HONG KONG
Police make ‘mega bust’
Authorities yesterday said that they have made their largest smuggling bust, seizing goods, including endangered species, worth an estimated US$26.9 million. The smuggling ring operated using speedboats, the government said, adding that four trucks were also impounded in a raid. A 34-year-old man was arrested in the operation that began in June and more details are to be released, it said. Law enforcement descended on the smugglers, who were operating in the New Territories, close to China, on Sept. 23. “In terms of the seizure value, this is the largest smuggling case — whether by air, sea or land — on record for customs officers,” the government said.
INDIA
Swerving bus kills riders
Twelve people were killed in the north yesterday after the bus they were on swerved off the road and hit a truck, police said. The bus driver veered off track to avoid hitting stray cattle on the road, authorities said. The accident occurred in Barabanki District, 40km southwest of Lucknow. Another 32 were injured out of the 60 passengers onboard. There are fears that the number of dead could increase as several passengers sustained critical injuries, Senior Police Officer Yamuna Prasad said.
TURKEY
Paris climate deal ratified
The country’s parliament on Wednesday ratified the Paris climate accord, making it the last G20 country to do so, after holding off for years due to what it saw as injustices in its responsibilities under the pact. The country has been a signatory to the deal since April 2016, but on Wednesday, parliament’s 353 members unanimously voted in favor of ratifying it.
GERMANY
IS women, children return
The country has repatriated eight women who joined the Islamic State (IS) group and 23 children from northern Syria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said overnight from Wednesday to yesterday — it is the biggest such transfer since 2019. “The children are not responsible for their situation... The mothers will have to answer for their acts,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas said in a statement. “Many of them were held in custody on arrival in Germany,” she added.
LIBYA
More bodies wash ashore
At least 17 bodies, likely of Europe-bound migrants, have washed ashore in the west, the Red Crescent said. The bodies were found on Tuesday near the western town of Zawiya, the Red Crescent’s branch in the town said, and were handed over to authorities for burial. The migrants likely drowned. The UN International Organization for Migration has said that more than 1,100 migrants have been reported dead or presumed dead in numerous boat mishaps and shipwrecks off the country’s coast so far this year.
UNITED STATES
Texas abortion ban blocked
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a near-total ban on abortion in Texas in a challenge brought by President Joe Biden’s administration after the Supreme Court had allowed it to go into effect. The action by District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin prevents the state from enforcing the law that prohibits women from obtaining an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, while litigation over its legality continues. The case is part of a fierce legal battle over abortion access in the country, with numerous states pursuing restrictions.
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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