INDIA
Gas leak prompts evacuation
Thirty students at a school were yesterday hospitalized complaining of breathlessness and eye irritation following a gas leak from a fuel tanker, witnesses said. More than 100 students were evacuated from the Rani Jhansi school in the capital, New Delhi, media said. It was not clear what had caused the leak and no further details were immediately available. “Some students complained of irritation in eyes and throat due to the gas leak,” a school official told reporters.
PERU
Investigation targets Humala
The national prosecutor’s office on Friday said it has opened an investigation into allegations of “crimes against humanity” related to the military’s fight against leftist guerrillas in the 1990s, in a case involving former president Ollanta Humala. The investigation comes as testimony from two new witnesses suggests that soldiers under Humala’s command at the Madre Mia military base tortured and murdered civilians. Humala was an army officer during Peru’s bloody campaign against Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path in the 1980s and 1990s. Humala has publicly denied the allegations. A previous probe into the alleged human rights violations was shelved in 2009 for lack of evidence. However, leaked transcripts of recorded telephone conversations published in local media over the past few weeks appear to suggest Humala bribed torture victims to alter their testimony, which he has also denied.
UNITED STATES
Cassini finds ‘the big empty’
The uncrewed Cassini spacecraft, after completing two passes in the vast, unexplored area between Saturn’s rings, has discovered not much else there, researchers at NASA said. Scientists have been surprised to find that not all that much — not even space dust — lies between Saturn’s iconic rings. Cassini late last month made a first pass to explore what lies between the rings and a second one on Tuesday at a speed of about 123,920kph relative to the planet. “The region between the rings and Saturn is ‘the big empty,’ apparently,” Jet Propulsion Laboratory Cassini project manager Earl Maize said after the probe’s first pass. The gap between the rings and the top of Saturn’s atmosphere is about 2,400km. Cassini is expected to make a total of 22 dives between the rings and the planet before making a death plunge into the gas giant in September.
VANUATU
Storm damage assessed
The government yesterday began assessing the damage after the nation was pounded by destructive winds from Cyclone Debbie, which brought down houses and buildings. The eye of the category three cyclone veered away from the nation before making landfall, but National Disaster Management Office Director Shadrack Welegtabit said winds in excess of 200kph wreaked havoc in outlying islands. “The cyclone has passed through and we have now started our response, doing an assessment of the damage and what people need,” he told reporters. “It did not make landfall, but the gale force winds affected some islands. There was damage to houses and buildings, but we haven’t had any reports of injuries.” A curfew was imposed in many of the populated islands on Friday, with residents taking shelter in caves and evacuation centers until the storm passed. Although Donna was tracking west toward New Caledonia, the nation was warned to expect “damaging gale force winds and very rough seas” for another 24 hours.
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
POST-UPRISING: Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmakers were yesterday expected to formally elect Tarique Rahman as their leader and new head of government Bangladesh’s prime minister-to-be Tarique Rahman and lawmakers were yesterday sworn into parliament, becoming the first elected representatives since a deadly 2024 uprising. Rahman is set to take over from an interim government that has steered the country of 170 million people for 18 months since the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown. The lawmakers, who promised loyalty to Bangladesh, were sworn in by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lawmakers are expected to formally elect Rahman as their leader, with President Mohammed Shahabuddin then to administer the oath of office to the prime minister and his ministers
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
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