THAILAND
Bus crash kills 18
At least 18 people were killed and 23 injured yesterday after the brakes failed on a tour bus and it rolled upside down into a ditch, police said. “It was a downhill road and the brakes failed, and the driver lost control of the vehicle before it overturned,” said Colonel Sophon Phramaneehe, adding that those who died were adults on a study trip. There were 49 people on the bus, all Thai, including the driver, he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
COLOMBIA
Cocaine found in toupee
Police apprehended a 40-year-old man allegedly attempting to smuggle several bags of cocaine concealed beneath a toupee. Police said the suspect was detained at Cartagena’s airport on Monday as he prepared to board a flight to Amsterdam. A scanner revealed the hidden cargo: 220g of cocaine packaged in small bags, strategically placed under what authorities described as a “narco wig.” A police video released on Monday captured the moment an officer, wearing blue gloves, carefully removed the suspect’s wig with scissors, revealing approximately a dozen packets of cocaine.
Photo: AP
AUSTRALIA
Nurse charged over threats
A Sydney nurse has been charged with making threats after she appeared in an online video saying she would not treat Israeli patients. Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 26, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with the federal offenses of threatening violence to a group, using a carriage service to threaten to kill, and using a carriage service to menace and harass, police said in a statement. The charges carry a potential maximum penalty of 22 years in prison. Abu Lebdeh and another nurse, Ahmed Rashid Nadir, were suspended from Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital on Feb. 12 over an online exchange the night before with Israeli influencer Max Veifer. Abu Lebdeh said she would not treat Israeli patients while Nadir suggested he had killed Israelis. Nadir has yet to be interviewed by police.
AUSTRALIA
Seven charged over salutes
Police yesterday charged seven men who allegedly performed Nazi salutes during a gathering at a club for Croatian expats. Police in Victoria state said that the men had been photographed making the “prohibited gesture” on Feb. 8 at the Croatian Club of Geelong. “The charges follow an extensive investigation into an image circulating online which depicted a group of men performing the prohibited gesture,” police said in a statement. “All seven men have been charged on summons for public display or performance of Nazi symbols or gestures.” Croatian Club president Frank Sarcevic said earlier this month he was “absolutely disgusted in this behavior and extremely disappointed.”
NORTH KOREA
Kim urges military boost
Leader Kim Jong-un called for building a strong, modern army to cope with any war during a visit to the Kang Kon Military Academy, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported yesterday. Kim said that the military academy had poor management and operations, saying it failed to meet the ruling party’s pursuit of “modernity and advanced character” in building a powerful army, KCNA said. He laid out tasks to refurbish the facilities and intensify education focusing on practice so that the students would learn about the “actual experiences of modern warfare,” and to master advanced weapons and technical equipment, it said.
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
Venezuelan Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado yesterday said that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later yesterday that former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and was to be put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process,” the office said in a statement. The conditions of Guanipa’s release have yet to be made public. Machado claimed that
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