NEW ZEALAND
Space squadron announced
The air force would establish a small space squadron to signal its growing commitment to space-based defense and international security, a senior military official said yesterday. Air Vice Marshal Darryn Webb said that the air force had a team already focused on space, but creating a squadron symbolized its growing significance.
Photo: Reuters
NORTH KOREA
Kim observes test firings
Leader Kim Jong-un observed the first test firings of missiles from a recently launched destroyer — the nation’s first such warship — and called for accelerating efforts to boost the navy’s nuclear attack capabilities, the Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. Kim watched the tests of the destroyer’s supersonic and strategic cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, automatic guns and electronic jamming guns earlier this week, it said.
Photo: Reuters
SOUTH KOREA
Yoon’s home raided
Prosecutors yesterday raided the home of former president Yoon Suk-yeol as part of a probe into a shaman accused of receiving lavish gifts for the former first lady, Yonhap reported. Yoon’s house was raided “as part of [an] investigation into various suspicions over relations between his family and a controversial shaman,” it reported. The shaman, Jeon Seong-bae, is accused of receiving a diamond necklace, a luxury bag and ginseng from a high-ranking official from the Unification Church and handing them to Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee. Prosecutors were trying to “verify the authenticity of the alleged delivery of gifts” and find out whether the then-first lady ever received them, Yonhap added.
Photo: AFP
INDIA
Kolkata fire kills 14
A fire tore through a hotel in Kolkata, killing at least 14 people, police said yesterday. Senior police officer Manoj Kumar Verma told reporters that the fire broke out on Tuesday evening at the Rituraj Hotel in central Kolkata. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Photographs and videos carried in media showed people trying to escape through the windows and narrow ledges of the building. Kolkata’s the Telegraph newspaper reported that at least one person died when he jumped off a terrace trying to escape. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X that he was “anguished” by the loss of lives in the fire.
Photo: Reuters
VATICAN CITY
‘No pope’ stamps released
Post offices and selected collectors’ shops this week started selling special stamps marking the period between Pope Francis’ death and the election of his successor. The so-called sede vacante stamps include an image used by the Vatican in official documents in periods between popes: two crossed keys, but no papal headgear. They went on sale on Monday and remain valid until a new Holy Father appears at the window of St Peter’s Basilica. Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards and packages.
MEXICO
Mayoral candidate killed
Armed men killed Anuar Valencia, a mayoral candidate from the governing Morena party, on Tuesday, the first day of campaigning for municipal elections in Veracruz State. Valencia had just finished an event launching his campaign and was preparing to hit the streets when more than two dozen gunmen opened fire at his campaign headquarters in northern Veracruz. The Veracruz state prosecutors’ office wrote on X that five others were injured, including two minors.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘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
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS