ASIA
Record meth seizures: UN
A record 190 tonnes of methamphetamine was seized in East and Southeast Asia last year, as organized crime groups boosted production, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said yesterday in its annual report on synthetic drugs in the region. Drug trafficking has affected Southeast Asia for decades, with Shan state in Myanmar the leading source of synthetic drugs in the region. Much of it is produced in illegal labs in areas controlled by ethnic minority armed groups near the border with Thailand, a major transit route. The UN office said that drug gangs are changing their recipes to increase their output. “Organized crime groups are lowering the production costs and scaling up production by using non-controlled chemicals,” UNODC Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Masood Karimipour said in a statement. Greater production is enabling bigger shipments which are driving down prices, he said.
PERU
Boluarte accused of bribery
Attorney General Juan Carlos Villena on Monday accused President Dina Boluarte of accepting bribes in the form of Rolex watches. Villena “presented a constitutional complaint against Dina Boluarte as the suspected author of passive corruption,” his office wrote on X. The scandal erupted in March with the discovery of a trove of undeclared luxury Rolex watches and jewelry in the president’s possession. Boluarte last month told prosecutors the watches had been loaned by a friend, Ayacucho Governor Wilfredo Oscorima. She is being investigated on suspicion of “passive corruption” for receiving improper benefits from public officials. The attorney general’s accusation, presented to Congress, does not amount to an indictment, because the president has immunity while in power. A congressional committee must now debate the accusation before the whole chamber does so. Ultimately, it would be up to the courts to decide whether to put her on trial after her term ends in July 2026.
UNITED STATES
Slingshot ‘terror’ arrested
An 81-year-old man who investigators say terrorized a southern California neighborhood for years with a slingshot has been arrested, police said. While conducting an investigation, detectives “learned that during the course of 9-10 years, dozens of citizens were being victimized by a serial slingshot shooter,” the Azusa Police Department said in a statement. The man is suspected of breaking windows and car windshields, and of narrowly missing people with ball bearings shot from a slingshot, the statement said. No injuries were reported. The man was arrested on Thursday after officers served a search warrant and found a slingshot and ball bearings at his home in Azusa, police said.
AUSTRALIA
Naked runner arrested
A man accused of running naked down the aisle of a domestic flight, knocking down a flight attendant and forcing the plane to turn back, was arrested by police at the airport, officials said yesterday. The incident happened early in a Virgin Australia flight on Monday night from Perth to Melbourne. Flight VA696 returned to Perth airport due to a “disruptive passenger,” an airline statement said. Australian Federal Police officers were waiting for the plane and “the disruptive guest was offloaded,” Virgin said. “The man was transferred to hospital for assessment, where he remains,” a police statement said. Police expect to order the man by summons to appear in a Perth court on June 14.
Ethiopian online influencers are pushing for their government to invade neighboring Eritrea and seize access to the sea, following its success against rebel and Eritrean forces in the past few weeks. The Ethiopian army has advanced right up to the border after repelling an offensive by rebels in the northern Tigray State who were supported by Eritrean troops. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has repeatedly said that securing a base on the Red Sea is a vital national objective for Ethiopia, which lost its coastline when Eritrea gained independence in 1993. Some online influencers say that the opportunity to invade has arrived. “The time
CRACKED SCREEN: The problem is an embarrassing setback for Apple, which spent more than a decade developing the device and touted its durability The iPhone Duo, one of Apple’s biggest new products in years, is drawing a growing number of complaints from customers who say the foldable display cracked after just hours or days of use. In these cases, customers reported hearing a crunching sound when unfolding the phone, followed by a large crack forming along the center crease. Some users also experienced a white patch or other display malfunction on the right side of the screen. Reports of the problem first surfaced on Reddit and other social media platforms. Bloomberg News has since independently verified the issue with more than half a
Thousands of British and French troops have taken part in a military training exercise that included one of Britain’s largest airborne operations in two decades, the British government said yesterday. The war game is designed to show how NATO countries could be defended against a modern-day attack and comes during fears about Russian aggression in Europe amid Moscow’s war against Ukraine. About 2,500 troops were involved in the seven-week exercise, in which 600 British and French paratroopers dropped from four RAF A400M Atlas transport aircraft over Germany. The exercise called Rhino Titan, held at the Sennelager military training center in
When fall arrives and leaves start changing color, Mike Valladao, a systems engineer at a cybersecurity company, slips into his alter ego, “Farmer Mike,” also known as the “Picasso of Pumpkin Carvers.” Farmer Mike has been chiseling whimsical faces and comical creatures into big pumpkins for more than four decades. Wearing his trademark orange overalls and farmer hat, he has sculpted hundreds of gourds into ghoulish faces, seaside landscapes, witches, dragons and pop culture figures, such as Yoda and Charlie Brown. Valladao does not have any formal artistic training, but he is always looking for inspiration. He gets ideas from looking at
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