UNITED STATES
Maduro’s plane seized
The government has seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane after concluding it was bought and operated in violation of Washington’s sanctions. The Dassault Falcon 900EX jet was seized earlier this year by police in the Dominican Republic when it landed in Santo Domingo. A Florida district court on May 22 requested an embargo on the aircraft, documents obtained by Bloomberg showed. The plane was purchased through a shell firm and smuggled out of the country, the Department of Justice said. It was found to be operating in violation of export control restrictions for the benefit of Maduro and those around him, the department said in a statement. The plane has been flown to Florida. Maduro’s government said in a statement it considered the “illegal” seizure by the US as part of a series of “incremental actions” against Venezuela.
DR CONGO
129 die in jail break try
At least 129 people were killed during a weekend prison break attempt at the nation’s largest jail, Minister of the Interior Jacquemain Shabani said in a video message yesterday. “The provisional human toll is 129 dead, including 24 who were shot after warnings,” Shabani said, adding that at least 59 others had been wounded at the Makala prison in Kinshasa. Several people had been crushed or suffocated and a number of women had been raped, the ministry said. Witnesses said gunfire had started at the prison at about 2am on Monday morning and lasted for several hours.
UAE
Jailed protesters pardoned
President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has pardoned 57 Bangladeshi citizens who were convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms for staging a rare protest in the Gulf country, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported yesterday. The decision cancels the sentences of those convicted and those pardoned are to be deported, the state media said. The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal last month sentenced 57 Bangladeshis in an expedited trial after they staged a protest against then-Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her government amid protests in Bangladesh. Three Bangladeshis had been sentenced to life in prison, while 53 were sentenced to 10 years in prison. One Bangladeshi, who state media said had entered the nation illegally and “participated in the riot,” was sentenced to 11 years. The Public Prosecution had accused the Bangladeshi nationals of “crimes of gathering in a public place and protesting against their home government with the intent to incite unrest.”
INDIA
Recruitments death probed
The government yesterday launched a probe after 12 applicants for coveted government jobs died during physical tests for posts as excise officers, with commentators saying it illustrated the scale of the unemployment crisis. The young men were among 500,000 applicants vying for just 583 jobs as constables in the excise department — more than 850 people for each post. The 12 died in the past two weeks during a series of 10km races in humid conditions in Jharkhand State. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren called the deaths “heartbreaking” and ordered health experts to examine the “untimely death of these youth, so that such accidents do not happen in future.” State police chief Anurag Gupta said investigations had begun. The recruitment drive has been paused.
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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