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.
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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