PALESTINE
Strikes kill 22, reports say
Israeli airstrikes yesterday killed at least 22 people, including a family of six whose home was struck in Gaza City, Gaza rescue teams and medics said. The family — a couple and their four children — were killed when an airstrike leveled their home in northern Gaza City, Gaza’s civil defense agency said in a statement. Deaths were also reported in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza and in the southern city of Khan Yunis. Since Israel resumed its military operations last month, at least 1,928 people have been killed in Gaza, raising the total death toll to at least 51,305 since the war began, the health ministry in Gaza said.
PHILIPPINES
Possible China meddling: NSC
The National Security Council (NSC) yesterday said it found indications China is conducting a “state-sponsored” campaign to interfere in next month’s mid-term elections. The accusation emerged at a Senate hearing where Senator Francis Tolentino said that Beijing’s embassy in Manila was “paying Filipinos to work in troll farms” to undermine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration. The May 12 poll will decide hundreds of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as thousands of hotly contested local positions. NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said his agency believed China was likely behind online attacks aimed at influencing the polls, adding that the agency had identified a list of local proxies known to be amplifying Beijing’s messaging.
HONG KONG
Cardinal allowed to leave
Outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君) was allowed to leave the territory to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in the Vatican City. Zen, a 93-year-old retired bishop, left Hong Kong on Wednesday night after applying at a court to get back his passport, his secretary said in a text message yesterday. Authorities confiscated his passport after his controversial arrest under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in 2022.
SRI LANKA
Tooth draws huge crowds
Buddhist devotees flocking to see a sacred tooth yesterday were urged by police to stay clear after hundreds of people fell sick and a woman died. Lines in the city of Kandy were already 10km long to worship what Buddhists believe to be a tooth of the Buddha — a special showing of the relic that will end on Sunday, regional police chief Lalith Pathinayake said. Officials estimated that about 450,000 people yesterday morning had lined up to see the relic, more than double the expected daily number of 200,000. The city’s main state-run hospital reported that nearly 300 people had been admitted after falling ill while spending days in cramped conditions. One woman was pronounced dead on admission.
UNITED KINGDOM
Oasis fans lose ￡2m in scams
Oasis fans wishing to see the reunited band live in concert have collectively lost more than ￡2 million (US$2.7 million) from ticket scams, mostly on Facebook, Lloyds Bank said yesterday. The chaotic scramble for the prized tickets followed the announcement in August last year that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had ended their infamous 15-year feud and were reuniting for a worldwide tour. Working from figures based on its own customers, “the bank estimates that across the UK there are likely to have been at least 5,000 victims since tickets went on sale, with over ￡2 million lost to fraudsters” — an average of ￡436 per person.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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