CAMBODIA
Thailand releases 18 soldiers
Thailand yesterday released 18 Cambodian soldiers held for five months as prisoners of war, days after a fresh truce between the nations ended weeks of deadly fighting along their contested frontier. Some of the soldiers, with closely cropped hair, smiled, waved and gestured with their palms pressed together to cheering crowds through the windows of a bus in the border province of Pailin, video from state television showed. “I am so happy. I can’t wait to see him. I miss him so much,” said 51-year-old Voeung Vy, the father of one of the soldiers captured in late July. He said he would welcome his son home in the capital, Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh said it “remains hopeful that this release will significantly contribute to building mutual trust.”
Photo: AFP
YEMEN
UAE pulling out of Yemen
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday said it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen, following a Saudi Arabian demand to withdraw within 24 hours as tensions escalate over a sweeping offensive by Abu Dhabi-backed separatists. The Emirati Ministry of National Defense said it was withdrawing “counterterrorism teams ... of its own volition.” The Presidential Leadership Council and Saudi Arabia, the UAE’s rival powerbroker in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, have both demanded Emirati troops pull out. The withdrawal follows a strike on Tuesday against an Emirati shipment, that Saudi Arabia said contained weapons for separatists.
PERU
Conductor dies in train crash
A head-on collision between two trains on the line that services Machu Picchu killed one person and injured at least 40 others, authorities said. The deceased was the conductor of one of the two trains, according to the prosecutor’s office in Cusco, the city closest to the famous Inca citadel. Officials said they were working to identify the injured train passengers, many of them foreign visitors and most of them seriously hurt. Videos sent by passengers to the RPP television channel showed injured victims lying next to the tracks with two damaged locomotives standing idle nearby.
BRAZIL
Rio wins party record
Rio de Janeiro has been awarded the Guinness world record for the largest-ever New Year’s Eve celebration hosted by a city, for an hours-long free concert that gathered 2.5 million people on Copacabana beach last year. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on Tuesday received a plaque from a Guinness World Records representative on the main stage prepared for this year’s installment, also on Copacabana, that was to feature legendary Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil. Paes described the award as an honor, and said “no other city in the world organizes events that bring together so many people with such consistency.”
SOUTH AFRICA
Dozens die from circumcision
At least 41 young men have died as a result of circumcision procedures as part of traditional initiation activities in South Africa in November and last month, authorities said on Tuesday. Traditional initiation is a rite of passage into manhood for young men that is practiced annually by ethnic groups in Africa, including parts of South Africa. Among them are the Xhosa, Ndebele, Sotho and Venda communities. Despite laws that force initiation schools to be registered with authorities, it has not stopped the proliferation of illegal initiation schools where many of the deaths are reported.
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young people in India are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)
BIGGER ROLE: Beijing has said it maintains an impartial stance on the war in Ukraine, but by training Russian troops, China is far more involved than previously known China’s armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year, and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine, according to three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by Reuters. While China and Russia have held a number of joint military exercises since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beijing has repeatedly said that it is neutral in the conflict and presents itself as a peace mediator. The covert training sessions, which predominantly focused on the use of drones, were outlined in a dual-language Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing on
HOTTER: While Indians are accustomed to summer heat, climate change has caused northwestern India to warm faster than other parts of the country, an academic said Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures for yesterday of about 45°C in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope. The weather department warned that conditions would likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses. India declares a heat wave whenever maximum temperatures
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