JAPAN
Island evacuated amid quakes
Authorities yesterday urged the 89 residents of a small southern island to evacuate after a strong earthquake, the latest of more than 1,000 jolts in the past few days to hit the area. Residents were urged to leave their homes and evacuate to “a school playground in Akuseki Island,” a municipal official said. It is part of the Tokara Island chain. The island chain, south of Kyushu region, has been rocked by more than 1,000 quakes in the past two weeks. On Thursday a magnitude 5.5 struck near Akuseki. Tokara village said on its Web site that residents have not been able to sleep and were tired amid the quakes. “It feels like it’s always shaking,” one resident told regional broadcaster MBC. “It’s very scary to even fall asleep.”
PALESTINE
Airstrikes, shootings kill 82
Airstrikes and shootings killed 82 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 38 while attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the health ministry said yesterday. Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive US organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 33 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip. Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip on Wednesday night and yesterday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.
AUSTRALIA
Man dies from bat bite
A man has died from an “extremely rare” rabies-like infection transmitted by a bat bite, health officials said yesterday. The man in his 50s was bitten by a bat carrying Australian bat lyssavirus several months ago, the health service in New South Wales (NSW) said. “While it is extremely rare to see a case of Australian bat lyssavirus, there is no effective treatment for it,” NSW Health said in a statement. The virus is transmitted when bat saliva enters the human body through a bite or scratch. First symptoms can take days or years to appear.
BURUNDI
Six killed for witchcraft
Six people accused of witchcraft were killed, burned alive, stoned or beaten by a militia in Burundi, a local official said on Wednesday. The official and witnesses, who all asked for anonymity, said the incident happened on Monday after accusations made by members of the ruling party’s powerful youth movement, known as the Imbonerakure. “A group of young Imbonerakure entered the homes of about 10 people accused of witchcraft. They then attacked them,” the official from Gasarara Hill said. “Six people were killed, two of them burned alive. The others were beaten to death with clubs or stoned with large stones thrown at their heads,” the official said. “It was horrific, unspeakable barbarity.”
UNITED STATES
Diddy acquitted on charges
Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday dropped to his knees and prayed in a federal courtroom in New York after he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures behind bars for life. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and denied bail as he awaits sentencing. The mixed verdict capped a sordid legal odyssey that shattered Combs’ affable “Puff Daddy” image, and derailed his career as a Grammy-winning artist and music executive.
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
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