THAILAND
Oil spill reaches resort
Crude oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand over the weekend has reached a tourist resort, pipeline operator PTT Global Chemical said yesterday. About 50,000 liters of crude oil poured into the sea on Saturday about 20km off the coast of Rayong, southeast of Bangkok. “An oil slick has reached Ao Prao beach on Koh Samet island,” PTT Global, which estimates that about 5,000 liters remain to be cleaned up, said in a statement. “This should be the last oil slick that will come to shore. It is stuck in one particular corner of the shore close to some rocks.” Koh Samet, known for its white sandy beaches, is thronged by local and foreign tourists, and is home to several high-end and budget resorts.
HONG KONG
‘Meth’ smugglers arrested
Two women in possession of more than a dozen kilograms of crystal methamphetamine were arrested on Sunday at the airport, authorities said yesterday. The women, sisters aged 27 and 31, were carrying 14.5kg of “ice,” said a customs official, who withheld their nationality. The drugs, worth HK$10.9 million (US$1.4 million), were found concealed inside false compartments of three suitcases carrying men’s clothing, Customs Drug Investigation head Hui Wai-ming told reporters. “The weight of the suitcase was a bit abnormal,” Hui said, adding that the drugs could have been sold for more than two times the Hong Kong price in the Philippines. Manufacturing and trafficking dangerous drugs carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a fine of HK$5 million.
CHINA
Knifeman kills three: police
A man stabbed three passersby to death yesterday in Shenzhen, police said, the latest in a series of killing sprees in the country. The man, identified only by his surname He, attacked “several” people on a street in the city, police said on a verified Sina Weibo account. Three people were killed and three wounded, they said, adding they were investigating his motives. The wounded were being treated in hospital. He, 41, from Jieyang in Guangdong Province, was subdued by officers who arrived at the scene three minutes after the first reports were received, and was taken to hospital after being wounded himself, police said. On Friday, 11 nursing home patients burned to death in the northeast after one of them set the facility on fire in a row over money, media reports said. On Thursday, a man knifed five people to death and wounded another three in Henan Province over land and business disputes.
INDIA
Princess wins US$$3.3bn
A court has ruled that the daughters of a late maharaja should inherit his 200 billion rupee (US$3.3 billion) estate because his will was forged, ending a 21-year legal battle, reports say. A magistrate in the northwestern city of Chandigarh ruled last Thursday that the will of the Maharaja of Faridkot had been faked to award his fortune to a trust managed by his servants and lawyers. Neither his wife, mother, nor daughters were named as beneficiaries of his assets, which included forts, a palace, vintage cars and prime property in the capital, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Vikas Jain, a lawyer representing Amrit Kaur, one of his two daughters, announced the verdict on Sunday, saying that the will had been declared as “fictitious” and “void.” The fortune will be shared with his other daughter.
MEXICO
Vice admiral slain
Gunmen ambushed and killed one of the nation’s highest ranking navy officials and the officer escorting him on Sunday in the state of Michoacan, authorities said. Two other people were injured. The state prosecutors’ office said the attack on Vice Admiral Carlos Miguel Salazar happened on a dirt road near the town of Churintzio. Salazar was the top naval commander in the Pacific coastal state of Jalisco. A spokesman for Michoacan attorney general’s office said Salazar’s driver apparently took the dirt road because the main highway had been closed. In between two villages, men armed with high-powered rifles opened fire on the car. Helicopters of the army, navy and federal police, and more than 200 security officers and emergency workers converged on the scene after the shooting.
LIBYA
Benghazi blasts injure 13
Two powerful explosions went off near a courthouse in Benghazi late on Sunday, wounding 13 people, security and medical sources said. The blasts came a day after 1,117 inmates escaped during a prison riot in the city. Mohamed Hijazi, spokesman for the security services in Benghazi, said two suitcase bombs had caused the blasts. They went off as people gathered to break the Ramadan fast. Local residents said nearby buildings were badly damaged in the blast. At least one soldier was killed in overnight fighting in the city between an armed group and military special forces, a security official said yesterday.
ITALY
At least 31 migrants drown
Thirty-one people are believed to have died while trying to reach the island of Lampedusa, the latest tragedy to occur on the perilous sea crossing between north Africa and Europe. Survivors of the journey from Libya reportedly told authorities that the rubber dinghy in which they were traveling capsized on Friday evening, and more than half of its 53 passengers drowned. They said nine of the dead were women, the Ansa news agency reported. The 22 people rescued were from a variety of west African countries including Nigeria, Benin, Gambia and Senegal.
ITALY
Tuxedoed man robs shops
A thief decided to carry out his crime in style by holding up two shops at gunpoint wearing an elegant blue tuxedo, local newspapers reported on Sunday. The man, who was about 30 years old, according to witnesses, committed the heists on Saturday before making his escape on a scooter with a booty of just under 1,000 euros ($1,300), the reports said. Employees at the Eurospin and Lidl shops in the Rome suburb of Torre Spaccata said the thief looked very elegant, but the outfit was a poor disguise, especially considering the current heat wave in Rome. “We were robbed about a month ago as well. The check-out girl knew something was up this time because the man was wearing a tuxedo and a scarf, which is not the sort of thing you wear when it’s 40 degrees in the shade,” an employee at Lidl told Il Tempo daily.
UNITED STATES
Turtle gets Facebook page
A two-headed turtle hatched at the San Antonio Zoo on June 18 has become so popular that she has her own Facebook page. Zoo officials say the Texas cooter, named after the leading characters in the 1991 Oscar-winning film Thelma and Louise, has been doing well. Spokeswoman Debbie Rios-Vanskike said the turtle eats and swims, and added that the two heads — named Louise Left and Thelma Right — get along.
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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