INDONESIA
Mount Ruang erupts
A volcano erupted several times in North Sulawesi Province, forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated after it spewed lava and a column of smoke into the sky. Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano, first erupted at 9:45pm on Tuesday and twice again in the early hours of yesterday, the country’s volcanology and geological agencies said. There were no reports of any deaths or injuries, but more than 800 people were evacuated from two villages on Ruang Island to the nearby island of Tagulandang, state news agency Antara reported. The first eruption pushed an ash column 2km into the sky, with the second eruption pushing it to 2.5km, said Muhammad Wafid, the head of the geological agency.
JAPAN
Snake delays train
Even small delays in Japan’s much-vaunted bullet trains are rare and more unusual still are snakes on board holding up shinkansen services. On Tuesday evening, a passenger alerted security to a 40cm serpent lurking on a train between Nagoya and Tokyo, resulting in a 17-minute hold-up. It was unclear whether the animal was venomous or how it ended up on the train, a spokesman for Central Japan Railway Co said. “It’s difficult to imagine wild snakes somehow climbing onto the train at one of the stations. We have rules against bringing snakes into the shinkansen, but we don’t check passengers’ baggage,” he said. The train was originally scheduled to go on to Osaka, but the company used a different train for the trip, causing a delay of about 17 minutes, he said.
UNITED STATES
Scooter shooters kill one
Four people were shot — one fatally — on a street corner in the Bronx, New York, on Tuesday evening by people riding on mopeds, police said. About 10 shots were fired after two scooters pulled up to the intersection after 6pm and passengers on the back of each pulled out guns, Assistant Police Chief Benjamin Gurley said. Three people standing on the street corner, ranging in age from 23 to 37, sustained gunshot wounds to their legs. The fourth, a 29-year-old man, was hit in the legs and chest and later died, Gurley said. “The perpetrators wore masks and hoodies to block their identities and then they fled on the scooters northbound,” Gurley said. One person was taken into custody for questioning on Tuesday, but Gurley said police were unsure if that person was involved in the shooting.
UNITED STATES
Bob Graham dies
Former senator and Florida governor Bob Graham, who gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, has died. He was 87. Graham’s family announced the death on Tuesday in a statement posted on X by his daughter Gwen Graham. “We are deeply saddened to report the passing of a visionary leader, dedicated public servant, and even more importantly, a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather,” the family wrote. Bob Graham served three terms in the Senate and made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasizing his opposition to the invasion of Iraq following the Sept. 11 attacks. He perfected the “workdays” political gimmick of spending a day doing jobs from horse stall mucker to FBI agent, and kept a meticulous diary, noting almost everyone he spoke with, everything he ate and the TV shows he watched.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”