INDONESIA
Bullet train launched
The country yesterday launched its first high-speed railway (HSR), a delayed, multibillion-dollar project backed by China that President Joko Widodo hailed as “a symbol of our modernization.” With a top speed of 350kph, the bullet train “Whoosh” can travel between the capital, Jakarta, and Bandung in 45 minutes. The 140km journey usually takes about three hours by train. “The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train marks our efficient, friendly and integrated mass transportation system,” Widodo said during a ceremony at the capital’s central station. “It is a symbol of our modernization.” Widodo said the 600-capacity train was the first high-speed rail transportation in Southeast Asia. It is part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Widodo said the name was an acronym, standing for “Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Handal,” which in Bahasa Indonesia means “Saving time, optimal operation, reliable system.” It was built by PT KCIC, which is made up of four Indonesian state companies and Beijing’s China Railway International Co.
AZERBAIJAN
UN visits Nagorno-Karabakh
A UN mission on Sunday visited Nagorno-Karabakh after almost the entire ethnic-Armenian population fled since Baku recaptured the breakaway enclave. A “UN mission arrived in Karabakh on Sunday morning” — mainly to assess humanitarian needs, a spokesman for the presidency said. It marks the first time in about 30 years that the international body has gained access to the region. Meanwhile, the prosecutor general issued an arrest warrant for former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Arayik Harutyunyan, who led the breakaway region from May 2020 until the beginning of last month. Harutyunyan and the enclave’s former military commander, Jalal Harutyunyan, are accused of firing missiles on Azerbaijan’s third-largest city, Ganja, during a 44-day war in late 2020, local media reported.
UKRAINE
One, dead, 6 hurt in shelling
Russian shelling of the Kherson region overnight killed at least one person and injured six, including two children, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said yesterday. Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts,” as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments, Prokudin said on Telegram. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, Prokudin said, adding that authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early yesterday. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
MEXICO
Ten migrants die in crash
At least 10 Cuban migrants were killed and 25 injured on Sunday when a cargo truck carrying them overturned in southern Mexico, local officials reported. The accident took place in southern Chiapas state, near the border with Guatemala, the report said. A source in the prosecutor’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that all of the victims were female, including one minor, and were apparently from Cuba. The accident occurred on a highway along the Pacific coast between the towns of Pijijiapan and Tonala, where migrants often travel as they attempt to reach the US. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel lamented the tragedy and said that the Mexican embassy was offering assistance. “We urge you to use established, safe and orderly routes when emigrating,” he told Cubans looking to leave their country.
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
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘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 —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
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