VANUATU
Powerful quakes hit
A series of earthquakes struck off the South Pacific island nation yesterday, causing minor damage, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. Local tsunami advisories were issued, but later lifted. No tsunami was recorded. The US Geological Survey said a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck at 3:55am at a depth of 40.6km. Its epicenter was 63km south-southwest of the capital, Port-Vila. The temblor was followed by several aftershocks, including a magnitude 7.0 quake that struck at 5:19am at a depth of 28.5km. Its epicenter was 69km south-southwest of Port-Vila. The Geohazards Observatory said it issued four local tsunami advisories that were lifted after about two hours. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a warning. Some minor damage was reported in the southern part of the country and in the surrounding areas of Port-Vila.
INDIA
Minibus falls into gorge
At least 21 people were killed and more than a dozen injured on Saturday when an overcrowded minibus plunged into a gorge in Kashmir, police said. The accident took place in southern Poonch District, a police spokesman said, adding that 15 injured passengers were in a critical condition. “So far we have 21 confirmed deaths,” the spokesman said, adding that it was feared the toll would rise. The speeding bus rolled down into a gorge while negotiating a sharp curve in the mountains of Poonch, police said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Plane crashes in airshow
A Red Arrows pilot died on Saturday when his plane crashed following an acrobatic air display over the southern coast, defense officials said. Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging’s Hawk jet crashed in a field at Throop village several hundred meters from Bournemouth airport after taking part in the nearby air show with the famous team from the Royal Air Force (RAF). The 33-year-old, who previously served in Afghanistan with the RAF and was known to colleagues as “Eggman,” was thrown from the plane when it crashed at about 1:50pm, emergency services said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. After the air show, Egging was coming in to land, but his jet lost height and flew meters above the ground before crashing into a field and ending with its nose in a river, witnesses said. Officials said it was too early to speculate on what could have caused the crash.
MYANMAR
UN rights envoy arrives
A UN rights envoy arrived yesterday for the first time in more than a year for talks with senior government officials, amid signs the regime is seeking to engage its critics. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights for the country, was due to meet the foreign and home ministers in Naypyidaw before attending parliament today, officials said. He has been a vocal critic of the country’s rulers, enraging the generals after his last trip by suggesting that human rights violations in the country may amount to crimes against humanity and could warrant a UN inquiry. The international community has called for a number of reforms, including the release of about 2,000 political prisoners. UN spokesman Aye Win in Yangon confirmed that Quintana had arrived yesterday and would stay for five days. He is scheduled to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Wednesday, a spokesman for her party said, in what would be the first talks between the Argentine lawyer and the democracy icon.
UNITED STATES
Prosecutors, lawyer to meet
The lawyer for the woman who accused former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault said on Saturday that he believes prosecutors plan to dismiss some or all of the charges. Attorney Kenneth Thompson told the New York Times that he got a letter from an assistant district attorney offering to meet with his client today, before Strauss-Kahn’s next scheduled court appearance tomorrow. The letter said the purpose was to discuss what would happen in court tomorrow. It said prosecutors would only meet the woman at 3pm. “Should she not be available or should she fail to attend, I will assume that she does not wish to take advantage of this opportunity,” wrote prosecutor Artie McConnell, an assistant district attorney.
UNITED STATES
Fortune-telling scam busted
Prosecutors say a South Florida family of gypsies amassed US$40 million in a fortune-telling scam, warning victims that if they didn’t follow their advice, terrible things would happen to them or their loved ones. Details spilled out in federal court on Friday after eight people were arrested earlier last week. Assistant US Attorney Laurence Bardfeld said victims who were going through vulnerable phases forked over cash, gold coins and jewelry. The defendants promised victims they wouldn’t spend the money, but then refused to return it. The Sun Sentinel reported that one victim, a bestselling author, gave an estimated US$20 million.
UNITED STATES
Times Square gets nude art
Times Square used to be known for its seedy peep shows. There was skin on display again on Friday, but this time in the name of art. Painter Andy Golub caused a stir when he had a 23-year-old model undress and began slathering paint on her body. It is legal for women to go topless in the city, but the New York Post reported that police stepped in and asked Golub to do something about the large crowd. The woman put on a sports bra and Golub kept painting. It was his second try at putting on the performance. He was charged with public lewdness last month after having two models take off all their clothes. He avoided trouble this time by having model Marla Mera wear a G-string.
UNITED STATES
Charges laid over slaying
Three people have been charged in the slaying of a fledgling New York City rapper whose burned body was found last week in a sport utility vehicle parked on a New Jersey street. Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli says 30-year-old Randy Manning of Brooklyn faces charges including felony murder and witness tampering in the death of Rhian Stoute, a 33-year-old Brooklyn resident who performed under the name Kampane. Manning’s girlfriend and a friend of his were both charged with hindering his apprehension.
UNITED STATES
Crash kills three generations
A family returning to New York from Disney World was devastated when women representing three generations were killed in a wreck on an interstate highway in eastern North Carolina. Trooper G.G. Barnes of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said early yesterday that a 22-year-old woman, her mother and grandmother were killed on Saturday when the family’s SUV blew a tire on northbound Interstate-95. The driver then lost control and the vehicle overturned. Five other family members in the vehicle remain hospitalized with non-life
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
Cook Islands officials yesterday said they had discussed seabed minerals research with China as the small Pacific island mulls deep-sea mining of its waters. The self-governing country of 17,000 people — a former colony of close partner New Zealand — has licensed three companies to explore the seabed for nodules rich in metals such as nickel and cobalt, which are used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Despite issuing the five-year exploration licenses in 2022, the Cook Islands government said it would not decide whether to harvest the potato-sized nodules until it has assessed environmental and other impacts. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown
STEADFAST DART: The six-week exercise, which involves about 10,000 troops from nine nations, focuses on rapid deployment scenarios and multidomain operations NATO is testing its ability to rapidly deploy across eastern Europe — without direct US assistance — as Washington shifts its approach toward European defense and the war in Ukraine. The six-week Steadfast Dart 2025 exercises across Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are taking place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark. They involve about 10,000 troops from nine nations and represent the largest NATO operation planned this year. The US absence from the exercises comes as European nations scramble to build greater military self-sufficiency over their concerns about the commitment of US President Donald Trump’s administration to common defense and