UNITED KINGDOM
Hoax call to be investigated
The government said it was reviewing security procedures after a hoax caller claiming to be the director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) eavesdropping agency was put through to British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday. In a separate hoax call to GCHQ, also on Sunday, a mobile phone number for GCHQ director Robert Hannigan was given out. The government said the number provided is not used for calls involving classified information. “In neither instance was sensitive information disclosed,” a spokeswoman for Cameron’s office, No. 10 Downing Street, said in a statement. “Both GCHQ and No. 10 take security seriously and both are currently reviewing procedures following these hoax calls to ensure that the government learns any lessons from this incident.”
NETHERLANDS
Man with knives shot dead
Police on Sunday shot dead a man wielding a knife, who tried to stab pedestrians outside an art museum in the northern city of Groningen. The shooting happened at about 5:30pm outside the university city’s Groninger Museum, when the man threatened bystanders with a number of large knives, police spokesman Ernest Zinsmeyer said. “When police approached the man, he fled. Officers fired a warning shot, but the man tried to stab bystanders as he ran away and police shot him,” he said. The man then fell into a canal near the museum and was pronounced dead by the time police retrieved him from the water. Zinsmeyer said the suspect had not yet been identified and his motives were unknown. He said although a terror attack could not be ruled out, it was unlikely. As in other nations, police have been on high alert since a series of Islamic terror attacks left 17 people dead in Paris earlier this month.
VENEZUELA
Opposition leader visit foiled
Authorities have blocked former Colombian president Andres Pastrana and former Chilean president Sebastian Pinera from visiting jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. The former Latin American leaders traveled this weekend to participate in a pro-democracy event organized by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s opponents. As part of their visit, the two conservative leaders on Sunday tried to visit Lopez in a military prison where he has been held for the past 11 months, accused of instigating violence in anti-government protests last year. After being informed by prison guards that their entrance was not authorized, Pastrana said Lopez’s basic human rights to receive visit from friends and family was being denied. Maduro on Friday accused the former presidents of having “blood on their hands” for allegedly supporting extremist groups trying to oust him.
AUSTRALIA
PM knights Prince Philip
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismissed criticism of his decision to make the husband of Queen Elizabeth II an Australian knight, saying that Prince Philip has a long history of service in Australia. Abbott’s announcement yesterday that the Duke of Edinburgh would be awarded Australia’s highest honor came on Australia’s national holiday, prompting questions over the wisdom of knighting an English royal on a day meant to commemorate Australians. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said the holiday was supposed to be about Australian identity, not British royalty. However, Abbott insisted the prince was a good friend of Australia and therefore a good candidate for the nation’s knighthood.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
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