JAPAN
Whisky arrives at ISS
An uncrewed Japanese cargo ship loaded with supplies — including local whisky — docked at the International Space Station (ISS) early yesterday, officials said. However, astronauts will have to keep their hands off the tipple — it is a science experiment. Drinks giant Suntory sent the booze to space so it could test how time in a zero-gravity environment affects its flavor. The delivery also included food, water, clothing, tools and parts for a water recycling system.
PHILIPPINES
‘Hand of God’ unjams traffic
An 83-year-old retired Catholic cardinal on Sunday came to the rescue of thousands of stranded motorists after single-handedly untangling a traffic jam during a typhoon. Gaudencio Rosales took matters into his own hands as he traveled a rain-lashed highway near Manila to help settle a traffic dispute. “We were trapped for over an hour and we were rushing to another engagement. I said to myself: ‘We cannot take this anymore,’” Rosales said yesterday. He zipped up his raincoat and walked nearly a kilometer to find out what was causing the 1.6km-long snarl. He found six drivers fighting over two lanes. So he used hand signals to force the vehicles to back up, freeing up the jam. After the drivers saw a giant crucifix peeking out of Rosales’ jacket, they got out of their vehicles to kiss his ring before driving off.
NEW ZEALAND
Fraud suspect found dead
A 58-year-old man facing fraud charges yesterday died in his Auckland hotel room, but sparked wider alarm after authorities said they found a brew of toxic gas inside. Assistant Area Fire Commander David Woon said firefighters responded to complaints of a smell similar to rotten eggs coming from the third floor of the Hotel Grand Chancellor, where they found a note on the man’s door warning there was toxic gas inside the room. That led to a partial evacuation of the hotel and a callout of hazardous material experts before the hotel room was eventually deemed safe. Police named dead man as Mark Lawrence Ivil, who was due to make an appearance in court yesterday.
BANGLADESH
Court temporarily bans film
The High Court has imposed a six-month ban on the screening of a movie about a garment worker who was rescued from the rubble 17 days after a five-story factory complex collapsed more than two years ago, killing more than 1,000 people. A two-member panel of judges on Monday ordered the ban on the film Rana Plaza after a petition was submitted alleging that the movie has scenes of horror, cruelty and violence that could negatively affect workers in the nation’s garment industry. The Rana Plaza collapsed in 2013, killing 1,135 people. Thousands more were rescued from the ruins of the illegally built complex.
THAILAND
Tourism unhurt by bombing
The government yesterday insisted the tourist industry was unaffected by last week’s bombing of the Erawan shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people, saying visitor numbers remained “at a normal level.” “The number of tourists in prominent tourist attractions both in Bangkok and other provinces is still high,” junta spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said in a daily broadcast, without giving any numbers. “The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has further reported that the statistics of foreign tourists travelling into Thailand is at the normal level. No arrests have been made over the bombing.
NETHERLANDS
Russia to pay redress: panel
An international arbitration panel on Monday announced that Russia must compensate the Netherlands for breaching an international treaty regulating the laws of the sea by seizing a Greenpeace ship protesting at an oil platform in Arctic waters. The Arctic Sunrise, sailing under a Dutch flag, was seized by Russian authorities in September 2013 during a protest against an offshore oil platform and the 30 people on board were arrested and detained in Russian prisons for months.
GUATEMALA
Baldetti took bribes: officials
Prosecutors on Monday said that former vice president Roxana Baldetti accepted US$3.7 million in bribes as part of a customs corruption scandal that forced her from office and has shaken the government of President Otto Perez Molina. Judge Miguel Angel Galvez noted the prosecutors’ statements were not formal accusations. “The only thing they are doing in legal terms is to state that there is a reasonable suspicion,” he said. Prosecutors said Baldetti, who resigned on May 8, pocketed 50 percent of the bribes funneled to a chain of officials who helped businesses evade import duties.
CANADA
Plane crash leaves six dead
Six people, including a French tourist and four Britons, died in a floatplane crash in Quebec province on Sunday, officials said on Monday. The French victim, Emilie Delaitre, born in 1987, was visiting the country with her aunt and uncle, who did not board the airplane with her, the French consulate said. The four British victims of the crash have not been identified.
SAUDI ARABIA
Executions top 175: report
The government has executed at least 175 people over the past 12 months, on average of one person every two days, according to a report by Amnesty International released yesterday. The 43-page report titled Killing in the Name of Justice: The Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia said that between January 1985 and June this year, at least 2,208 people were executed in the kingdom. Amnesty said almost half of those executed over the past 30 years were foreign nationals, many of whom lack the Arabic-language skills to understand court proceedings and charges.
BRAZIL
Government to cut ministries
The government is to sharply pare back the number of ministries after years of expansion, the administration said on Monday. Minister of Planning Nelson Barbosa said the government is to cut 10 of its 39 ministries to make the state more efficient, but did not specify how much the government could save. He said the government is to reveal more details on Monday next week. The reduction of the Cabinet posts could further complicate Rousseff’s relations with political parties of her unwieldy alliance in the National Congress.
ZIMBABWE
Lion mauls, kills tour guide
Local tour guide Quinn Swales was mauled to death by a lion at Hwange National Park, the country’s biggest game reserve, while escorting visitors, police said. None of the tourists were injured. Swales, 40, was attacked while tracking a pride of the animals, Zimbabwe Republic Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said by telephone yesterday. “He had spotted six lions, one of which had cubs,” Charamba said. “Initially, he managed to scare the male lion away, but it later charged him.”
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
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
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
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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