SOUTH KOREA
Politician ends hunger strike
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung yesterday ended a 24-day hunger strike, a party spokesperson said, two days after parliament voted to let prosecutors serve an arrest warrant against him for alleged bribery. Lee, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is to maintain a schedule including court attendance while hospitalized, the spokesman told reporters. Prosecutors this month sought the warrant in an investigation into bribery allegations concerning a development project. Prosecutors say that Lee asked a company to illegally transfer US$8 million to North Korea when he was the governor of Gyeonggi Province.
SWEDEN
Motorway collapses
A large chunk of a motorway in the southwest collapsed overnight, causing three people to be taken to hospital with light injuries, police said yesterday. The landslide damaged the motorway between Gothenburg and Norway’s capital, Oslo, near the small town of Stenungsund, about 50km north of Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast. “The hardest hit parts of the landslide area measure around 150 by 100m. In total, however, the landslide has affected an area of around 700 by 200m,” the Gothenburg Rescue Services said in a statement. The slide affected about 10 vehicles, a wooded area, and a business area with a gas station and a fast food restaurant, it said.
UNITED STATES
Pilot lands in backyard
A recording was released on Friday of a 911 emergency call from a homeowner reporting that the pilot of a US Marine Corps F-35 had parachuted into his backyard after ejecting from the stealth jet. “I guess we got a pilot in our house,” the homeowner said. “He ejected from the plane. I guess he landed in my backyard and we were trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house.” “I’m sorry, what happened?” said the bewildered 911 dispatcher who fielded the unusual call over the weekend. The pilot parachuted safely into a neighborhood in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday last week after ejecting from the US$80 million jet, which continued flying in what some called a “zombie state.” The plane eventually crashed about 100km north of where the pilot ejected and the wreckage was located on Monday after authorities asked the public to help find the missing jet. After the homeowner spoke to the dispatcher, the pilot himself got on the phone and tried to explain the situation. “I’m a pilot in a military aircraft and I ejected, so I just rode a parachute down to the ground,” he said. “Can you please send an ambulance?”
MEXICO
Doll and its owner arrested
Handcuffed, a knife still sticking out of its overalls, a Chucky doll hunched against the wall as police held it by its bright orange hair to take its mug shot. In a bizarre twist, Chucky and its owner were taken into lockup in a town in Coahuila state’s Monclova earlier this week. The puppet master, identified only as Carlos “N,” allegedly used the “demon doll” to scare people and demand money, local media reported. Both were charged with disturbing the peace and putting others’ integrity at risk. One officer at the police department was seen laughing as she held up the long knife taken from Chucky. Media reported that the officer who put Chucky in cuffs was later reprimanded for not taking her job seriously. Local media reported that Carlos “N” was later released, although the Chucky doll’s whereabouts are still unknown.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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