JAPAN
Nation braces for typhoon
The country yesterday braced for a “very strong” typhoon, with authorities warning of high waves, floods and landslides, including in areas hit by deadly flooding earlier this year. Typhoon Jebi, packing winds of up to 252kph, is expected to make landfall on the country’s main island tomorrow, the Meteorological Agency said. “Maintaining its very strong power, the typhoon is forecast to approach western and eastern Japan,” the agency said. The typhoon, which is still hundreds of kilometers away from the country in the Pacific, could be the strongest storm to hit the nation this year, local media said.
UNITED STATES
River boats collide
At least 13 people have been injured and two others are missing after two recreational boats collided on the Colorado River near the California border with Arizona. The vessels collided head-on on Saturday evening, San Bernardino County Fire District spokesman Eric Sherwin said. The force of the crash caused one of the boats to sink and the other sustained heavy damage. He said two people are missing and “presumed submerged.”
CHINA
Protesters arrested
Police yesterday said they arrested nearly 50 people after a violent protest sparked by dissatisfaction with the local school system. More than 600 protesters gathered outside a police station in Leiyang, Hunan Province, at about midnight on Saturday after security personnel stopped a protest earlier in the day, police said in a statement on their Web site. They arrested 46 people who “attacked” the station, throwing bottles and bricks at local officials attempting to address the crowd, they said. Many cars had been destroyed, the statement added.
MEXICO
Hearse stolen with corpse
Police in a central region said they have caught a man who made off with a hearse — complete with a corpse inside. The hearse had been readied to take the body of an 80-year-old man from a hospital in neighboring Guadalajara to a funeral home, the Tlaquepaque Police Department said on Facebook. A 40-year-old man has admitted seeing the keys left in the vehicle and deciding to take it on late Friday night, police said. Officers were alerted and they soon spotted the hearse along a highway and detained the suspect, whose name was given only as Annibal Saul N. He has been turned over to prosecutors, police said on Saturday. Both the hearse and the body were recovered.
BRAZIL
Party insists on Da Silva
The country’s main leftist party on Saturday said that it is sticking with former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as its presidential candidate, even though the electoral court has thrown him off the ballot for an election just five weeks away. Da Silva’s vice presidential running mate, former Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad told reporters that the Workers’ Party will continue pushing to somehow get Da Silva, 72, who easily leads in the polls, back on the ballot. “The people are sovereign regarding the party’s candidate and that candidate is Lula,” Haddad said. The strategy would keep Da Silva in the spotlight until the absolute last minute, perhaps rallying support from backers that could then be transferred to a stand-in, likely Haddad, who is much less popular or charismatic.
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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