AUSTRLIA
Fire conditions ‘catastrophic’
Western Australian officials yesterday warned of “extreme to catastrophic fire conditions,” as a large bushfire burned out of control in the west of the country, forcing families to flee their homes. More than 2,300 hectares have burnt over the past couple of days just west of the town of Denmark, about 420km south of Perth, fueled by gusty winds and high temperatures. “Severe heat wave conditions and extreme to catastrophic fire dangers are forecast ... on Sunday,” the Western Australia Bureau of Meteorology wrote on Twitter. Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan urged people in at-risk areas to follow the emergency service’s advice, which calls for people to evacuate if the way is clear. Residents have been told not to return home.
NEW ZEALAND
Case record reported
Health authorities yesterday reported a record 243 new COVID-19 community cases, as officials warned that more cases of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 are expected, but urged people in the highly vaccinated nation not to panic. The country of 5 million people has kept its borders closed since early 2020, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday said that a full reopening would happen only by October. The border closure, combined with lockdowns and strict social distancing rules, has limited the spread of the virus, with just over 17,000 infections and 53 related deaths. However, with Omicron spreading, health officials said the caseload would likely grow. “I urge people not to panic but to plan for that,” COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The best thing you can do to prevent illness is to get vaccinated and get your booster.” Official data show that 93 percent of those eligible have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 49 percent have received a booster shot.
MEXICO
Students clash with police
Student protesters from a teachers’ college in the south of the country on Friday rolled a driverless semi-truck at considerable speed down a slope toward a line of National Guard and police officers. The officers got out of the way of the out-of-control truck, which crashed into a structure near a toll booth. The National Guard said that 14 of its officers were injured by stones and bottle rockets launched by the students. The guard was called in after the students blockaded a highway between Mexico City and Acapulco. Students from the rural teachers’ college have a long-standing reputation for clashing with authorities. In 2014, 43 students from the college hijacked buses in the nearby city of Iguala when they were kidnapped and presumably killed by a drug gang.
GUATEMALA
Migrant smugglers charged
Prosecutors on Friday charged 10 members of a smuggling ring that allegedly organized a trip in January last year during which 15 migrants were killed in northern Mexico. Prosecutors said the suspects are charged with criminal conspiracy, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes. A dozen members of an elite police unit in the Mexico state of Tamaulipas have been charged there with the killing of 19 people, including the 15 Guatemalan migrants. A migrant trafficker, two Mexicans and an unidentified person were also among the dead, their bodies shot and burned. The motive for the killings remains unclear. Prosecutors said the smuggling ring has continued sending migrants to the US on a route that includes northern Mexico even after the slayings.
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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