BANGLADESH
Survey to document refugees
Authorities began a survey to determine the number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled persecution in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. About 33,000 Rohingya have been documented in two official camps in the southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar that borders Myanmar, but officials said another 300,000 to 500,000 remain unaccounted for. Bangladeshi Bureau of Statistics began the exercise this week with the help of the Geneva-based International Organization of Migration, survey director Alamgir Hossain said.
INDIA
Bird classification decried
The chief minister of the popular tourist state of Goa yesterday moved to smooth ruffled feathers after a proposal to reclassify the national bird, the peacock, as vermin sparked an outcry. Laxmikant Parsekar appeared to rule out including peacocks in a list of “nuisance animals” being drawn up by the state to make them easier to cull, the Press Trust of India said. After complaints the colorful birds were becoming a widespread menace in rural areas, the Minister for Agriculture suggested including them in a list of vermin along with wild boar, bison and monkeys. The peacock is India’s national bird and is protected under the country’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
INDONESIA
Quake cuts communications
A strong earthquake near an eastern island late on Friday knocked out telephone and radio communications and roads, but there were no reported casualties, local residents and a government official said yesterday. The US Geological Survey said a magnitude 6.5 earthquake at a depth of 30km was reported about 3km from Andekantor, a town on Sumba island in East Nusa Tenggara province. “Not yet,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said yesterday when asked whether there were any casualties. Roads had suffered the most damage local residents said. Nugroho said his agency would continue to monitor the situation.
UNITED STATES
Pakistan F-16 sale approved
The nation on Friday said that it had approved selling up to eight Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Pakistan, along with training, radar and other equipment, worth a total of US$699 million. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which coordinates such foreign arms sales, said it had informed US Congress of the plans on Thursday. “This proposed sale contributes to US foreign policy objectives and national security goals by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner in South Asia,” it said in a statement. “The proposed sale improves Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future security threats.” The F-16 aircraft would allow Pakistan’s air force to operate in all kinds of weather, at night, as well as “enhance Pakistan’s ability to conduct counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations.” Pakistan’s archrival India said it was “disappointed” by the possible sale. “We are disappointed at the decision of the [US President Barack Obama’s] administration to notify the sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan,” Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Twitter. “We disagree with their rationale that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism.” He said India planned to summon the US ambassador “to convey our displeasure.” However, the US agency said that “the proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
Former Chinese ministers of national defense Wei Fenghe(魏鳳和) and Li Shangfu (李尚福) were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday, underscoring the severity of the purge in the military. The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) after coming to power in 2012. The purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023. Earlier this year they escalated further, resulting in the removal of the top general in
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
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