CENTRAL AMERICA
Quake hits Gulf of Darien
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck in the Gulf of Darien near the border of Panama and Colombia late on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, with tremors felt in both countries. Nine minutes later, the USGS reported a magnitude 4.9 aftershock at the same location. In Panama, civil protection agency Sinaproc said there had been no immediate reports of damage and it was monitoring the situation. In the Colombian city of Medellin, local officials said no damage had been reported. The quakes struck at a depth of 10km, the USGS said.
UNITED STATES
Memorial marks shooting
An emotional President Joe Biden marked the first anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre on Wednesday, saying that mass shootings have spread “killing fields” across the US. Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visibly struggled to hold back tears at the ceremony in the White House in front of 21 white candles representing the 19 children and two school staff killed at Robb Elementary School.
HONG KONG
Four arrested in bomb plot
Four Hong Kong students, including two minors, were yesterday sentenced over their roles in an anti-government plot to set off bombs in public spaces. A court sentenced the oldest of the four to more than five years in prison, and sent the other three to juvenile rehabilitation centers in a case handled under the National Security Law, which China imposed on the territory in 2020 to quell dissent. The four defendants, aged 17 to 21, were members of a group called “Returning Valiant,” which promoted independence from China and had called for resistance after the security law was imposed.
DENMARK
Abortion rules unveiled
The government plans to allow women aged 15 to 17 to get an abortion without consent from their parents, as the Nordic country marked the 50th anniversary of the right to choose. “Abortion can be associated with many emotions, guilt and shame,” Minister for Equality Marie Bjerre wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “It can be humiliating and have major consequences to have to ask for parental consent when you are under 18. We want to put an end to that.” Women living in Denmark have the right to an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy and do not have to provide a justification.
VIETNAM
Noodle vendor jailed
A noodle vendor famous for imitating a celebrity chef to allegedly mock a top government official was yesterday sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, police said, after a court found him guilty of anti-state propaganda. The conviction is the latest in what rights groups say is the government’s wide-ranging attempt to silence voices critical of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party. A video of Bui Tuan Lam, 39, went viral in November 2021 when it was posted days after a top Vietnamese official was caught on camera eating gold-encrusted steak at the London restaurant of Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, known as “Salt Bae.” Lam, who described himself in a Facebook post uploaded alongside the video as “Green Onion Bae,” was convicted of “making, storing, distributing, or disseminating information, documents, and items against the state,” the Da Nang Police Department said after a one-day trial.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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