CAMBODIA
Seven girls drown in lake
Seven girls aged between six and 13 years old, drowned yesterday morning when their small wooden boat capsized in a lake in the seaside town of Sihanoukville, police said. The girls were among nine local children enjoying a rowing excursion, Kampong Som Province police chief Chuon Narin said. “They often played at the lake and this time they boarded a small wooden boat, but it was unsteady and capsized,” he said. Another girl and a boy were rescued and sent to hospital, Chuon Narin said. It was not clear whether any of the victims were strong swimmers.
BANGLADESH
Militants to hang for murder
Five militants who murdered a Japanese farmer in a drive-by shooting in 2015 were yesterday sentenced to death. The five members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh were found guilty of murdering Kunio Hoshi in Rangpur in October 2015. Judge Naresh Sarker said the five had murdered Hoshi as part of a “campaign to destabilize the country and smear its image.” Hoshi, 66, was shot dead by a gunman riding on the back of a motorbike on a dirt road outside Rangpur where he was working on a project to grow grass for cattle.
FRANCE
Obama for French president
Posters of former US president Barack Obama have popped up around Paris in what started as a joke by four friends pretending to launch a campaign for Obama ahead of the presidential election. Even though Obama cannot legally run in the two-round April-May election, the jokesters online petition has been signed by more than 40,000 people. The organizers, who came up with idea over beer, said they launched the Web site and began plastering Obama 17 posters around Paris because they were disenchanted with the candidates running in the French election.
BRAZIL
Carnival float collapses
Part of a float has collapsed during Rio de Janeiro’s carnival parade, injuring at least 15 people, doctors at the scene said. The incident, which happened in the early hours yesterday, involved the second float of a popular samba school Unidos da Tijuca. Doctors said that among the 15 injured, two were in serious condition. The parade had to be stopped so the injured could get medical attention. The show was allowed to proceed. On Sunday, a float of samba school Paraiso de Tuiuti crashed and injured at least 20 people, including three reported in serious condition. Following that accident, organizers also decided to proceed with the show.
UNITED STATES
Four killed in plane crash
Four people died and up to five are missing after a small plane crashed into two houses in a residential neighborhood in southern California, authorities said on Monday. The Cessna 310 aircraft crashed “under unknown circumstances” about a 80m northeast of Riverside Municipal Airport, east of Los Angeles, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. The city’s fire chief Michael Moore told reporters that five people were on the plane, which split apart when it hit two homes that authorities believe both had occupants inside. One survivor, a teenage girl, was ejected from the aircraft and survived with minor injuries. A resident found in one of the burning homes remained in a “very critical” condition as of Monday, Moore said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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