INDONESIA
Commission blasts military
The National Human Rights Commission yesterday strongly criticized the military as it investigated the killing of 12 civilians during an operation against rebels in Papua province. The military said it had no information about the deaths, but the state-run rights commission said that 12 people, including women and children, had been shot dead and dozens sustained serious injuries during an operation against separatists in central Papua on Tuesday last week. It was not immediately clear whether the civilians were the killed by military or rebel fire, or both. “All forms of attacks against civilians, whether in situations of war or otherwise, carried out by state or non-state actors, constitute violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law,” commission head Anis Hidayah said in a statement.
ISRAEL
Soldier strikes Jesus statue
The Israeli army yesterday said on X it had determined that an image circulating on social media showing one of its soldiers in south Lebanon hitting a statue of Jesus Christ is authentic. The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head on a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross. The sculpture is in the Christian village of Debl near the border with Israel, the local municipality said, but officials could not say whether it had been damaged. The army said that it viewed the incident with “great severity,” adding that the “soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops.” The incident is being investigated by the Northern Command and is currently being “addressed through the chain of command,” it said. “Appropriate measures will be taken against those involved,” it said, but did not go into further detail. It said it is working with the community to “restore the statue to its place.” Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar condemned what he called a “shameful and disgraceful” act. “I am confident that necessary severe measures will be taken against whoever committed this ugly act,” he wrote on X. “We apologize for this incident and to every Christian whose feelings were hurt.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Two arrested over arson
British police have arrested two teenagers in connection with a weekend arson attack on a synagogue in northwest London as Jewish leaders express concern about a wave of recent incidents targeting their community. Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes of London’s Metropolitan Police Service yesterday said officers arrested two young men, aged 19 and 17, overnight in relation to the attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in the borough of Harrow. The department has made 15 arrests related to six attacks on Jewish targets and a Persian-language media company that occurred over the past few weeks, he said in an interview with the BBC. One “serious line of inquiry” is that Iran is hiring local criminals to carry out these attacks amid tensions in the Middle East, including the Iran war, Jukes said. “We’ve seen a pattern with other actors of thugs for hire, people taking cash that looks like quick and easy money,” he said. “This is part of the modern hybrid war fought by proxies,” he added.
MALAYSIA
Fire destroys 1,000 homes
A fire that tore through a coastal settlement on Borneo Island destroyed about 1,000 homes and displaced more than 9,000 people, authorities said. The fire started early on Sunday in the Sandakan district and spread rapidly through rows of wooden houses constructed on stilts above the sea, the fire and rescue department said. Officials said strong winds and the close proximity of the structures helped fuel the fire, while narrow access routes and low tide conditions made it harder for emergency crews to reach affected areas and contain the flames. No deaths have been reported, but thousands of residents have been moved to temporary shelter.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
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