BANGLADESH
Train crash kills at least 17
The bodies of at least 17 people were recovered from a train crash outside Dhaka that might have occurred after one of the trains disregarded a red signal, officials said yesterday. The rescue operation was halted early in the morning a day after rescuers and residents together extracted passengers from the wreckage, said fire official Mosharraf Hossain at Bhairab, in the central district of Kishoreganj. He said 26 others were injured. “Our fire service teams returned early Tuesday from the scene as there is no chance of having more bodies from the wreckage. The train service has also been restored,” he said by telephone. The crash occurred when two rear coaches of the Dhaka-bound Egarosindur Godhuli Express passenger train were hit by a cargo train heading to Chattogram, senior fire official Azizul Haque Rajon said on Monday.
SPAIN
Stolen jewelry seized
Police on Monday said that they had confiscated 11 pieces of ancient gold jewelry that were taken out of Ukraine illegally in 2016. A police statement said that five people — two Ukrainians, one of them an Orthodox Church priest, and three Spaniards — who were attempting to sell the pieces in Spain have been arrested in recent weeks. The jewelry was estimated to be worth 60 million euros (US$64 million) and dated from between the 8th and 4th centuries BC. Police said the items were part of Ukraine’s national heritage. They went missing after being put on display between 2009 and 2013 in a museum in Kyiv. The pieces are being studied by the National Archeological Museum and the Cultural Heritage Institute.
KOREAS
‘Defectors’ arrive in boat
A small wooden boat carrying a group of North Koreans has crossed into South Korean waters, Seoul’s military said yesterday, in what appeared to be a rare defection across the maritime border. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the boat and its crew were “presumed to have defected” from the North. The vessel was intercepted in waters off the eastern port city of Sokcho and those aboard brought to safety, it added. The boat was carrying four North Koreans who “expressed their intent to defect,” Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unnamed government source. More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to the South over the decades since the 1950-1953 conflict to escape repression and poverty.
ICELAND
PM, women stage strike
Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and women across the volcanic island nation yesterday went on strike to push for an end to unequal pay and gender-based violence. Jakobsdottir said she would stay home as part of the “women’s day off,” and expected other women in her Cabinet would do the same. “We have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023,” she told news Web site mbl.is. “We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle.” Organizers called on women and nonbinary people to refuse both paid and unpaid work, including household chores, during the one-day strike. Schools and the health system, which have female-dominated workforces, said they would be heavily affected by the walkout. National broadcaster RUV said it was reducing television and radio broadcasts for the day.
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
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
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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