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.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
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