MALAYSIA
Six divers go missing
Search teams were yesterday looking for six scuba divers who went missing a day earlier off a resort island after apparently failing to resurface, a maritime official said. The group, including a diver from Singapore, one from China and four Malaysians, disappeared after going diving off Tioman Island on the east coast on Saturday, an official with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said. Only one person with the group, whose members were aged between 25 and 33 and which included two women, resurfaced after the dive, he said. Three boats and eight navy divers are involved in the search.
CROATIA
Bus crash kills eight Czechs
At least eight Czech tourists were killed and 44 injured when a bus crashed and overturned on a major highway in the country on Saturday, police said. The accident happened at about 4am, about 200km south of Zagreb, on a highway connecting the capital with the central Adriatic coastal city of Split, according to a police statement. State TV said the bus crashed through metal barriers in the middle of the highway and overturned in the opposite lane near a tunnel. State TV quoted eyewitnesses as saying the bus started “swaying” moments before the crash, suggesting the driver apparently lost control after he fell asleep. Photographs from the scene showed the bus’s twisted metal remains on its side, with seven dead passengers — covered with white sheets — lying on the pavement. State TV said a child was among the dead and the eighth fatality was discovered in the wreckage.
NORWAY
Far-right extremists rally
Police say about 40 far-right radicals have held a peaceful rally to protest what they call the “Islamization of Norway and Europe.” The demonstration in the southwestern city of Stavanger was held on Saturday by the Norwegian Defense League, an anti-Islam organization closely associated with the English Defence League. Saturday’s demonstration opposed a recent parliamentary decision to amend the country’s constitution to separate the state from the church. Police spokesman Henning Andersen said there were no arrests during the two-hour rally.
GREECE
Gay pride rally attacked
Police say about 50 people threw eggs and plastic bottles of water at about 400 people holding a gay pride parade in the northern city of Thessaloniki. Police moved in to restrict the attackers on Saturday, but no injuries were reported. In recent days, Anthimos, the senior Greek Orthodox cleric in Thessaloniki, had publicly criticized the planned gay pride parade. Anthimos, who only uses one name, is known for outspoken speeches.
ITALY
Migrants found dead on ferry
Two would-be immigrants were found dead on a ferry that arrived in the port of Ancona from Greece on Saturday and a third was in a coma, media reported. The daily Corriere della Sera said in its online edition that 18 migrants hid under trucks and buses on the Superfast ferry and suffered from the extreme heat inside the hull. ANSA news agency said the migrants were inside a Hungarian truck and died of asphyxiation. Two drivers were arrested, the agency added. There were conflicting reports about the migrants’ origins, with the Corriere saying they were from Pakistan and ANSA reporting they came from Afghanistan. On Tuesday, seven migrants went missing after their boat capsized off the coast.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
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