COLOMBIA
Three bodies found in river
Three bodies were recovered on Wednesday after a ship that set out from Venezuela went down in the Orinoco River, authorities said, with seven people still missing. A navy unit located the bodies of two Venezuelan men and a woman whose identity was still being confirmed. The boat capsized with 18 people onboard due to rapidly rising water caused by heavy rains, and just as another boat came to the rescue, a civil defense spokesman said. Eight people were rescued on Tuesday. Seasonal variations in river levels often are significant and it is not unusual for swells to tip over small boats.
INDONESIA
Man kills snake on train
A man who used his bare hands to kill a snake that was discovered slithering on a busy commuter train has become an Internet hero. The train made an emergency stop after the reptile was spotted lurking on a baggage rack in a carriage headed to Jakarta from Bogor, south of the capital. Smartphone footage, which quickly went viral, showed the bespectacled man casually snatch the snake’s tail and then smash its head on the floor in a violent whipping motion. The creature was apparently killed instantly as shocked spectators — including a baton-wielding security officer — kept their distance. The unidentified man, wearing a backpack, then tossed the limp body of the snake, which appeared to be about 1m long, out the door to waiting security staff. It is not clear what kind of serpent it was, nor whether it was venomous. No injuries to passengers were reported. Train operator KCI said the reptile is thought to have slithered out from a passenger’s bag. “We regret the incident and apologize to train travelers who were disturbed by it,” spokeswoman Eva Chairunnisa said.
JAPAN
Capsized ship’s crew found
The crew of a trawler found capsized in remote Pacific waters have been located safe and well in the Philippines, the US Coast Guard said yesterday. The abandoned Gyotoku Maru No. 1 was found drifting 350km southwest of Palau on Monday after it send an emergency signal. With no word on the fate of the seven-man crew — five Indonesians and two Japanese — a major international search effort was launched. The coast guard said the trawler had collided with another fishing vessel, which then rescued the stricken sailors and took them to the Philippines. “We’re incredibly relieved these men are safe and back on dry land,” search coordinator Lieutenant Commander Josh Empen said. Empen thanked those involved in the search, which included vessels from Japan and Palau, as well as US ships and airplanes based in Guam.
UNITED STATES
Celebrity mementos on sale
Handwritten lyrics by Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson, and rapper Tupac Shakur’s original death certificate are just some of more than 1,100 celebrity memorabilia items being sold in an online auction. Several dozen letters Shakur wrote while in prison to a friend are also up for sale. The handwritten lyrics being sold are for Like A Rolling Stone first released by Dylan in 1965, and for Jackson’s 1982 Billie Jean. Other top lots include a human skull signed by surrealist artist Salvador Dali. The estimated prices of the lots vary from several hundred to tens of thousands of US dollars. The auction is being held until Friday next week.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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