CHINA
Explosion kills 15 miners
A gas explosion inside a coal mine in Shanxi Province has killed 15 miners and left another nine injured, authorities said yesterday. The blast occurred on Monday afternoon at a mine operated by Shanxi Pingyao Fengyan Coal and Coke Group in Pingyao County. Rescue work was halted early yesterday morning after everyone was accounted for. The Shanxi provincial work safety administration said that 11 miners had escaped without injury and the cause of the explosion was being investigated.
SOUTH KOREA
Fishing boat catches fire
A fishing boat caught fire in southern waters at about 7am yesterday, killing at least one fisherman and triggering a search for 11 others missing, coast guard officials said. Rescue workers found one of the fishermen unconscious in waters 7.4km south of the boat and airlifted him to a hospital on the nearby island of Jeju, where he was pronounced dead. The coast guard and navy were deploying boats, helicopters and a patrol plane to search the waters near the island for survivors, said Lee Geun-han, an official from the coast guard in Jeju. Six of the boat’s crew are locals, including the man killed, and the others are Vietnamese, Lee said.
SOUTH KOREA
Houthi capture confirmed
Two out of three vessels seized by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on the weekend are South Korean, Seoul officials said yesterday, as are two out of the 16 people captured. The vessels — a dredger being towed by a South Korean and a Saudi-flagged tug — were seized by the Houthis at the southern end of the Red Sea on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Those captured were taken to Salif Port where they were being held by the Houthis, the ministry added. “All of our citizens ... are healthy and safe,” officials said in a statement. Seoul has sent a navy ship, the Cheonghae, which had been on anti-piracy standby off the coast of Oman, to waters near where the accident took place. “We are doing our very best for the early release of our citizens,” the statement added.
INDIA
Avalanche kills six
An avalanche on Monday hit a patrol on the Siachen Glacier, killing four soldiers and two porters, an army spokesman said. The disaster was the latest on the more than 5,000m glacier that is claimed by India and Pakistan. Military spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that the avalanche engulfed eight people in the patrol at the northern end of the glacier in the Karakoram mountain range. Rescue teams managed to dig the patrol members out of the snow, and they were taken by helicopter to hospital.
UNITED STATES
Thieves throw guinea-pig
A Kentucky pet store owner said that two women stole a pair of guinea pigs, lobbing one of the animals at him during their escape. News outlets reported that Isabelle Mason, 21, and Jaimee Pack, 19, on Saturday last week tried to smuggle the animals out of Pet Paradise without paying. Owner Scott Gonyaw told WKYT-TV that he confronted the suspects, screaming: “Give me the guinea pigs!” as they got into a vehicle. One suspect rolled down a window and tossed a four-month-old guinea pig named Lucky onto the concrete. The other ran over Gonyaw’s foot with the car. He said he suffered bruising. Lucky was not injured, but the other guinea pig remains missing.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
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