LEBANON
IS leader killed, US says
A helicopter raid by US forces in northern Syria early on Monday killed a senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said. Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali was “responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe,” it said. Two other alleged IS members were killed along with al-Haji Ali,who was the target of the raid, it said, adding that no civilians or US troops were hurt in the operation. CENTCOM said the raid was launched after intelligence uncovered a plan by the militant group to “kidnap officials abroad as leverage for [IS] initiatives.”
ARGENTINA
Radiation to fight dengue
Fighting one of its worst outbreaks of dengue fever in recent years, the nation is sterilizing mosquitoes using radiation that alters their DNA before releasing them into the wild. The National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) have been experimenting with atomic sterilization since 2016. They are sterilizing 10,000 males per week and aim to increase that to 500,000. They expect to release the first batch of sterilized males in November. “They are sterilized through ionizing energy and those sterile males are freed into the fields and when they meet with a wild female, their offspring are not viable,” CNEA biologist Marianela Garcia Alba said.
UNITED STATES
Wrong turn leads to death
A woman looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York was shot to death after the car she was riding in mistakenly went to the wrong address and was met with gunfire in the driveway, authorities said on Monday. Kaylin Gillis, 20, was traveling through the rural town of Hebron with three other people on Saturday night when the group made a wrong turn onto the property. They were trying to turn the car around when the homeowner, Kevin Monahan, 65, came out onto his porch and fired two shots, Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said. One round hit Gillis. Monahan has been taken into custody, the sheriff said.
ITALY
‘Killer’ bear captured
A female bear that killed a 26-year-old runner in the Italian Alps two weeks ago has been captured overnight, Trento provincial authorities said in a statement yesterday. The search for the bear began after Andrea Papi’s body was found on April 6 in the woods of the Peller mountain, where he had gone jogging. Local prosecutors later said the DNA samples taken after the attack on Papi matched that of a 17-year-old female bear identified as “JJ4.” The bear had previously attacked two other people and Trento President Maurizio Fugatti has issued an order for JJ4 to be put down. However, the order was suspended on Friday by an administrative court, following appeals by environmental groups. Judges are due to return to the issue in a May 11 hearing.
UNITED STATES
Boy stuck in claw machine
A 13-year-old boy had to be freed from a claw machine after he climbed inside hoping to score a prize, an official at North Carolina amusement park Carowinds said. Park officials were alerted just before 2pm on Sunday that the boy was inside the Cosmic XL Bonus Game, park spokesperson Courtney McGarry Weber said. The medical response team unlocked the machine and the boy was able to get out, she said. He was treated and released from first aid to his guardian. The boy has been banned from the park for one year for attempted theft, Weber said.
PHILIPPINES
Anti-China minister dies
Albert del Rosario, the former secretary of foreign affairs who stood up to Beijing in the South China Sea, has died at the age of 83, Manila said yesterday. Del Rosario, who served from 2011 to 2016, died while en route to the US, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement that did not specify the cause of death. Del Rosario was “a staunch advocate of protecting and advancing national security and promoting the rights and welfare of Filipinos,” the department said. “He was a consummate diplomat and an inspiring leader who led the DFA with integrity and unwavering commitment to public service,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo wrote on Twitter. Relations with Beijing soured during Del Rosario’s tenure, which was marked by a fierce standoff in 2012 in the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks 240km west of the main island of Luzon. The Scarborough Shoal is known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) in Taiwan and China, which also lay claim to it. He was behind two prominent legal cases against Beijing, including a 2013 case at an international tribunal that eventually struck down China’s claims to most of the resource-rich South China Sea waterway.
HONG KONG
Expat students decline 12%
The number of non-local students at Hong Kong international schools has fallen 12 percent in four years, reflecting a wave of expatriate departures during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 26,768 non-local students enrolled at the territory’s international schools in the current academic year, comprising 66 percent of the total intake, the Education Bureau said. That is down from 30,499, and 74 percent, respectively, in the 2019-2020 academic year. There is no easy way to ascertain how many expats left the territory during the COVID-19 era, when it was closed off to the world. The decline in non-local students may become a problem to operators of international schools if it continues. Under government rules, non-local students must account for an average 70 percent of the total. Hong Kong has 54 international schools.
INDIA
Moonshine kills at least 27
Toxic hooch has killed at least 27 people in the eastern state of Bihar, where alcohol is banned, officials said yesterday. Initial investigations found that poisonous methyl alcohol was mixed with the spirit. Police official Jitender Kumar said that 27 deaths had been reported since Saturday. Some local media put the toll at 40. Police have arrested 174 people in connection with illegal manufacturing, sale and supply of liquor in the past three days. They have also seized and destroyed more than 900 liters of toxic liquor during raids.
PAKISTAN
Landslide kills at least 2
A massive landslide yesterday struck a key highway in the country’s northwest near the border town of Torkham, burying two dozen trucks and killing at least two people, officials said. It was unclear how many people were missing and feared buried under the landslide. Police official Ishrat Khan said dozens of firefighters and rescuers were trying to save truck drivers and other people hit by the landslide near the Afghan border. Officials said the landslide was triggered by lightning during rain. At least one truck caught fire when it was struck by lightning, rescuers said. “Rescuers are very careful because there is a possibility of another landslide, but they are risking their lives to pull out those feared trapped,” Khan said.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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