TURKEY
Building collapse kills two
A seven-story building in Istanbul yesterday partially collapsed, killing two people, officials said. Emergency crews were trying to reach at least two people that remained trapped inside. The reason for the collapse was not immediately known and an investigation was under way. Rescue teams were working to reach those trapped even as there were warnings of a further collapse of the building. The building’s three lower floors, including a groundfloor shop, caved in before dawn in Maltepe district. Residents from the upper floors were safely evacuated while search teams rescued eight more people from the rubble.
Photo: AP
SOUTH KOREA
Seoul to recall Kyiv diplomat
Seoul yesterday said it would recall its ambassador to Ukraine in response to a deepening diplomatic row over the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war. The two countries have been at loggerheads since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last month disclosed the prisoner transfer, sparking anger in Seoul, which said it had placed their families in North Korea at risk. The recall also comes days after a media report alleged more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, had been shipped from South Korea to Russia in July and August, sparking accusations Seoul was helping alleviate Russian fuel shortages. “The government has decided to recall its ambassador to Ukraine,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “The government hopes that all outstanding issues between the two countries will be resolved amicably and will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side to that end.”
UKRAINE
Strike on bus kills 30
Thirty people were killed and 18 others wounded yesterday when Russia struck two passenger buses in Kramatorsk near the front line in eastern Ukraine, authorities said. “As of now, the death toll from this morning’s attack on buses has risen to 30. Eighteen people were wounded,” the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office said. The governor’s office gave the same toll and said public transport had been suspended. The National Police said Russia had hit the buses with a glide bomb.
UNITED KINGDOM
Sailor charged with spying
A member of the Royal Navy has been charged with spying for an undisclosed foreign power. Teddy Young, 24, has been charged with two offenses under the National Security Act, including preparing to disclose protected information between November 2024 and May last year, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said. During the same period, Young allegedly obtained, copied, recorded or retained protected information for the benefit of a foreign power. He has been in police custody since he was arrested on Tuesday at his home in Bedfordshire.
MONGOLIA
Bear kills man in capital
A bear killed a man and seriously maimed a woman in their home in the outskirts of the capital, authorities said yesterday, warning that sightings of the animals have rocketed across the country this year. The man, in his 40s, and a woman in her 50s were attacked on Wednesday night in their home in the Bayanzurkh district on the outskirts of Ulan Bator, the city Environment Department head Munkhbayar M told a news conference. The woman, who fled after sustaining injuries and sought help from neighbors, is being treated in hospital, he said. A team of 35 rangers is trying to locate and kill the bear.
The picturesque Lac des Brenets between France and Switzerland has dried up after a record-breaking hot summer, leaving locals crying out for help to save the lake. Indeed, the words “HELP” and “SOS” have been scratched out in the weeds now flourishing on the exposed lake bed. The drought has ruined pleasure boat tourism, while some question whether the lake will ever return to enduring full health. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” said historian David Favre, who lives in Les Brenets. “As children, we used to spend all our summers swimming at the beach, having fun by the water, diving, jumping in and sometimes even
STRAIN ON TIES: The police arrested a 20-year-old man who matched the description of a suspect caught on CCTV leaving a hotel in Naha with the victim’s belongings A US Marine stationed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of the murder of a Japanese woman, police said yesterday. The suspect “killed the 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet on Saturday,” a local police spokesman said. US Ambassador George Glass posted on social media that he had spoken with Japan’s foreign ministry and Okinawa’s governor to offer “our sincere condolences and pledging full cooperation as the investigation continues.” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the crime “exceptionally brutal and vicious” on X. The government has urged the US “to provide maximum cooperation
A US lawmaker has called on Starbucks to close its first stores in Xinjiang, China, calling it a “morally bankrupt decision” to do business in a region where Uighurs face repression. China denies widespread accusations about abuses of the Uighurs, a mainly Muslim people, saying its policies there were aimed at combating terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. Starbucks opened its first two stores this week in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, including one at the city centre’s grand bazaar and a second at its international airport. John Moolenaar, chairman of the Select Committee on China of the House of Representatives, called on Starbucks to “immediately
WARNING: Some analysts have expressed concern over what kind of investors the citizenship scheme would attract, saying it could bring in people of dubious origin Argentine President Javier Milei’s government on Friday said the country would offer citizenship to foreigners who invest at least US$350,000 in the country. Latin America’s third-largest economy lagged far behind Brazil and Mexico in the foreign direct investment stakes last year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Milei, a free-market radical, has slashed public spending, deregulated the economy and dismantled trade barriers in a bid to make Argentina more competitive and boost the Treasury’s dwindling dollar reserves. However, investors are still waiting for Argentina’s roller-coaster economy to “prove that what it’s doing will actually be sustainable over time,” economist
RSS