BRAZIL
Mudslide kills 10 people
Ten people were killed and 11 injured in a mudslide near Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, authorities said. The mudslide in the city of Niteroi was caused by heavy downpours, Rio’s civil defense department head Roberto Robadey told the Globo TV network. People were killed and injured when a large boulder rolled on top of six houses in the Boa Esperanca neighborhood, he said. “It rained a lot over the past two days and a state of alert was declared for Niteroi,” he said. “People were advised of the situation and were recommended to move to safer locations.” However, several families “refused to leave,” Boa Esperanca Residents’ Association president Claudio dos Santos told Globo TV.
SOMALIA
Blast toll reaches 53
Hospital and police sources have said the death toll from Friday’s bombings outside a hotel in Mogadishu has risen to 53, with more than 100 injured. Police Captain Mohamed Hussein said many of the injured suffered horrific wounds, raising fears that death toll could rise further. The figure given by Hussein was consistent with submissions from hospitals. Ahmed Yusuf, a nurse at Madina hospital, said that the city’s hospitals were coping to treat the influx of wounded victims who continued to come in Saturday.
AUSTRALIA
Surfer survives shark attack
A surfer was yesterday bitten on the leg by a shark off a beach on the west coast, authorities said, the latest in a spate of attacks that saw another man killed. The surfer, aged in his 20s, was on his board at Pyramids Beach south of Perth in Western Australia when the attack happened, a fisheries official told reporters. A witness told news site WA Today that the man was with another surfer in the water when a large school of salmon swam past them and the shark alarm went off. “He had been attacked on the lower part of the leg, with a couple of meaty bites,” said Damian Baker, who was watching from the shore.
EGYPT
Cat sarcophagi found
Seven sarcophagi, some dating back more than 6,000 years, have been discovered at a site on the edge of the pyramid complex in Saqqara, south of the capital, Cairo, archeology officials announced on Saturday. Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany said the discovery was made by an Egyptian archeological mission during excavation work that started in April. Three of the tombs had been used for cats, he said, while one of four other sarcophagi discovered at the site belonged to Khufu-Imhat, overseer of the buildings in the royal palace. The mission had also unearthed the first mummies of scarabs to be found in the area, Supreme Council of Antiquities head Mostafa Waziri said.
GREECE
Human traffickers caught
Police said they have arrested two Pakistani migrant traffickers operating from Turkey. Police nabbed the suspects, 23 and 26, on Friday as they carried nine migrants from Pakistan and one from Bangladesh across a river separating Greece and Turkey, police said. The two suspects had just landed their small boat on the Greek side, police added. Across the river, about 80 migrants were waiting to be transported by the same boat, they added. Police on Saturday said the traffickers were operating out of Turkey and were previously unknown to them.
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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