INDIA
Mother fights off tiger
A mother fought off a tiger with her bare hands to save her toddler from its jaws, an official said yesterday. Archana Choudhary stepped out of her house in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday night as the 15-month-old boy wanted to relieve himself. A tiger believed to have strayed from the nearby Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve pounced on them, local official Sanjeev Shrivastava told reporters. It attacked and tried to sink its teeth into the child’s head, but the mother leaped to the rescue, he said. The tiger kept trying to snatch the boy until villagers heard her screams and rushed to her rescue. The tiger then slunk away into the forest. “She has been admitted to the hospital. She is out of danger and recovering. The baby is also doing fine,” Shrivastava said. The mother suffered punctured lungs and wounds to her abdomen while the toddler had deep gashes on his head.
BAHAMAS
Woman killed by shark
A shark attacked and killed a US cruise ship passenger who was snorkeling in waters around the Bahamas on Tuesday, authorities said. The incident involved a 58-year-old woman from Pennsylvania and occurred at a popular snorkeling spot near Green Cay in the northern Bahamas, police spokeswoman Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings told reporters. “It’s unfortunate,” she said. Skippings said the woman’s family identified the animal as a bull shark. Royal Caribbean International said in a statement to that the person died after arriving at a local hospital for treatment and that the company is helping their loved ones.
HONG KONG
Two killed in crane collapse
Two men were killed and at least six injured after a tower crane collapsed at a construction site, authorities said yesterday. One man was pronounced dead at the site in eastern Kowloon and the other man died on the way to hospital, police told reporters. Six injured construction workers were taken to hospital, while another man was still trapped under the debris and awaiting rescue, police said.
SOUTH KOREA
Typhoon toll rises to 10
The death toll from Super Typhoon Hinnamnor rose to 10, authorities said yesterday, after the storm battered the southern coast with huge waves and heavy rain this week. The typhoon, one of the most powerful to hit the country in decades, flooded streets and buildings as it passed through on Monday and Tuesday. In the southeastern port city of Pohang — one of the hardest-hit areas — seven bodies and two survivors were pulled out of the submerged underground parking lot of an apartment complex, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said.
UNITED STATES
Antiquities returned to Italy
Prosecutors in New York on Tuesday returned dozens of antiquities stolen from Italy and valued at about US$19 million, some of which were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “These 58 pieces represent thousands of years of rich history, yet traffickers throughout Italy utilized looters to steal these items and to line their own pockets,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, adding that it was the third such repatriation in nine months. “For far too long, they have sat in museums, homes and galleries that had no rightful claim to their ownership,” he said at a ceremony attended by Italian diplomats and law enforcement officials.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
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