INDONESIA
Unmarried couple flogged
A man and woman yesterday were publicly flogged 100 times each in Aceh province after they were found guilty of sex outside marriage. Sexual relations between an unmarried couple is outlawed in Aceh, which imposes a version of Shariah, the Islamic legal code. The two were lashed in sets of 10 with a rattan stick as a small crowd watched on at a park in provincial capital, Banda Aceh, and the female suspect was lashed by a woman, reporter at the scene said. Three other suspects were caned a combined 49 times for alleged gambling and alcohol consumption.
GERMANY
WWII bomb sparks evacuation
About 20,000 people yesterday were being evacuated from central Cologne after three unexploded World War II bombs were found, the biggest such operation in the city since the end of the war. Bomb squad technicians were planning to defuse the three US explosives, two weighing 1,000kg and one 500kg, which were found during building work on Monday in the Deutz area on the east bank of the River Rhine. Road and train lines were closed and city officials were going door to door to clear the evacuation zone of about 10,000m2, which included three bridges over the Rhine.
NORTH KOREA
Capsized ship pulled upright
The government appears to have returned to an upright position its stricken Choe Hyun-class destroyer that partially capsized during a botched launching ceremony, US researchers said yesterday. Leader Kim Jong-un, who witnessed the failed launch of the 5,000-tonne warship, said the accident damaged the country’s dignity and vowed to punish those found responsible. Commercial satellite imagery from Monday showed the destroyer upright for the first time since the May 21 accident, 38 North said in a report. Pyongyang has said it detained several officials, and Kim ordered the ship restored before a ruling party meeting this month.
JAPAN
100 dead cats found at home
About 100 dead cats were discovered at the squalid home of a woman who belonged to an animal welfare group, a local official said yesterday. The group, Animal Assist Senju, apologized on social media, posting pictures of the trash-strewn house it said “was overflowing with feces and urine.” The woman was found to have gone rogue and taken in many cats without consulting the organization, the group said. One cat was found “unrecognizable” with “its skin partly peeled off and paws covered in feces and urine,” it wrote on Instagram at the weekend. The Kumamoto City Animal Protection Center said that the dead felines were initially estimated to total about 100. However, media reports said the number is thought to be higher.
CHINA
Fugitive capybara captured
Officials have captured the last member of a runaway capybara gang that escaped from a zoo in the east two months ago, a statement said on Tuesday. The missing female rodent, named “Doubao” (豆包), absconded from an enclosure at the Yangzhou Zhuyuwan Scenic Area along with two other capybaras in early April. Doubao remained at large for weeks after her companions were caught by zoo officials. The capybara walked into a humane trap early on Tuesday morning and was returned to her enclosure by zoo staff. Despite spending two months on the run, Doubao gained weight and her fur was still “smooth and glossy,” the zoo said.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
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