THE NETHERLANDS
One killed in ship blaze
A fire on a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 vehicles was burning out of control yesterday in the North Sea, and the coast guard said that one crew member had died, others were hurt and it was working to save the vessel from sinking. Boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after they tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement. Coast guard spokeswoman Lea Versteeg said in a telephone interview that “we’re currently working out to see how we can make sure that ... the least bad situation is going to happen.”
CHINA
Ex-party boss sentenced
The government has jailed the former Chinese Communist Party secretary of Hangzhou, home to Ant Group and Alibaba, for life after finding that he took about US$25 million in bribes over his career. Zhou Jiangyong(周江勇), 55, was given a suspended death sentence on Tuesday on corruption charges, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. A court in Chuzhou said that Zhou helped people and firms secure rights to use land and contracts for projects. He was earlier linked to Ant, although prosecutors did not name the fintech company or Alibaba. Last year, he became the first cadre to be ousted from the party over corruption charges relating to the “disorderly expansion of capital.”
UKRAINE
Ex-US marine injured in war
A former US marine who spent more than two years in a Russian prison for assault on law enforcement in 2019 was injured fighting for Ukraine, the US Department of State confirmed on Tuesday. Trevor Reed, who was released by Moscow in a prisoner swap in April last year, has been sent to Germany for the treatment of unspecified injuries, state department spokesman Vedant Patel said. He added that Reed “was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the US government,” but had traveled to Ukraine to join the fight on his own.
ECUADOR
Death toll from riots rises
The attorney general on Tuesday raised the death toll from a wave of violence over the weekend in one of the country’s most dangerous jails to 31, after the government earlier declared a 60-day state of emergency for the country’s prisons. The emergency declaration seemed to set off violence in the city of Esmeraldas, where 15 prison guards and two other staffers were being held hostage at a local jail, the government said in a statement. In Esmeraldas itself, a police unit was attacked, explosives were placed at gas stations and several vehicles were burned.
UNITED STATES
Florida water hits 37.8°C
The water temperature on the tip of Florida hit hot tub levels, exceeding 37.8°C two days in a row, and meteorologists say that could potentially be the hottest seawater ever measured. Although weather records for seawater temperature are unofficial, the initial reading on a buoy at Manatee Bay was 38.4°C on Monday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist George Rizzuto said. On Sunday night the buoy showed a reading of 37.9°C. “This is a hot tub. I like my hot tub around 100[°F], 101[°F; 37.8°C, 38.3°C]. That’s what was recorded yesterday,” Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters said. Hot tub maker Jacuzzi recommends water between 37.8°C and 38.9°C.
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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