NEPAL
Assets commission launched
The government has formed a commission to investigate the assets of politicians and officials, an official said yesterday. Led by a former Supreme Court judge, the five-member commission would examine assets of top figures who have held public office since 2006, said Dipa Dahal, press and investigation adviser to Prime Minister Balendra Shah. The commission was ordered by the Cabinet on Wednesday, Dahal said. “The Cabinet meeting made this decision,” he said. “We are following up to confirm its timelines and other details.” Plans to form the commission were listed in the government’s 100-point reform agenda issued after Shah took office following his election win last month.
Photo: Reuters
INDONESIA
Top ombudsman arrested
The Attorney General’s Office arrested the country’s chief ombudsman, Hery Susanto, just six days after his appointment for allegedly taking a bribe from a local nickel company, authorities said yesterday. Susanto was inaugurated as chief ombudsman by President Prabowo Subianto on Friday last week. Susanto allegedly received 1.5 billion rupiah (US$87,540) from a nickel company during his period as a board member with the ombudsman’s office from 2021 to this year, said Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, director of investigations at the Attorney General’s Office.
CHINA
US travel warning issued
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday issued a notice warning citizens of security risks traveling to the US and advised citizens not to enter the country from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. About 20 Chinese academics traveled to the US to attend a conference, but were subjected to “unreasonable questioning” by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Seattle airport and were denied entry, the ministry said. The academics were holding valid US visas, it said. Nationals planning trips to the US should “strengthen safety awareness, avoid entering through this airport ... and make all necessary preparations,” it said, citing “repeated incidents of malicious questioning and harassment targeting Chinese scholars” at the airport.
SRI LANKA
Chinese suspects detained
Nine Chinese nationals were arrested at the main international airport yesterday while attempting to smuggle in communications equipment allegedly intended for cyberscam operations, customs authorities said. Customs officers recovered 383 used mobile phones, 101 tablet computers, six Wi-Fi routers and GPS trackers from the arriving Chinese nationals, a customs spokesman said. “The equipment was taped to the bodies of the suspects,” the spokesman said, adding that the haul was valued at 24 million rupees (US$76,300) and was confiscated. Organized criminal gangs have used casinos, hotels and fortified compounds across Southeast Asia as bases to carry out sophisticated online scams, defrauding people through cryptocurrency investment schemes and fake romantic relationships, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. “Due to Sri Lanka’s well-developed telecommunications infrastructure, favorable geographical location and relatively lenient visa policies, some telecom fraud gangs have moved to Sri Lanka,” the Chinese embassy in Colombo said. “That is why such cases have been increasing in Sri Lanka,” it said, adding that the scammers had been targeting Chinese nationals at home.
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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