THAILAND
Power line aids cave rescue
Electricians extended a power line into a flooded cave in northern Thailand to help the search and rescue efforts for 12 boys and their soccer coach stranded three nights in the sprawling caverns and cut off by rising water. Rescuers led by elite navy divers were forced to suspend their search on Monday night due to flooding, but were to resume yesterday. Officials said the power line would provide lights and ventilation for the rescuers and could help pump out water.
JAPAN
Man stabs policeman
Two people, including a policeman, were killed yesterday in Japan, when a man stabbed the officer and grabbed his gun in a rare violent crime, officials said. The attacker had stabbed the officer with what appeared to be a knife at a police station in central Toyama Prefecture, then grabbed his gun and fled the scene, a police spokesman said. “But police caught the man afterwards,” the spokesman said, adding that the officer, 46-year-old Kenichi Inaizumi, was confirmed dead at a hospital. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirmed that two people died in the incident, but the identity of the second victim was not immediately known. Police said the attacker and Shinichi Nakamura, a 69-year-old security guard, were also injured in the incident. According to public broadcaster NHK, the attacker shot Nakamura.
UNITED KINGDOM
Heathrow runway passed
British MPs on Monday overwhelmingly approved long-awaited plans to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest airport, after decades of debate over its potential impact. Lawmakers, by a wide margin of 296 votes, backed expansion proposals agreed earlier this month by Prime Minister Theresa May’s government, overcoming vehement opposition from MPs with constituencies nearby where residents fear increased pollution and noise. The government argues that the ￡14 billion (US$18.5 billion) plan would provide a major boost to Britain’s post-Brexit economy and could create up to 114,000 local jobs by 2030.
UNITED STATES
Bases to house migrants
President Donald Trump’s administration has chosen an army base and an air force base in Texas to house detained migrants swept up in the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration, several defense officials said on Monday. The Pentagon had been asked to be prepared to shelter as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children, it said last week. Under the arrangement, the Defense Department would provide the land but the operations would be run by other agencies.
UNITED STATES
Locklear attacks police, EMT
Actress Heather Locklear has been arrested on suspicion of fighting with first responders for the second time this year, authorities said on Monday. Locklear appeared extremely intoxicated when deputies arrived at her Southern California home at about 11pm on Sunday to investigate a dispute between her and either family members or friends, Ventura County Sheriff’s Captain Garo Kuredjian said. Locklear kicked one of the deputies then kicked a paramedic who was called to evaluate her because of her intoxication, Kuredjian said. Locklear was released Monday morning on US$20,000 bail. The 56-year-old was among the biggest television stars of the 1980s and 1990s, with roles on Dynasty, T.J. Hooker and Melrose Place.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
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
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
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