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.
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
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
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
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