PHILIPPINES
Doctor wins award
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, a Vietnamese doctor who has helped seek justice for people affected by “Agent Orange” — a defoliant dioxin used by US forces during the Vietnam War — was among this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards announced yesterday. Nguyen carried out extensive research into the long-term effects of Agent Orange, which she first encountered in the late 1960s as a medical intern when she helped deliver babies with severe birth defects as a result of the lingering effect of the highly toxic chemical, the awards body said. “Her work serves as a dire warning for the world to avoid war at all costs as its tragic repercussions can reach far into the future,” the Magsaysay foundation said. Other winners included Indonesian Farwiza Farhan, for her work to help lead a group to protect the Leuser Ecosystem on Sumatra Island; and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki for his work to create animated films for children.
ARMENIA
Lightning strikes plant
A lightning strike on Friday caused the shutdown of the nation’s single nuclear power plant, Interfax news agency reported yesterday, citing local authorities. The plant was hit at 9:55pm and was disconnected from the grid, the report cited the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure as saying. The plant is about 25km outside the capital, Yerevan. “The reason was a lightning strike, which caused the station’s safety systems to switch it into safe shutdown mode,” the ministry said.
IRAQ
ISIS members killed
A joint operation by US and Iraqi forces killed 15 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in western Iraq, Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday. The raid targeted Islamic State leaders and was carried out on Thursday morning, resulting “in the death of 15 ISIS operatives” with “no indication of civilian casualties,” CENTCOM said on X. It said the Islamic State group members were “armed with numerous weapons, grenades and explosive ‘suicide’ belts.”
GERMANY
Stoltenberg defends Ukraine
Ukraine was fully within its rights to launch its offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region as an act of self-defense, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German newspaper Die Welt. “Ukraine has a right to defend itself and according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg said in an interview published yesterday. “The Russian soldiers, tanks and bases there [in Kursk] are legitimate targets under international law.”
UNITED STATES
Suspect dies in crash
A man suspected of abducting a nine-year-old girl from a New York City supermarket and sexually assaulting her in his car was killed on Friday when he crashed while fleeing police, authorities said. Officers tried to pull over the 64-year-old suspect’s car in the early afternoon in Queens, New York Police Department Assistant Chief Jason Savino told a news conference. With police in pursuit, the driver ran a stop sign and struck another vehicle. He died at a hospital. The driver of the other vehicle sustained minor injuries. Police said the man approached the girl in the Key Food store Thursday evening while her grandmother was using the restroom. He told the girl to get in front of him, grabbed her hair and “forcefully” led her outside, Savino said. He then pushed the girl into his car, drove a short distance, assaulted her and left her on the street.
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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