CHINA
Anti-drone laser passes test
Engineers have successfully tested a laser weapon that can shoot down low-flying, slow-moving drones, state media reported yesterday. The Low Altitude Sentinel system can detect a small aircraft within a 2km radius and shoot it down within five seconds, the English-language China Daily said, citing a statement from the China Academy of Engineering Physics. The system is designed to destroy small drones flying below 500m altitude at a speed less than 180kph, the China Daily said. The system could be installed in vehicles and guard against flying objects during major events in urban areas, Xinhua news agency said.
LEBANON
Hezbollah chief rallies Shiites
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah made a rare public appearance on Monday in Beirut, addressing thousands of supporters ahead of the Shiite Ashura commemorations. As he appeared on stage, the crowd seen in a live broadcast on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV station began cheering wildly, as they apparently had not expected to see him. The head of the Shiite militant group usually addresses supporters via video link for fear of assassination by arch-foe Israel and had not been seen in public since July. He called for a large turnout yesterday for the peak of the Shiite festival. “Tomorrow [yesterday] we will prove that we are above any threat, any danger, any challenge,” he said. Nasrallah said his movement would back its main Christian ally, Michel Aoun, in the long-delayed presidential vote. Parliament is tasked by the constitution with selecting a president, a decision that has been put off 14 times as the war in Syria continues to rival blocs.
TURKEY
Erdogan yells at smoker
An Istanbul cafe was fined 6,000 lira (US$2,680) on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan scolded one of its clients for smoking and demanded that the establishment be punished. The sight of Erdogan wagging his finger at the smoker as crowds of onlookers took photographs triggered a backlash on social media, with his opponents seeing it as evidence of an increasingly authoritarian nature. Smoking indoors is banned in public places. “There is a penalty for this,” Erdogan shouted, pointing toward the second floor of the cafe. “That rude man, look at him. The president is telling him [not to smoke], but he is still continuing,” Erdogan told his aides as he continued a stroll through the neighborhood of Esenler after a ceremony for government buildings on Sunday. Responding to the episode, one twitter user wrote “smoking is healthier than fascism,” using a hashtag directed at the president: “#cigarettes are not as harmful as you.”
SOUTH KOREA
Nation’s kids least happy
The country’s children came last in a study on happiness in developed countries, the government said yesterday, citing the stress of the nation’s educational pressure cooker. South Korea ranked at the bottom out of 30 countries in terms of children’s satisfaction with their lives, the Ministry of Health said, followed by Romania and Poland. “The most relevant factor to the children’s life satisfaction is academic stress, followed by school violence, Internet addiction, negligence and cyberviolence,” the ministry said of its survey of more than 4,000 households with children younger than 18. More than half of children aged between 15 and 19 who are suicidal give “academic performance and college entrance” as a reason, National Statistics Korea said.
BULGARIA
Self-immolations continue
A woman set herself on fire outside the presidency on Monday, in an echo of a series of self-immolations in the country last year, authorities said. Television footage showed the woman in flames in central Sofia before her burned body was carried on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance by firefighters. The victim was confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior as a 38-year-old woman from the capital who has an 11-year-old son. She was taken to hospital and put on a respirator ,but sustained 90-percent burns. Numerous witnesses told local media she had set herself ablaze. Her motives were unclear. “We are continuing to fight for her, but burns like these are incompatible with life,” doctor Ognyan Hadzhiyski said. At least six people died after setting themselves alight between February and May last year during protests against rock-bottom living standards and corruption. Seven years after joining the EU, one-quarter of the population lives below the poverty line and a recent poll had 69 percent of Bulgarians considering their country’s situation “unbearable.”
NICARAGUA
Boa startles bus passengers
There have been snakes on a plane, and now there are snakes — or at least one very big one — on a bus. Passengers had a nasty surprise on a bus on Monday when they discovered they were traveling with a boa constrictor that was 2m long, local television reported. The bus made a sudden stop when the reptile was discovered and passengers hailed “the boa hero” — a member of the public — who saw the commotion and tamed the snake by holding its head firmly in his hands for several hours. An animal expert with the government arrived on the scene four hours later, got the snake into a container and took it to a local zoo.
UNITED STATES
Gabbard aids volcano work
She might be a congresswoman, but Representative Tulsi Gabbard is also a reservist in the National Guard, which placed her on active duty to help with a volcanic eruption in her native Hawaii. Gabbard, a military police captain in the Hawaii Army National Guard, has been called up “to support their assistance to Hawai’i County’s response to the ongoing Kilauea lava flow,” her spokeswoman Heather Fluit said on Monday in a statement. “Her activation starts tomorrow [yesterday]” and lasts for an undetermined period of time, Fluit said. Gabbard will join about 80 National Guard soldiers and airmen already on the ground. While on duty, Gabbard will be unable to comment on her official congressional activities, presumably including yesterday’s midterm election for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and for which she is running to keep her seat. Red-hot lava from a slow-erupting volcano has reached a home on Hawaii’s Big Island and is threatening the entire town of Pahoa, on the eastern tip of the island, emergency officials said.
ARGENTINA
President in hospital
President Cristina Fernandez will remain in hospital with an intestinal infection which forced her to call off a meeting with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Fernandez’s office said on Monday. The 61-year-old, who was feverish when admitted on Sunday to the Otamendi Clinic in Buenos Aires, was found to be suffering from sigmoiditis, her doctors said. Kirchner is “stable, remains in hospital under treatment with IV antibiotics, and is under observation,” they added.
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
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
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled
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