and lodged a “strong protest” over a Chinese coast guard vessel escorting Chinese fishing boats around the islands last month.
CAMBODIA
Collapse kills at least seven
Hundreds of soldiers and rescuers yesterday frantically picked through the rubble of a collapsed building in the country’s south looking for bodies as the death toll from the disaster rose to seven. They used excavators, drills and power saws to clear concrete the morning after the seven-story hotel under construction in seaside Kep province crumbled to the ground with an estimated 30 workers inside, prompting an all-night rescue. Eighteen survivors were pulled out of the debris, the Kep provincial administration said.
UNITED STATES
Driver jumps off bridge
A driver who mistakenly thought Atlanta police were chasing him as they pursued a different speeding motorist crashed his car and jumped 12m off a highway bridge to escape. The driver survived the jump early on Thursday and ran into a wooded area. On Friday, Davaughn Clarke, 25, turned himself in to police. He was taken to a hospital detention center and eventually would be transported to the Fulton County Jail, police spokeswoman Tasheena Brown said. Clarke would face several charges, including speeding, reckless driving, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during or in attempt to commit certain felonies, Brown said.
INDONESIA
Flood death toll reaches 53
Nearly 175,000 people remain displaced in the capital, Jakarta, and nearby towns, after flash floods and landslides killed at least 53 people, amid some of the heaviest rain since records began, authorities said yesterday. “The death toll has risen to 53 people, with one person missing,” National Board for Disaster Management spokesman Agus Wibowo said. Agency data showed that 173,064 residents remain evacuated from their homes, after the deadliest flooding in years caused chaos in parts of Southeast Asia’s biggest city, with train lines blocked and power outages in some areas.
LATVIA
Baltic pipeline opens
Stored natural gas has begun flowing from the country to Finland through the new Balticconnector pipeline in a bid to ease the region’s dependence on Russian gas. “The first quantities of natural gas on the common gas market between Estonia, Latvia and Finland flowed from Latvia to Finland via Estonia on January first,” Estonia’s electricity and gas system operator Elering said in a statement on Friday. Thanks to imports from Latvia’s underground storage facility in the central village of Incukalns, Russian gas giant Gazprom would no longer be Finland’s sole supplier.
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