PHILIPPINES
Military kills nine militants
Nine Islamist militants including three suspects in a Catholic Mass bombing have been killed in a clash with troops, the military said yesterday. Army soldiers shot it out with about 15 Dawlah Islamiyah suspects hiding out at a mountain farm close to the remote southern municipality of Piagapo on Thursday, the commander of the military unit said. The firefight left nine of the militants dead and four soldiers wounded, including two with “serious” wounds, army Brigadier-General Yegor Rey Barroquillo said. Three of the six suspects in the bombing of a Catholic Mass at a school in the southern city of Marawi last month were among those killed in Thursday’s fighting, he added.
UNITED STATES
Hundredth Maui victim found
A 100th victim has been identified from the wildfire that ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui over the summer, police said on Friday. Lydia Coloma, 70, was initially listed on a tally of missing persons that has since dwindled to just a handful of people. The Aug. 8 fire largely destroyed the city of Lahaina, the old capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Among the charred debris and buildings reduced to ashes, the search for and identification of human remains has been difficult, often requiring DNA samples from living relatives of those listed as missing.
VENEZUELA
Machado ban upheld
The Supreme Tribunal of Justice on Friday upheld a ban on the candidacy of Maria Corina Machado, a longtime government foe and winner of the primary held by the opposition faction backed by the US. Machado, a former lawmaker, won the opposition’s independently run presidential primary in October last year with more than 90 percent of the votes. Her victory came despite the government announcing a 15-year ban on her running for office just days after she formally entered the race in June. She insisted throughout the campaign that she never received an official notification of the ban, and said that voters, not ruling-party loyalists, are the rightful decisionmakers of her candidacy. After the court issued its ruling, Machado wrote on social media that her campaign’s “fight to conquer democracy through free and fair elections” is not over. “Maduro and his criminal system chose the worst path for them: fraudulent elections,” she wrote. “That’s not gonna happen.”
MEXICO
Passengers back wing man
The Mexico City International Airport on Friday said that a man had opened an emergency exit and walked out on a wing of a plane that was parked and waiting for takeoff on Thursday. The airport said in a statement the man had been turned over to police. However, at least 77 passengers aboard the AeroMexico flight to Guatemala signed a copy of a written statement saying the airline made them wait for four hours without ventilation or water while the flight was delayed. According to photographs of the statement posted online, fellow passengers said he acted “to protect everyone, with the support of everyone,” adding that “the delay and lack of air created conditions that endangered the health of the passengers. He saved our lives.” An incident report filed with airport authorities largely confirmed that version, stating that the incident occurred at 11:37am, after the plane was held for maintenance. “The passengers were unhappy and one of them opened the emergency door and stepped out on the wing,” the report said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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