MALDIVES
Divers’ bodies recovered
The last two bodies of Italian divers killed in the deadliest-ever diving accident have been recovered, a government spokesperson said yesterday, completing recovery efforts. The divers were among a group of five who entered a deepwater cave for exploration last week, after being granted the necessary permit to research soft corals in the Devana Kandu site. Maldivian authorities are investigating multiple possible causes behind their deaths, including whether the group descended far deeper than expected. “A preliminary identification has confirmed the identities of the Italians and work will go on to confirm via DNA through Interpol and other partners,” spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said.
Photo: Maldives President’s Media Division via EPA
CHINA
Floods kill at least 25
Rescue workers yesterday used boats or swam through floodwaters to evacuate people in waterlogged areas across central and southwest China after torrential rain killed at least 25 people and shut businesses, schools and transportation links. Heavy rain is expected to continue across southern and central parts of the country, including the Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangdong and Hainan provinces and the Guangxi autonomous region, with high risks of landslides, flash floods and severe urban flooding and waterlogging, authorities said. “A new round of rainfall will arrive tomorrow, bringing significant precipitation to many areas in both the north and south,” the China Meteorological Administration said.
SPAIN
Billionaire’s son released
The son of Isak Andic, the billionaire founder of the Spanish fashion brand Mango, on Tuesday posted bail of 1 million euros (US$1.2 million) following his arrest for alleged homicide in connection with a renewed investigation into the death of his father in 2024. Andic, 71, was hiking with his son, Jonathan Andic, in the mountains near Barcelona when he fell about 150m down a cliff and died in December 2024. Jonathan Andic, 45, who is the vice chairman of Mango, one of Spain’s biggest retailers, was the only witness. Police opened an investigation, but closed it a few weeks later. It was reopened in March last year, and in October, police confirmed the death was being investigated as a possible homicide. Jonathan Andic was taken to a court in Martorell, where the case is being investigated.
AUSTRALIA
Frog found in lettuce
When Australian farmer Rhys Smoker announced he had found a live frog in a bag of lettuce, his roommates did not believe him. Smoker had been preparing a steak and salad dinner on Saturday for the three people who share his house in Esperance in Western Australia when he spotted the frog among the leaves inside the sealed plastic bag he had bought from a supermarket, housemate Laura Jones said on Tuesday. “He’s like: ‘Oh Bro, there’s a frog in the lettuce.’ And we’re like: ‘No, you’re taking the mick, like that’s not real,’” Jones said. Smoker brought the bag into the lounge room to show Jones and her partner Billy Le Pine. “Obviously there’s a little frog hiding out and, yeah, we all had a little laugh about it,” Jones said. Le Pine said they named the frog Greg before releasing it at a pond near the house. “We thought we’d give him a wee send-off tune as we played Crazy Frog for him,” Le Pine told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Crazy Frog is a Swedish CGI-animated character and Eurodance musician.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
Myanmar yesterday published a parliamentary bill proposing the death sentence for those who detain or violently coerce people into working in online scam centers. Internet fraud factories have flourished in Myanmar, part of Southeast Asia’s scam economy, targeting Internet users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons. The multibillion-dollar black market attracts many willing employees, but repatriated foreigners have also reported being trafficked to sites in Myanmar and tortured by scam center operators. The draft legislation would allow capital punishment for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams.” The
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