CHINA
Ten dead in mine blast
At least 10 people were killed and six are missing after an accident at a coal mine in Henan Province, state media said yesterday. The accident, a likely coal and gas explosion described as an “outburst,” happened at about 2:55pm on Friday in Pingdingshan, China Central Television said. Search-and-rescue efforts were continuing, it added. Xinhua news agency said that 425 people were working underground when the blast occurred. Those in charge of the mine have been taken into custody by authorities, it said.
AUSTRALIA
Taiwanese wins Hobart
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico yesterday dominated China’s Guo Hanyu (郭涵煜) and Jiang Xinyu (蔣欣玗) in straight sets to win the women’s doubles final at the Hobart International tennis tournament. Second seeds and Olmos beat the Chinese duo 6-3, 6-3, recovering after crashing out of the round of 16 at the Brisbane International earlier this month. Chan and her sister, Latisha Chan (詹詠然), bagged a gold medal for Taiwan in doubles at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in October last year.
NEW ZEALAND
Ardern marries
After almost five years of engagement and a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday married longtime partner Clarke Gayford in a private ceremony. Details of the event were closely held by the pair, but the ceremony is reported to have been staged at a luxury vineyard in the scenic Hawke’s Bay region, 325km from the capital, Wellington. Earlier, police met with a small group of protesters who had plastered a wall with dozens of anti-vaccination posters outside the venue. One protester was also seen holding a sign that read: “Lest we forget jab mandates,” on the outskirts of the property.
TURKEY
Military strikes hit Iraq
The military yesterday carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria, the Ministry of National Defense said. The strikes came a day after an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq killed nine Turkish soldiers. The government often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a banned separatist group that has waged insurgency since the 1980s. The defense ministry said fighter jets destroyed caves, bunkers, shelters and oil facilities “to eliminate terrorist attacks against our people and security forces ... and to ensure our border security.” The statement added “many” militants were “neutralized” in the strikes.
ECUADOR
Five more inmates escape
At least five inmates on Friday evening escaped from the vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a vast search operation, police sources said. Shortly after their escape, two helicopters, as well as drones, flew over the surroundings of the huge prison, on the northern outskirts of the city. Authorities and the prison administration have not made an official statement so far. Since Sunday last week, the country has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis sparked by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country’s most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito.” His escape was followed by prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks on the police.
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
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