HONDURAS
‘Indignados’ demand change
Thousands of people protested in Tegucigalpa on Friday, the latest in a series of marches calling for an investigation into President Juan Orlando Hernandez over allegations of massive corruption. Two separate marches eventually joined near the president’s palace, where scores of hunger-striking protesters known as indignados (the indignant) — have been camped out in tents. “Get out JOH!” demonstrators chanted on Friday, using the president’s initials. Some protesters carried torches, while others held banners showing Hernandez in a prison uniform under the word “corrupt.” Massive crowds have been marching since May against Hernandez, who is accused of receiving government money illegally in his 2013 presidential campaign. Hernandez admitted his conservative ruling National Party had accepted US$94,000 that had been misappropriated from social security funds.The opposition charges that more than US$300 million was skimmed from Honduras’ public health system.
UNITED STATES
Plane crashes in Alaska
A plane crash in southeast Alaska left one person dead and four others injured, the coast guard said on Friday. The four were transported by helicopter to a hospital in Juneau. One patient was listed in serious condition while another was in critical condition. Juneau police said they received a 911 call about 1:30pm on Friday from a person who said they had been involved in a crash on a flight from Juneau to the community of Hoonah. Police said the caller’s name matched that of someone on the aircraft. The Cessna 207 operated by Wings of Alaska was reported missing on Friday afternoon. The company confirmed the plane had been involved in an accident. Coast guard spokesman Grant DeVuyst said authorities, initially thwarted by poor weather and steep, rugged terrain, were able to find a clearing for helicopter hoist operations.
ISRAEL
PM wishes Abbas happy Eid
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have spoken by telephone, a rare exchange amid years of paralyzed peace efforts. Netanyahu’s office said that the Israeli leader wished Abbas a happy Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that caps the fasting month of Ramadan. A statement issued on Friday said Netanyahu told Abbas that Israelis want peace and that Israel would “continue to act toward regional stability.” The Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas told Netanyahu it is important to reach a peace deal next year.
UNITED STATES
Empire State building lit up
New York’s Empire State Building was lit in green late on Friday to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. The green light is to shine until the building closes to the public at 2am, when the building traditionally turns out its lights. The skyscraper has carried out the tradition “for several years now — it is an annual lighting,” a building spokeswoman told reporters. The Empire State Building shines specific colors for a number of religious holidays — pastel shades for Easter, blue and white for Hanukkah and red and green for Christmas. It has also marked a number of events — red, white and blue for the US women’s World Cup victory, rainbow colors for gay Pride Week, and blue, white and purple for World Oceans Day on June 8. The tower is otherwise illuminated in white each night.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
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