RUSSIA
Cargo on its way to ISS
A rocket has successfully launched an uncrewed cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS), whose crew is anxiously awaiting it after the successive failures of two previous supply missions. A Soyuz-U rocket blasted off as scheduled from Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, placing the Progress M-28M cargo ship into a designated orbit. The previous Progress launch in April ended in failure and on Sunday a US supply mission failed too when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket broke apart shortly after liftoff. The success of yesterday’s launch is essential for the station program, which has relied on Russian spacecraft for ferrying crews after the grounding of the US shuttle fleet. The next station crew’s launch has been pushed back from late May to late this month after April’s failure.
COLOMBIA
Miss Universe will not quit
The reigning Miss Universe said Donald Trump, the beauty pageant’s owner, was “hurtful and unfair” in his comments about Mexican migrants, but Paulina Vega said she would not be giving up her crown. Vega has been under pressure at home and from abroad to renounce her title over Trump accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug traffickers into the US. In her first public comments, Vega said on Thursday that she wanted to join in the chorus of rebukes to Trump, but that she did not plan to resign her crown because the Miss Universe organization does meaningful social work in communities around the world. Many Colombians were outraged by Trump’s remarks and the city government of Bogota withdrew its support for a bid to host the Miss Universe pageant.
NETHERLANDS
More than 200 break curfew
Police in The Hague said yesterday that they had detained more than 200 people overnight for violating terms of a curfew, as unrest in the city continued for a fourth night. Protests in the mostly immigrant Schilderswijk neighborhood began on Monday amid anger over the death of a Caribbean man while in police custody. However, the nighttime disturbances since then have been devoid of any protest message. Residents have asked police and politicians to restore order, while Prime Minister Mark Rutte described young people lighting fireworks and throwing debris at police as “retarded.” Mayor Jozias van Aartsen promised a stronger response. Of 61 people who had been arrested in connection with the unrest through Thursday, police said almost all were teenagers suspected of vandalism. Most of the 200 detained on Thursday night and early yesterday were taken to jail by bus, fined and released to their parents’ custody.
LIBYA
Peace deal sent to Tripoli
UN mediators and the internationally recognized parliament have presented a tentative peace deal to the rival Tripoli leadership, hoping for approval within days. A UN statement said they initialed the agreement at talks in Morocco that ended early yesterday. The fifth draft of the peace deal is the latest of increasingly desperate efforts to restore stability to a nation split by rival governments in the east and west, and warring militias. Delegates of the Tripoli government participated in earlier discussions on the deal. A representative said they would vote tomorrow on the draft. The UN statement said it hoped the response would be positive and that they would “shoulder their responsibility before the Libyan people.” The deal includes a power-sharing agreement and an interim government.
SAMOA
Half-day holiday granted
Samoans have been granted a half-day holiday on Wednesday next week to mark the historic first home rugby Test against New Zealand in Apia. Samoan Prime minister Tuilaepa Sa’lele Malielegaoi, who is also chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union, declared the holiday yesterday, saying “we have to have a half-day. It’s a day where everyone should prepare to support the boys.” Samoans have been clamoring for their government to declare a full national holiday on Wednesday, to ensure as many people as possible can be freed from work or school watch the game which kicks off at 3pm. Only 8,000 fans would fit into Apia Park in the Samoan capital but many more are set to watch on big screens in front of the government buildings in central Apia.
SOUTH KOREA
Explosion kills six
An explosion at a chemical plant in South Korea killed six workers yesterday, officials said. The victims were doing welding work when the blast tore down a waste storage facility at a chemical plant run by Hanwha Chemical Co in the southeastern city of Ulsan, the officials said. The exact cause of the explosion was not immediately known. However, fire officer Kim Jung-sik said that gas trapped inside the storage might have triggered the blast. South Korean media reported the six workers were on top of the storage at the time of the explosion, but fire officials said they could not immediately confirm the reports.
UNITED STATES
Burundi assistance halted
The US suspended security assistance programs in Burundi because of abuses committed by police during political protests in the east African country, the US Department of State said. “Due to the precarious political and security situation in Burundi and the government of Burundi’s unwillingness to engage in good faith efforts to negotiate a solution, the US has today suspended several security assistance programs on which it has cooperated with Burundi,” it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
PHILIPPINES
Magnitude 6.1 quake strikes
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the southern Philippines yesterday, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties after the undersea quake struck at 2:43pm 62km northeast of Surigao city on Mindanao island. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the earthquake occurred at a depth of 26km and was felt on Mindanao’s northeast tip as well as on nearby Leyte island. The Philippines is regularly hit by earhquakes due to its location along the so-called chain of fire of islands of the Pacific Ocean that were created by volcanic activity.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
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