CHINA
Suspects arrested for blast
Authorities have detained “several” suspects in the wake of an explosion at a chemical plant that left 19 dead and injured 12, state media said yesterday. The blast occurred at 6:30pm on Thursday at an industrial park in Yibin, Sichuan Province, a statement on the Web site of the local work safety administration said. Photographs on a local news Web site showed what appeared to be the burned-out shell of a building surrounded by rubble. The building was owned by chemical manufacturer Yibin Hengda Technology Co, which was “conducting illegal construction at the plant, which had not passed safety and fire control checks,” Xinhua news agency said late on Friday, citing local authorities. The Ministry of Emergency Management has sent a team to further investigate the cause of the explosion, Xinhua added.
DR CONGO
Not guilty Bemba to run
Former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba has been declared an opposition party candidate for the December presidential election after being acquitted of war crimes charges in an appeal with the International Criminal Court. Bemba on Friday accepted the candidacy from his Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) party by telephone from Brussels, where he was released days after the court overturned his 18-year sentence. He is awaiting his diplomatic passport so he can return to the country. Bemba had encouraged his party to make him the candidate for a coalition of opposition parties. The court in 2016 found Bemba guilty as a military commander of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes with a campaign of murder, rape and pillaging by his MLC troops in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.
SPAIN
Fastest bull run injures six
Health officials yesterday said the final bull run of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona has left six people injured in the fastest dash this year in the northern city. Tomas Belzunegui, a spokesman with Navarra’s provincial hospital, said the six were bruised after being trampled as the bulls completed the 850m course along cobbled streets in 2 minutes, 12 seconds. One man was dragged for several meters by a bull after a horn got entangled in his neckerchief; he was taken away on a gurney. The eight bull runs on consecutive days caused injuries to a total of 28 people this year. Two of them were gored. The festival draws about 1 million visitors each year. Dancing, food and alcohol are among the main attractions.
THAILAND
Cave boys to be discharged
A dozen boys and their soccer coach who were rescued from a flooded cave are to be discharged from a hospital next week, Minister of Public Health Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said yesterday. The last group of the 12-member Wild Boars soccer team and their coach was on Tuesday night evacuated from the Tham Luang cave complex, near the border with Myanmar, safely ending a dangerous rescue and evoking international relief and joy. The 12 boys and their coach are recovering both physically and mentally, and are to be discharged from hospital on Thursday, Piyasakol told reporters. “We need to prepare both the children and their families for the attention they will receive when they come out,” he said.
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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