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.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
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