NORTH KOREA
Direct Moscow flights open
Russia yesterday began direct commercial flights to North Korea, in a further sign of closer ties with its Asian ally. The first Moscow-Pyongyang flight, operated by Nordwind Airlines, was scheduled to take off at 11pm last night and land in the North Korean capital about eight hours later, according to the carrier’s Web site. Nordwind Airlines — a company that used to serve holiday destinations in Europe before the EU imposed a ban on Russian flights — had tickets priced at 45,000 rubles (US$567). The first flight going the other way, from Pyongyang to Moscow, would take place tomorrow, Russian state news agency TASS said. The Russian Ministry of Transport said the route would be serviced once a month. Russia and North Korea restored train links on June 17 after suspending them in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Reuters
CHINA
Tibetan singer detained
A young Tibetan singer and activist has been detained by Chinese authorities, the India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said. Tzukte, popularly known as Asang, was taken into custody earlier this month after he sang a song eulogizing Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, the CTA said in a statement on Saturday. The arrest is “part of Beijing’s broader campaign to suppress Tibetan voices, specially Tibetan artists and writers,” it said. Asang, who is in his 20s, is a student of Gebe, a prominent Tibetan singer supporting the Tibetan cause through his music. Earlier this year, Asang appeared in public in the Ngawa region of Sichuan Province with the word “Tibet” written on his forehead — a gesture that intensified scrutiny from officials.
INDIA
Six dead in temple surge
A crowd surge at a popular Hindu temple in northern India left at least six people dead and dozens injured, local authorities said yesterday. The incident in the pilgrimage city of Haridwar occurred after a high-voltage electric wire reportedly fell on a temple path, triggering panic among the large crowd. Vinay Shankar Pandey, a senior government official in Uttarakhand state, where the incident happened, confirmed the deaths and said worshipers scrambled for safety following the incident. About 29 people were injured, Haridwar city senior police official Pramendra Singh Doval said. Thousands of pilgrims had gathered at the Mansa Devi hilltop temple, which is a major site for Hindu devotees, especially on weekends and festival days, local officials said. They were celebrating the holy month of Shravan.
POLAND
Priest charged with murder
The archbishop of Warsaw, Poland, has asked the Vatican to defrock a priest charged with the killing of a 68-year-old homeless man who was beaten with an axe and set on fire. Prosecutors on Saturday charged the priest, only identified as Miroslaw M, with murder with particular cruelty. He is being detained ahead of a trial and faces 15 years to life behind bars. Investigators say the priest and the victim, Anatol Cz, were together in a car late on Thursday when an argument broke out. The fight stemmed from a donation agreement where the priest had agreed to provide lifelong assistance and care for the man, and escalated over the homeless man’s future housing, the Radom District Prosecutors’ Office said. The priest allegedly struck the victim on the head with an axe, doused him in flammable liquid and set him on fire, it said. The priest then drove away when he saw a bicycle light approaching.
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
‘ARBITRARY’ CASE: Former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila has maintained his innocence and called the country’s courts an instrument of oppression Former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) president Joseph Kabila went on trial in absentia on Friday on charges including treason over alleged support for Rwanda-backed militants, an AFP reporter at the court said. Kabila, who has lived outside the DR Congo for two years, stands accused at a military court of plotting to overthrow the government of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi — a charge that could yield a death sentence. He also faces charges including homicide, torture and rape linked to the anti-government force M23, the charge sheet said. Other charges include “taking part in an insurrection movement,” “crime against the
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