INDIA
Child porn ring leader arrested
Indian police on Thursday arrested a student on charges of running an international child pornography network through a messaging app, an official said. Detectives from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided multiple locations across the country and arrested the 20-year-old administrator of a WhatsApp group at his home in the city of Kannuaj in northern Uttar Pradesh state. The group run by the student had more than 115 members from at least 18 countries, including the US, Mexico, Kenya, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and New Zealand. “We arrested the administrator of the WhatsApp group and recovered computer hardware and mobiles phones used to upload and store the videos and pictures,” a CBI official said. India has stringent laws against child pornography, and authorities have tried to crack down on abuses in recent years.
RWANDA
Refugees protest food cuts
At least five refugees were killed and 20 injured at a camp in Rwanda after a protest over a cut in food rations turned violent, Rwandan police said yesterday. Seven policemen were also injured. About 3,000 refugees had camped outside UN offices at the camp since Tuesday. Police on Thursday tried to disperse them using teargas, police spokesman Theos Badege told state radio. “We used force ... yesterday afternoon after warning that security forces would be used,” he said. The refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo had left their camp in Kiziba and walked 15km to Karongi, in western Rwanda, to protest against a 25 percent cut implemented last month in rations provided by the UN refugee agency. The World Food Programme had warned of more cuts if monthly requirements of US$2.5 million were not met.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
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