SRI LANKA
Thai PM on state visit
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived in Colombo yesterday for a two-day official visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations. A government statement says Yingluck will meet with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for bilateral discussions and will also address parliament. During her visit, four bilateral agreements on tourism, science and technology are expected to be signed.
THAILAND
Jewel thief recaptured
A German jewel thief who managed to flee his Australian guards while transiting through Bangkok was arrested in the capital on Thursday after two weeks on the run, police said. Carlo Konstantin Kohl, 25, was being extradited to Germany via Thailand when bad weather forced an extended stopover at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and his two Australian guards took him to a transit lounge. During the overnight layover Kohl — convicted in Australia of stealing opals and drug trafficking, and wanted for skipping parole in Germany — managed to give his escorts the slip and escape. He was arrested near the German embassy in Bangkok, according to an immigration police official who did not want to be named. A Thai court on Thursday handed Kohl a two-year suspended jail term for illegal entry and a 6,000 baht (US$200) fine. He is expected to be handed over to German authorities next week. Australian immigration chiefs have denied Thai media reports that the two guards, from a private firm that runs Australia’s immigration security, were asleep when he got away.
JAPAN
Mayor escapes censure
The mayor of the nation’s second-largest city survived a censure motion on Thursday over his comments about Japan’s wartime sex slavery, remarks that sparked an international uproar. The Osaka City Assembly voted down the motion, which said Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s comments earlier this month about so-called “comfort women” created confusion and tarnished the city’s image. Hashimoto said he would stay on as mayor. He said he took the motion seriously, but had no intention to retract his remarks or apologize over them. “I believe what I’m saying is right,” Hashimoto said, referring to his comments about the wartime practice that forced many Asian women into prostitution for Japanese soldiers. The outspoken mayor sparked controversy after he said on May 13 that the use of “comfort women” before and during World War II was necessary for military discipline and providing rest for troops. He sought later to clarify his comments, saying he meant that military authorities during that time must have deemed the practice necessary.
UNITED STATES
Complaint leads to charges
A woman has been charged with prostitution in Connecticut after calling police to complain about how she was being treated by a pimp. Police say they did not find the pimp when they arrived at a Super 8 Motel in West Haven on Sunday, but they did find 35-year-old Jennifer Lowery with a man they describe as a customer. Police charged Lowery with prostitution and 60-year-old Richard Burford of New Haven with patronizing a prostitute. Police said Lowery told them she thought it would take police longer to show up, so she decided to conduct some business while waiting.
UNITED STATES
Boy spells his way to glory
The US-born son of immigrants from India overcame his dread of German-derived words on Thursday to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee. Confetti rained on a suddenly speechless Arvind Mahankali, 13, from New York City, after he correctly spelled knaidel, a type of dumpling perhaps better known as a matzah ball. He becomes the sixth youth of south Asian heritage to win the coveted title in the past six years, and also the first male champion since 2008. Mahankali, the eldest son of an IT consultant father and a physician mother, had placed ninth in 2010, then third in 2011 and last year. More often than not, it was obscure English words of Germanic origin that denied him victory. Earlier in the evening, Mahankali aced such words as tokonoma (an alcove in a Japanese living room), kaumographer (someone who prints a design onto cloth with a hot iron), and galere (a group of people who have something in common).
VENEZUELA
Police clean up after tip-off
It had all the makings of a routine bust: an anonymous tip-off to the cops, a raid on a hideout, a triumphant Ministry of the Interior tweet. The loot? Roll after roll of toilet paper. The government said police had found 2,450 bales of toilet paper in working-class neighborhood Antimano, west of Caracas, thanks to an anonymous phone call to a police tip-off line. The paper was stored “in a clandestine warehouse,” Venezuelan Minister of the Interior Miguel Rodriguez Torres said on Twitter. Also seized were 7,000 liters of fruit juice and 400 packages of diapers. Venezuela may be oil-rich, but its economy is struggling. Toilet rolls are one of the five most sought-after basics that are in severe shortage, the others being toothpaste, toilet soap, diapers and feminine hygiene napkins.
UNITED KINGDOM
Man jailed over murder
A former slaughterhouse worker has been jailed for life for abducting and murdering a five-year-old girl whose body was never found, despite a massive police search. April Jones was last seen getting into a van in the town of Machynlleth, Wales, in October last year. Mark Bridger was arrested the next day. He was convicted on Thursday of abduction, murder and unlawfully disposing of the girl’s body. Traces of the girl’s blood and bone fragments were found in Bridger’s cottage. Hundreds of volunteers combed woods and fields for April after her disappearance. The former slaughterhouse worker claimed he accidentally ran her over with his Land Rover and then could not remember what he had done with the body. However, a jury on Thursday convicted him of abducting and murdering April and of unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice.
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
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
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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