CAMBODIA
Prince Ranariddh dies at 77
Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former prime minister and the son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, died on Sunday in France, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith announced on Facebook. The prince was 77. Khieu Kanharith, who said he learned of the death from Um Daravuth, a minor member of Cambodia’s royal family, did not give the cause of death. Ranariddh had been in ill health since an auto accident in 2018. An aide to Ranariddh who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Ranariddh traveled to Paris in late 2019 for medical treatment of a broken pelvis. Ranariddh’s career was always in the shade of his charismatic father, Sihanouk, and his wily and ruthless political rival, Prime Minister Hun Sen, with whom he shared power before being pushed aside.
PERU
Large quake shakes north
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Sunday struck the north, destroying buildings including a church tower, injuring at least 10 people and sending shock waves across the region. The quake hit at 5:52am at a depth of 131km, the Geophysical Institute of Peru said. Civil Defense authorities said at least 10 people were injured, while 75 houses were destroyed. The quake also caused damage in neighboring Ecuador. The epicenter was 98km east of the small town of Santa Maria de Nieva in the Amazon — a sparsely populated area inhabited by indigenous people. “The movement has been immense,” the town’s mayor, Hector Requejo, told RPP radio. He said some wood and adobe houses had collapsed. The 14-meter tower of a colonial-era church collapsed in the La Jalca district, also in the Amazon. Widespread power outages were reported and roads were cut off by rocks unearthed by the tremor.
UNITED STATES
No governor bid for actor
Matthew McConaughey would not run for governor of Texas “at this moment,” the Oscar-winning actor said on Sunday, after months of speculation that he would make the leap into politics. The 52-year-old’s political ambitions had caused excitement in liberal circles, and particularly among Texans appalled by Governor Greg Abbott, who signed a highly restrictive law banning most abortions. “As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership,” the rom-com heartthrob turned serious actor said in a video posted online. “It’s a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I am choosing not to take at this moment.” Polls had shown McConaughey would fare better against Abbott than Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic former presidential candidate who formally entered the race earlier this month.
THE NETHERLANDS
Pair fleeing quarantine found
Border police on Sunday said they arrested a couple on a plane after they fled a quarantine hotel where passengers from South African flights who tested positive for COVID-19 were staying. The drama came after authorities said that 61 people who arrived on two flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Friday had tested positive for the disease, 13 of them with the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. One of the members of the couple had tested positive for COVID-19 and went into isolation, while the other was negative, but in quarantine, Public health authority spokeswoman Stefanie van Waardenburg said. Both were back in isolation, but not at the same hotel, she added.
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
Dozens of residents have evacuated remote islands in southern Japan that have been shaken by nearly 1,600 earthquakes in recent weeks, the local mayor said yesterday. There has been no major physical damage on hardest-hit Akuseki island, even after a magnitude 5.1 quake that struck overnight, said Toshima Mayor Genichiro Kubo, who is based on another island. However, the almost nonstop jolts since June 21 have caused severe stress to area residents, many of whom have been deprived of sleep. Of the 89 residents of Akuseki, 44 had evacuated to the regional hub of Kagoshima by Sunday, while 15 others also left another
CEREMONY EXPECTED: Abdullah Ocalan said he believes in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons, and called on the group to put that into practice The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group yesterday renewed a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber’s YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps. “It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations
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