PAKISTAN
Indian guard returned
Islamabad yesterday handed over an Indian border guard who was captured a day after an April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, India’s paramilitary border guard said. The attack near the tourist town of Pahalgam sparked a four-day conflict between the two nations that ended with a ceasefire on Saturday. Indian Border Security Force soldier “Purnam Kumar Shaw, who had been in the custody of Pakistan Rangers since 23 April 2025, was handed over to India,” the force said in a statement. The handover was “conducted peacefully and in accordance with established protocols,” it said.
Photo: AFP / Indian Border Security Force
COLOMBIA
Ministry hails China deal
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday hailed a “historic” deal with China that would bring Bogota into China’s Belt and Road Initiative. “Colombia and China signed a cooperation plan for the Belt and Road Initiative today,” the ministry wrote on X early yesterday morning, calling it a “historic step that opens up new opportunities for investment, technological cooperation, and sustainable development for both countries.” The agreement came on the sidelines of a gathering of Latin American leaders in Beijing during which Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged US$9.2 billion in credit toward “development.”
Photo: EPA-EFE / Xinhua / Huang Jingwen
UNITED STATES
Menendez terms reduced
Erik and Lyle Menendez have a new shot at freedom after 35 years behind bars for murdering their parents after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic on Tuesday reduced the brothers’ sentences from life in prison without parole to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole. The state parole board must decide whether to release them. The judge’s decision followed months of pushback from prosecutors who opposed resentencing, arguing that the brothers had not taken adequate responsibility for their crimes. Ultimately prosecutors did not call any witnesses, saying they had presented all of their evidence. “On Aug. 20, 1989, I killed my mom and dad. I make no excuses and also no justification,” Lyle Menendez said, choking up as he addressed the room. “The impact of my violent actions on my family ... is unfathomable.” Jesic issued his decision immediately after the brothers spoke. The hearing was slated to last two days, but Jesic made his decision in one. The brothers were convicted in 1996 for murdering their father, Jose Menendez — a record executive — and their mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Xinhua / Huang Jingwen
UNITED STATES
Senate confirms Troy Meink
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Troy Meink as the secretary of the air force, putting a former KC-135 tanker aircraft navigator and space expert in charge of the service. The vote was 74-25. Meink has almost four decades of experience in the military and in government, including managing some of the nation’s most sensitive satellite intelligence capabilities and the military’s space portfolio. He previously served as a deputy of the National Reconnaissance Office. “Your leadership is exactly what we need to refocus the Department of Defense on its core mission — lethality, readiness, and putting the warfighter first,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media.
Photo: Bloomberg
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
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