INDIA
Death toll hits 77
At least 77 people are confirmed dead in the floods that hit the northeast, authorities said yesterday, with destroyed roads and bridges leaving thousands more still cut off despite waters receding. Violent torrents struck Sikkim state on Wednesday after a high-altitude glacial lake suddenly burst. “A total of 29 bodies have been retrieved from different parts of Sikkim,” Sikkim State Relief Commissioner Anilraj Rai said. In neighboring West Bengal state, Jalpaiguri District police said that another 48 bodies had been recovered. More than 100 people are still missing, official figures showed.
UKRAINE
Shelling wounds dozens
Russian shelling on residential areas of Kherson overnight wounded almost a dozen people including nine-month-old baby, local authorities said yesterday. Kyiv took back the regional capital of Kherson in November last year, but the southern city remains within reach of Russian fire. “Kherson experienced another terrible night” as Russian forces “repeatedly shelled the city and settlements,” Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. “Eleven residents were injured. A 27-year-old woman and her nine-month-old daughter were hospitalized in moderate condition,” he added. Among the wounded was a 33-year-old Red Cross medic who was hospitalized.
MYANMAR
Suu Kyi appeals denied
The Supreme Court has rejected appeals against six corruption convictions for jailed former state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, media reports said. In detention since the military toppled her government in a 2021 coup, Aung San Suu Kyi faces 27 years in prison. She is appealing dozens of convictions for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to contraventions of the telecommunications law. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has denied wrongdoing. The junta recently granted a partial pardon that shaved six years off her prison sentence, a move that critics, including her son, said meant nothing.
GUATEMALA
OAS names representatives
The Organization of American States (OAS) on Saturday named the representatives that are to lead its mission to mediate between officials and street protesters seeking an orderly transfer to power to President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, a statement published on X, formely known as Twitter, said. OAS President Luis Almagro late on Friday said that he accepted the invitation from Guatemala City that asked to achieve “consensus among different sectors” of the country. Former Uruguayan minister of defense Luis Rosadilla and the OAS Secretary of Access to Rights and Equity Maricarmen Plata are to lead the mission. Tens of thousands took to the streets this week, demanding the resignation of powerful senior prosecutors accused of working to undermine Arevalo’s ability to take office.
UNITED STATES
Lottery climbs to US$1.55bn
The Powerball jackpot on Saturday climbed to an estimated US$1.55 billion after no one matched the game’s six numbers and won the giant prize. The numbers drawn on Saturday night were: 47, 54, 57, 60, 65 and red Powerball 19. The US$1.55 billion prize is for a sole winner who is paid through an annuity, with annual checks over 30 years. Most jackpot winners opt for cash, which for the next drawing tonight would be an estimated US$679.8 million. The jackpot is the world’s fourth-largest lottery prize after rolling over for 34 consecutive drawings.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home