SOUTH KOREA
Warship prompts questions
North Korea’s newly unveiled warship could have involved Russian help, Seoul’s military said yesterday, while cautioning it was still conducting “a more detailed analysis.” Pyongyang recently unveiled a destroyer-class vessel named Choe Hyon that some analysts said could be equipped with short-range tactical nuclear missiles. Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung-jun told reporters that Russia might have given help with the warship. “Looking at the weapons and equipment that were revealed, we believe that there is a possibility that they received technology, funds or assistance from Russia,” Lee said. “We are conducting a more detailed analysis.” Lee said its deployment is likely to require more time. “In the case of warships it takes several years to build and even after completion it takes additional time for them to become operational,” he said. “So although the Choe Hyon has been unveiled it seems likely that considerably more time will be needed for its [operational] deployment.”
Photo: AFP
MYANMAR
Truce allowed to expire
The military junta let a truce declared to spur aid efforts after last month’s earthquake expire yesterday, a ceasefire that monitors say it consistently violated with airstrikes. The March 28 magnitude 7.7 quake in the nation’s central belt killed nearly 3,800 people and has left tens of thousands homeless as the summer monsoon season approaches. The junta declared a ceasefire on April 2 and extended it last week as aid groups warned of a long road to recovery. It expired at midnight on Wednesday, with the junta information team making no announcement of an extension.
KENYA
Political killing ‘targeted’
The killing of a member of parliament, Charles Ong’ondo Were, in the capital, Nairobi, appeared to have been targeted, police said. Were was shot by a passenger on a motorbike late on Wednesday as he was in a car on the major Ngong Road, which runs through the capital, according to eyewitnesses cited in a police statement released hours afterward. “The nature of this crime appears to be both targeted and premeditated,” National Police Service spokesman Muchiri Nyaga said in the statement. After the gunman fled on the motorbike, the driver of the car rushed Were to Nairobi hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, Nyaga said. Neither the driver nor a male passenger, also in the car at the time of the incident, were hurt during the attack, the statement said. “At this stage, it is too early to provide further details,” Nyaga added.
BRAZIL
World’s oldest person dies
The world’s oldest person, nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, died on Wednesday, the religious community she belonged to in the city of Porto Alegre said. She was 116. The title now passes to Ethel Caterham, a resident of Surrey, England, who is 115 years old, according to the US Gerontological Research Group and the LongeviQuest database. Born on June 8, 1908, Canabarro became the world’s oldest person following the death in January of Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, who was also 116. The Congregation of Teresian Sisters of Brazil announced Canabarro’s death in a statement in which it gave thanks “for the dedication and devotion” she had shown in life. LongeviQuest said Canabarro had attributed her longevity to God and on her 110th birthday, received a blessing from Pope Francis, who himself died on Monday last week.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
It turns out that looming collision between our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies might not happen after all. Astronomers on Monday said that the probability of the two spiral galaxies colliding is less than previously thought, with a 50-50 chance within the next 10 billion years. That is essentially a coin flip, but still better odds than previous estimates and farther out in time. “As it stands, proclamations of the impending demise of our galaxy seem greatly exaggerated,” the Finnish-led team wrote in a study appearing in Nature Astronomy. While good news for the Milky Way galaxy, the latest forecast might be moot
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