MALAYSIA
Penang flooding kills two
At least two people have been killed and almost 2,000 evacuated after a storm triggered serious flooding yesterday in Penang state, with the historic state capital, George Town, under murky brown water. The army was deployed to provide help after a torrential downpour lasting for 15 hours sparked the worst inundations in the state for years. Hundreds of houses were flooded, many trees toppled and roads submerged, disaster officials said. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said 1,968 people were evacuated in four districts, most of them on the mainland. “We remain fearful that there may still be untoward incidents because of the strong winds, the like of which have never experienced before, and flash floods might recur,” Lim said.
PAKISTAN
Smog blankets nation
Smog has enveloped much of the nation and India, causing highway accidents and respiratory problems. Meteorologist Mohammad Hanif yesterday said that the pollution, caused by the burning of crops and emissions from factories and brick kilns, is expected to linger until the middle of the month. Some private schools in the Indian capital, New Delhi, have suspended sports and outdoor activities.
ZIMBABWE
American faces new charge
A court on Saturday refused to strike down subversion charges against a US citizen who now faces 11 days in a Harare jail until her next court hearing. Martha O’Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, which produces political satire, was initially accused of insulting President Robert Mugabe. Lawyers for O’Donovan told the magistrate that police only informed O’Donovan of the more serious charges hours after her arrest, thereby violating the constitution. However, the magistrate said she was satisfied the officers complied with the law and dismissed the application. The charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail. O’Donovan denies the charges.
UNITED STATES
Manafort offers higher bail
Paul Manafort, who briefly served as President Donald Trump’s campaign manager last year, on Saturday offered to post more than US$12 million in real estate and life insurance assets and to limit his travel in a bid to avoid continued house arrest, according to court documents filed on Saturday. Manafort and associate Richard Gates last week pleaded not guilty to a 12-count indictment by a federal grand jury. Manafort has offered to limit his travel to New York, Washington and Florida and pledged life insurance worth about US$4.5 million as well as about US$8 million in real estate assets. He faces a bail hearing today. Manafort and Gates are under house arrest, under unsecured bonds of US$10 million and US$5 million respectively, and subject to electronic monitoring.
VENEZUELA
Lawmaker seeks refuge
Top opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara on Saturday requested Chile’s protection after the Supreme Court said he would be prosecuted on charges punishable by a decade in prison. Guevara, 31, is the No. 2 official in the opposition-led National Assembly, and on Friday he sought refuge at Chile’s embassy in Caracas. Chile said he is a “guest” at its ambassador’s residence. He is the sixth Venezuelan to seek protection at the embassy in under three months, including four judges who are already protected in Chile and a fifth who has been at the diplomatic residence since April.
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
ICE DISPUTE: The Trump administration has sought to paint Good as a ‘domestic terrorist,’ insisting that the agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense Thousands of demonstrators chanting the name of the woman killed by a US federal agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, took to the city’s streets on Saturday, amid widespread anger at use of force in the immigration crackdown of US President Donald Trump. Organizers said more than 1,000 events were planned across the US under the slogan “ICE, Out for Good” — referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is drawing growing opposition over its execution of Trump’s effort at mass deportations. The slogan is also a reference to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother shot dead on Wednesday in her
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