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.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
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