CHINA
Capsized tugboat claims 22
Authorities yesterday confirmed that 22 people died in the capsizing of a tugboat with an international team that was on a test voyage in the nation’s east, after rescuers dragged the overturned vessel to shallow waters and scoured it. Four Singaporeans, an Indian, an Indonesian, a Japanese and a Malaysian were among the dead in the accident on the Yangtze River; the 14 other victims were Chinese, state-run Xinhua news agency said. The newly built, 30m Wanshenzhou 67 was on a test voyage on Thursday in the river’s Fubei Channel in Jiangsu Province when it suddenly turned over. The ship’s owner, parts suppliers and engineers were among the 25 people aboard for the test. An official at a Jiangsu maritime search-and-rescue center who declined to give his name confirmed that 22 people were dead.
RUSSIA
Cat aids abandoned infant
A homeless cat has won praise for keeping warm a baby boy who was apparently abandoned in a chilly entryway in the town of Obninsk in the Kaluga region on Saturday last week, a day when temperatures were several degrees centigrade below zero. A local cat by the name of Masha that lived in a cardboard box in the hallway “warmed the baby for several hours with her body,” TV Zvezda channel reported on Thursday. “The residents are certain — if the cat had not taken care of it — the baby would not have had a chance,” TV Zvezda reported. When paramedics arrived and took the baby into the ambulance, Masha ran after them, REN TV reported. Vera Ivanina, a paramedic, told REN TV: “She was so worried about where we were taking the baby. She ran right behind us, meowing. She was really a rational creature.” Police have launched a search for the parents while the healthy boy is being cared for in a hospital.
MYANMAR
Rescue effort set to begin
Trucks are on standby to try to rescue more than 1,000 civilians trapped in two villages in the nation’s north, where fierce fighting broke out between the army and rebels. Gam Aung, a resident in Lone Khin, a town near the fighting in Kachin State, said many people, including children, were seeking refuge in Buddhist monasteries and Christian churches yesterday. There are no injuries reported. Ethnic insurgent spokesman Dawng Hka said soldiers have so far blocked efforts to ferry villagers to safety. There was no immediate comment from the government.
UNITED STATES
‘Doggone’ rug for sale
A rug at a Florida sheriff’s department might have been better suited for an animal shelter. The plush green carpet proudly displayed the crest of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department, emblazoned with its name and a picture of the state of Florida. Unfortunately, it included the words “In Dog We Trust,” rather than “In God We Trust,” the official motto found on US currency and on many government seals. It took workers at the office a few months to notice the typo. Now they are looking to sell the defective floor covering for a good cause. “The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office will not ‘sweep anything under the rug,’” it said in a statement. “Due to extensive inquiries regarding the plans for the ‘doggone’ rug, the Sheriff’s Office has placed the item up for bid and will donate 100 percent of the bid to Canine Estates Incorporated, a local animal rescue,” the sheriff’s department said.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
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