INDIA
Tunnel rescuers change tack
Rescuers are considering opening a vertical shaft to free 41 men trapped in a collapsed tunnel after drilling at the site was paused over fears of further cave-ins and as efforts stretched into a second week. Excavators have been removing earth, concrete and rubble from the under-construction tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand since Nov. 12 after a portion of the tunnel the workers were in collapsed. Bhaskar Khulbe, a senior government official involved in the rescue operations, said that teams were considering digging an entirely new shaft, including from above. “We are exploring all options to save the workers,” Khulbe said late on Saturday. He said rescuers were looking at a time frame of “a maximum of four to five days” to free the men, without giving further details.
IRAN
Jailed rapper freed on bail
Authorities have released on bail a popular rapper jailed for more than a year over supporting nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, local media have reported. Toomaj Salehi, 32, was arrested in October last year after backing the wave of demonstrations that erupted a month earlier, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Amini, who had been taken into custody over an alleged breach of strict dress rules for women. In July, Salehi was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of “corruption on Earth” — one of the country’s most serious offenses, which carries a maximum penalty of death. The musician’s lawyer, Amir Raisian, told daily Shargh late on Saturday that upon appeal, the Supreme Court had found “flaws in the initial sentence” and ordered that Salehi be “released from prison today on bail.”
UNITED STATES
Century-overdue book found
A library book that is more than a century overdue was finally returned in St Paul, Minnesota. The tome, Famous Composers, turned up while someone was sorting through a relative’s belongings. The St Paul Public Library checkout slip shows it was last borrowed in 1919, Minnesota Public Radio reported. St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter joked in a tweet on Saturday that there would be no fine. The library, like many across the country, stopped charging late fees in 2019. St Paul Public Library digital library coordinator John Larson said he doubted the book would go back into circulation because of its delicate condition, but expected the library to hang onto it. “It has reached a point where it’s not just an old book, it’s an artifact. It has a little bit of history to it,” he said. Larson said in his 25 years working for the library it was the oldest book he ever saw returned.
BRAZIL
Swift delays show after death
American superstar Taylor Swift on Saturday postponed a show in Rio de Janeiro due to extreme heat, after a fan died at the singer’s concert the previous night. The postponement came after the heat index in the city had risen to as high as 59°C on Friday, when a 23-year-old fan in the crowd of 60,000 died during the first “Eras Tour” show in the country. “The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and always will come first,” she wrote on Instagram in announcing the postponement. The concert was moved to today. “It’s with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight,” Swift said in a post on Instagram to her millions of followers earlier Saturday. “I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this.”
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS