RUSSIA
Shoigu to meet Kim again
Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu yesterday met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the second time in less than two weeks during a visit to North Korea, Interfax reported. Negotiations between Kim and Shoigu have begun, Interfax quoted the council as saying, but did not specify the subject of their talks. Shoigu previously visited Pyongyang and met Kim on March 21 and June 4. Kim and President Vladimir Putin signed a strategic partnership treaty last year, including a mutual defense pact. North Korea sent thousands of soldiers late last year to help Russia expel Ukrainian troops from its western Kursk region.
ITALY
‘Chair smasher’ wanted
A museum in Verona has launched a manhunt for the most unlikely of outlaws — two clumsy middle-aged tourists who managed to almost wreck a work of art while posing for photos. Video footage released by Palazzo Maffei showed the hapless pair photographing each other pretending to sit on a crystal-covered chair made by the artist Nicola Bolla — described by the museum as an “extremely fragile” work. While the woman squats, but does not seem to touch the work — known as Van Gogh’s Chair and covered in Swarovski crystals — the man is not so careful, sitting and then stumbling backward as the seat buckles under his weight. The pair can then be seen fleeing the room, in a post that went viral over the weekend. Describing it as “every museum’s nightmare,” the museum on Monday said it had file a complaint with the police. The incident happened fewer than four weeks ago and the chair has since been repaired, it said on social media on Thursday. “It was an idiotic thing to do,” Bolla told Italian magazine Fanpage. However, the artist added that he could also see a “positive side” to the incident. “It’s like a kind of performance. Ordinary people can do it, too, not just artists.”
INDONESIA
Murder suspects arrested
Two suspects allegedly involved in the murder of an Australian man at a villa in Bali were caught after a days-long manhunt, police said yesterday. Zivan Radmanovic, 32, was shot on Saturday. He was killed when two people burst into his villa in the tourist area of Canggu and at least one opened fire. A second man, 34-year-old Sanar Ghanim, was seriously wounded in the attack. One of the suspects was apprehended in the capital, Jakarta, while a second was on his way from abroad, National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters, without identifying the country or giving details about the suspects. The arrests were made following cooperation between Indonesian police, immigration authorities and the Australian Federal Police, he said. Witnesses, including Radmanovic’s wife, said the perpetrators who fled the scene after the attack were speaking in English with a thick Australian accent, a local police statement said.
UNITED STATES
Perry’s doctor to admit guilt
The main doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose of Friends star Matthew Perry is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks, the Department of Justice said on Monday. Salvador Plasencia “has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison,” it said in a statement. The second doctor in the case, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty in October last year to conspiring to distribute ketamine in the weeks before the actor was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in 2023. Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine from Chavez and sold it to the actor at hugely inflated prices. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors. He went to Perry’s home to administer ketamine by injection, a plea deal published on Monday by the department showed. In total, Plasencia distributed 20 vials of ketamine over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023, the document said. Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.
Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday condemned a European Parliament resolution on human rights calling for the release of his critics as “blatant interference.” The EU Parliament resolution, voted by an overwhelming majority the day before, called for the release of lawyer Sonia Dahmani, a popular critic of Saied, who was freed from prison on Thursday, but remained under judicial supervision. “The European Parliament [resolution] is a blatant interference in our affairs,” Saied said. “They can learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms.” Saied’s condemnation also came two days after he summoned the EU’s ambassador for “failing to respect diplomatic rules.” He also
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
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