UNITED STATES
Military jet crashes in Texas
A military training jet on Sunday crashed in a neighborhood near Fort Worth, Texas, injuring the two pilots and damaging three homes, but not seriously hurting anyone on the ground, authorities said. The pilots managed to eject from the T-45C Goshawk before it crashed shortly before 11am in Lake Worth, just west of Fort Worth, authorities said at a news conference. “This incident could have been much worse knowing that this plane went down in a residential area,” Lake Worth Fire Chief Ryan Arthur said. One of the pilots was injured after being caught in power lines, police said in a statement, adding that “although badly burnt, the pilot was conscious, alert and breathing.” The second pilot was found in a wooded area a short distance away, they added.
NIGERIA
Shooters kill police inspector
Shooters on Sunday killed a police inspector in southeast Nigeria, police said yesterday, the latest attack in the restive region where dozens of officers have died this year. The shooters ambushed a police patrol in the commercial town of Onitsha in Anambra state and opened fire, state police spokesman Ikenga Tochukwu said in a statement. “The attackers drove in a Sienna vehicle ... and started shooting at the patrol vehicle along Ukegbu junction,” he said. “Unfortunately, during the exchange of gunfire, one police inspector paid the supreme price.” Other officers were wounded in the attack, he said. No group has claimed responsibility for recent attacks.
SOUTH AFRICA
Bees kill African penguins
A swarm of bees has killed 63 endangered African penguins on a beach outside Cape Town, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds said on Sunday. “After tests, we found bee stings around the penguins’ eyes,” said David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian with the foundation. “This is a very rare occurrence. We do not expect it to happen often, it’s a fluke. There were also dead bees on the scene.” The protected birds, found on Friday, were from a colony at Simonstown, a small town near Cape Town. The area is a national park and the Cape honey bees are part of the ecosystem. “The penguins... must not die just like that as they are already in danger of extinction. They are a protected species,” Roberts said.
SINGAPORE
Fruit used to make bandages
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University are tackling food waste by turning discarded durian husks into antibacterial gel bandages. The process extracts cellulose powder from the fruit’s husks after they are sliced and freeze-dried, then mixes it with glycerol. This mixture becomes soft hydrogel, which is then cut into bandage strips. “In Singapore, we consume about 12 million durians a year, so besides the flesh, we can’t do much about the husk and the seeds and this cause environmental pollution,” said William Chen (陳威廉), director of the food science and technology program at the school. The fruit’s husks, which make up more than half of the composition of durians, are usually discarded and incinerated, contributing to environmental waste. Chen added that the technology can also turn other food waste, such as soy beans and spent grains, into hydrogel, helping limit the country’s food waste. Compared to conventional bandages, the organo-hydrogel bandages are also able to keep wound areas cooler and moist, which can help accelerate healing.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not