INDIA
Cyclone hits Lakshadweep
Cyclone Ockhi yesterday barreled into the southwestern Lakshadweep Islands after drenching the neighboring states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, claiming at least 14 lives with many fishermen still feared trapped at sea. Authorities including the National Disaster Management Authority, the coast guard and navy have rescued about 223 fishermen and evacuated thousands of people from cyclone-hit areas, officials said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, assuring him of support operations, including emergency funds, local media reported. Ockhi was forecast to travel north toward Mumbai and Gujarat in the next 48 hours, India Meteorological Department Director S. Sudevan said, but added that it is likely to lose intensity.
UNITED KINGDOM
NCSC warns over Kaspersky
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on Friday warned government agencies to avoid using anti-virus software from Russian companies, the latest in a series of moves targeting Moscow-based security software maker Kaspersky Lab. In a letter to departmental permanent secretaries, NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin said Russian-made anti-virus software should not be used in systems containing information that would harm national security if it was accessed by the Russian government. He said the agency is in talks with Kaspersky Lab to develop a system to review its products for use in the nation. Kaspersky’s anti-virus software was banned from US government networks earlier this year over concerns the company has close ties to intelligence agencies in Moscow and that its software could be used to enable Russian spying. Kaspersky Lab said in a statement that it looked forward to working with the agency on the issue.
UNITED STATES
Do-gooders stop erratic car
Police said two Good Samaritans used their cars to stop a suspected drunken driver swerving all over a Pennsylvania highway. State police said the driver was traveling west on Interstate 76 in Butler County, north of Pittsburgh, at about 10pm on Thursday, when two people in separate vehicles saw him seemingly unable to keep his car in the lane and nearly hit a concrete barrier. Police said they managed to use their vehicles to box in the driver and bring him safely to a stop on the shoulder in North Sewickley Township. Frank Ray Blackmon, 53, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, police said. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the charge is pending lab results. Police said his license has been suspended.
UNITED STATES
Mom jailed for fastening son
A woman accused of taping her two-year-old son to a wall so she could get housework done and streaming it live on social media has been sentenced to nine months in prison. Prosecutors said 19-year-old Shayla Rudolph was on Friday sentenced for attempted child endangerment. She was indicted in January on charges of child endangerment and abduction, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in October. Her attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Prosecutors said the video streamed live on Jan. 1 showed the crying boy with his arms, head and ankles taped to the wall of their Reynoldsburg home in suburban Columbus, Ohio. Prosecutors said the boy’s mouth was covered by tape. Authorities said a TV station contacted police after receiving a copy of the video from an anonymous tipster.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
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