UNITED NATIONS
Houthis detain nine more
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday denounced the arbitrary detention of nine more UN workers in Yemen by Houthi rebels, along with the seizure of assets and facilities in areas under Houthi control. “Most recently, the Houthi de facto authorities detained nine additional UN personnel, bringing the total number of arbitrarily detained UN staff to 53 since 2021,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. “These actions hinder the UN’s ability to operate in Yemen and to deliver critical assistance.” “The United Nations will continue to work tirelessly, and through all available channels, to secure the safe and immediate release of all arbitrarily detained personnel, as well as the return of UN agency offices and other assets,” Dujarric said.
NEW ZEALAND
Minister’s home attacked
A man has been charged after a window of Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters’ home was on Monday smashed with a crowbar and a note pinned to his front door that said “welcome to the real world,” the minister’s spokesperson said yesterday. Peters has come under pressure from protest groups and opposition parties in recent days after he announced that New Zealand would not be following Australia, Britain and Canada in recognizing a Palestinian state amid the Israel-Gaza war. Protests have been held outside his Auckland home. In a speech to parliament yesterday discussing the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Peters said that the violent targeting of private homes by some protesters was “a disgrace.” Peters on Monday said in a social media post on X that he was not home, but both his partner and a guest were. “This is truly gutless,” it said. “When we have protesters, political bloggers, and MPs alike encouraging this behaviour, posting politicians’ home addresses online, and acting with pure ignorance and extremism, this is the result.”
NETHERLANDS
71,000 chickens to be culled
About 71,000 chickens at a poultry farm in the northern part of the country would be culled following the detection of bird flu, the government said in a statement yesterday. This marks the first outbreak of bird flu in the nation since March. The government has so far not imposed a nationwide requirement to keep poultry indoors, stating that this outbreak does not warrant such a measure. However, an expert group on animal diseases is to meet soon to assess the risk.
JAPAN
Ex-banker gambler jailed
The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former employee at one of the nation’s biggest banks to nine years in jail for repeatedly stealing gold bars and cash totaling nearly US$2.6 million, slamming her crimes as “heinous.” Yukari Yamazaki, who worked for Mitsubishi UFJ and had a gambling addiction, began thieving after falling into debt due to currency trading and horse betting, the court ruling said. Abusing her position and inside knowledge to “incapacitate the security system,” Yamazaki purloined gold bars worth more than ￥330 million (US$2.2 million), and more than ￥60 million in cash, from safety deposit boxes at her bank in 2023 and last year. Despite the defendant’s lack of previous criminal history and the fact she has “vowed to undergo treatment for her gambling addiction,” a nine-year jail term was “unavoidable,” Judge Hironobu Ono said. The bank has been able to retrieve only a portion of the amount she stole.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
SUPERFAN: The Japanese PM played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band in middle school and then switched to drums at university, she told the British rock band Legendary British rock band Deep Purple yesterday made Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s day with a brief visit to their high-profile superfan as they returned to the nation they first toured more than half a century ago. Takaichi’s reputation as an amateur drummer, and a fan of hard rock and heavy metal has been well documented, and she has referred to Deep Purple as one of her favorite bands along with the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. “You are my god,” a giddy Takaichi said in English to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of made-in-Japan
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