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.
DEATH CONSTANTLY LOOMING: Decades of detention took a major toll on Iwao Hakamada’s mental health, his lawyers describing him as ‘living in a world of fantasy’ A Japanese man wrongly convicted of murder who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been awarded US$1.44 million in compensation, an official said yesterday. The payout represents ￥12,500 (US$83) for each day of the more than four decades that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last. It is a record for compensation of this kind, Japanese media said. The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated last year of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. The case sparked scrutiny of the justice system in
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
‘HUMAN NEGLIGENCE’: The fire is believed to have been caused by someone who was visiting an ancestral grave and accidentally started the blaze, the acting president said Deadly wildfires in South Korea worsened overnight, officials said yesterday, as dry, windy weather hampered efforts to contain one of the nation’s worst-ever fire outbreaks. More than a dozen different blazes broke out over the weekend, with Acting South Korean Interior and Safety Minister Ko Ki-dong reporting thousands of hectares burned and four people killed. “The wildfires have so far affected about 14,694 hectares, with damage continuing to grow,” Ko said. The extent of damage would make the fires collectively the third-largest in South Korea’s history. The largest was an April 2000 blaze that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast. More than 3,000
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