AUSTRALIA
Authorities find MDMA haul
Authorities have uncovered almost half a tonne of the illicit drug MDMA concealed inside an excavator imported from the UK, they said yesterday. An investigation launched in March unearthed 226 plastic bags of the drug, commonly known as ecstacy or molly, amounting to 448kg. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) estimated the street value of the find at up to A$79 million (US$59.75 million). “The group thought that hiding drugs in machinery and consigning it to a legitimate auction house would be an innocuous way to avoid detection into Australia and, indeed, they were very wrong in that assumption,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said.
UNITED STATES
Pornhub loses credit cards
Visa and Mastercard on Thursday said they would no longer process payments to Pornhub after US media reported the site hosts videos depicting child sex abuse and rape. The New York Times said the pornography Web site includes “many” videos depicting “child abuse and nonconsensual violence” among the 6.8 million new videos posted each year, and that because Pornhub users can download videos directly from the site, images of abuse could be reposted repeatedly. Pornhub called the decisions “exceptionally disappointing.” The company earlier this week announced it would only allow “properly identified users to upload content,” and banned downloads.
ETHIOPIA
Aid group staffer killed
A staff member of an international aid group has been killed in a conflict in the Tigray region, it said yesterday. The International Rescue Committee said that “communication with the area is extremely difficult and we are still working to gather and confirm the details surrounding the events that led to the death of our colleague” in the Hitsats refugee camp in Shire. Thousands of people, including civilians, are thought to have been killed in the fighting, which began on Nov. 4 and has threatened to destabilize the Horn of Africa.
RUSSIA
Deaths rise by 50,000
The number of deaths from all causes in October rose by nearly 50,000 from the previous year, the country’s statistics agency said on Thursday. Rosstat reported that 205,500 people died in Russia in October, a rise of 47,800 on October last year. It did not give any explanation for the excess mortality, but said that 22,761 people died who were either among confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, including 11,630 cases where the primary cause of death was COVID-19. From April to the end of October, excess mortality in Russia stands at almost 165,000 deaths compared to a year earlier. Since the start of the pandemic, only 45,280 deaths from COVID-19 have been officially recorded.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
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