NEPAL
Lake caused flood: expert
The deadly flood in the Bhote Koshi that killed at least nine people and left more than two dozen missing this week was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in the Tibet region of China, a regional climate monitoring body said on Wednesday. Floodwater on Tuesday also washed away the Friendship Bridge to China. The Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development said that satellite imagery showed the flood originated from the draining of the lake north of Nepal’s Langtang Himal range. “This is based on the preliminary analysis based on the available satellite images,” said Sudan Maharjan, a remote sensing analyst and glacier expert at the center. A supraglacial lake is formed on the surface of a glacier, often beginning as small meltwater ponds.
Photo: AP
ISRAEL
Missile from Yemen blocked
The army yesterday said that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, days after carrying out strikes on Houthi rebel targets in the country. “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the army wrote on X.
COLOMBIA
Mule used in attack
A soldier was killed and two others were wounded on Wednesday when explosives carried by a mule exploded in a rural area, authorities said. Antioquia Governor Andres Julian Rendon confirmed the soldier’s death and blamed the National Liberation Army. Rendon said that “an equine armed with explosives” targeted soldiers patrolling near Valdivia. The army later confirmed that the animal was a mule and condemned “the cruel and macabre use of animals to carry out terrorism.”
EL SALVADOR
Mexican envoy recalled
President Nayib Bukele on Wednesday recalled his ambassador to Mexico and asked the country to clarify Mexican Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch’s claim that an intercepted plane loaded with cocaine had originated in El Salvador. Harfuch on Tuesday said that authorities had detected a small plane “originating in El Salvador” carrying 428kg of cocaine and that they had arrested three people. Bukele called the claim “FALSE” in a post on X and said he was recalling Ambassador to Mexico Delmy Canas. “We demand an immediate clarification and rectification from the Mexican government,” Bukele said separately at a news conference.
UNITED STATES
Tunnel in LA collapses
Thirty-one construction workers inside a huge industrial tunnel in Los Angeles made it to safety after a portion of it collapsed on Wednesday evening. The cave-in appears to have occurred between the tunnel boring machine 8km in from the sole entrance and the construction workers who were working 9.6km in, said Michael Chee, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which is in charge of the nearly US$700 million wastewater project. The workers were about 121m underground. Authorities were still investigating the cause, Chee said. The workers scrambled over loose soil to reach the boring machine and then were transported back to the opening. None of those rescued had major injuries, authorities said.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
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