SOUTH KOREA
Politician ends hunger strike
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung yesterday ended a 24-day hunger strike, a party spokesperson said, two days after parliament voted to let prosecutors serve an arrest warrant against him for alleged bribery. Lee, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is to maintain a schedule including court attendance while hospitalized, the spokesman told reporters. Prosecutors this month sought the warrant in an investigation into bribery allegations concerning a development project. Prosecutors say that Lee asked a company to illegally transfer US$8 million to North Korea when he was the governor of Gyeonggi Province.
SWEDEN
Motorway collapses
A large chunk of a motorway in the southwest collapsed overnight, causing three people to be taken to hospital with light injuries, police said yesterday. The landslide damaged the motorway between Gothenburg and Norway’s capital, Oslo, near the small town of Stenungsund, about 50km north of Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast. “The hardest hit parts of the landslide area measure around 150 by 100m. In total, however, the landslide has affected an area of around 700 by 200m,” the Gothenburg Rescue Services said in a statement. The slide affected about 10 vehicles, a wooded area, and a business area with a gas station and a fast food restaurant, it said.
UNITED STATES
Pilot lands in backyard
A recording was released on Friday of a 911 emergency call from a homeowner reporting that the pilot of a US Marine Corps F-35 had parachuted into his backyard after ejecting from the stealth jet. “I guess we got a pilot in our house,” the homeowner said. “He ejected from the plane. I guess he landed in my backyard and we were trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house.” “I’m sorry, what happened?” said the bewildered 911 dispatcher who fielded the unusual call over the weekend. The pilot parachuted safely into a neighborhood in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday last week after ejecting from the US$80 million jet, which continued flying in what some called a “zombie state.” The plane eventually crashed about 100km north of where the pilot ejected and the wreckage was located on Monday after authorities asked the public to help find the missing jet. After the homeowner spoke to the dispatcher, the pilot himself got on the phone and tried to explain the situation. “I’m a pilot in a military aircraft and I ejected, so I just rode a parachute down to the ground,” he said. “Can you please send an ambulance?”
MEXICO
Doll and its owner arrested
Handcuffed, a knife still sticking out of its overalls, a Chucky doll hunched against the wall as police held it by its bright orange hair to take its mug shot. In a bizarre twist, Chucky and its owner were taken into lockup in a town in Coahuila state’s Monclova earlier this week. The puppet master, identified only as Carlos “N,” allegedly used the “demon doll” to scare people and demand money, local media reported. Both were charged with disturbing the peace and putting others’ integrity at risk. One officer at the police department was seen laughing as she held up the long knife taken from Chucky. Media reported that the officer who put Chucky in cuffs was later reprimanded for not taking her job seriously. Local media reported that Carlos “N” was later released, although the Chucky doll’s whereabouts are still unknown.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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