PHILIPPINES
Joint drills with US on
The US and Manila are conducting joint air and maritime patrols in the South China Sea. The air force yesterday said that its aircraft had taken part in joint patrols on Tuesday in the vicinity of Batanes, which is about 200km from Taiwan. The patrols run through today and also include the US and Philippine navies. In announcing the start of the joint patrols, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr wrote on X that they were “testament to our commitment to bolster the interoperability of our military forces.”
Photo: AP
THAILAND
Rogue iguanas captured
Officers have captured more than 150 rogue iguanas that were raiding farms, officials said on Tuesday. The lizards are not native to the kingdom, hailing originally from Central and South America, but are increasingly popular as pets. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said that 134 iguanas had been captured in Lopburi. A further six were discovered in Udon Thani and 23 more elsewhere in the nation, it said. The animals are to be kept at wildlife centers.
AUSTRALIA
Pacific cyberteam to form
Canberra yesterday said that it would spend A$26.2 million (US$17 million) to establish “rapid assistance” teams to respond to cybercrises in the Pacific region, and another A$16.7 million to identify cybervulnerabilities in the Pacific islands. The cybersecurity boost comes after Canberra and the US last month committed to funding two new undersea cables to be rolled out by Google in the Pacific islands to increase connectivity for eight remote countries. Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy said that the rapid response teams would “build long-term resilience in the Pacific” and provide critical support.
AUSTRALIA
Hitchhiker gets long ride
A man confessed to having “a bit to drink” before stashing himself in the undercarriage of a freight truck to hitch a quick ride home. By the time he climbed out about five hours later, the 43-year-old was disoriented, disheveled and stranded about 400km from his intended stop. A Queensland police officer summed up the man’s predicament in footage released to the media after finding him on the side of the road late last week. “You had a big session, you’ve lost all control, and you’ve ended up here somehow trying to work your way back?” he asked. “Pretty much,” said the stowaway, who was clad in a soiled blue shirt. Police said the “intoxicated” man climbed onto metal racks underneath the B-Double freight truck — which can weigh upward of 50 tonnes — when it stopped in Nambucca Heads, New South Wales. He planned to clamber out when the truck stopped at a red light about 40 minutes away in Coffs Harbour, police said. However, the plan went awry when the truck sailed through a string of green lights, finally stopping to refuel in Queensland. “I’m really stressed out. I had a bit to drink,” the man told police. “I jumped in the undercarriage thinking he was going to stop in Coffs Harbour, and he got a green light the whole way through and never stopped until here.” The police officer suggested it must have an uncomfortable ride. “I didn’t have to worry about the air con, there was a pretty breeze through there,” the man said. “It was just stupidity to be honest with you.” Queensland police said the man had been fined A$288 for riding in a “part of a motor vehicle not designed for passengers or goods.”
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
FALLEN: The nine soldiers who were killed while carrying out combat and engineering tasks in Russia were given the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after carrying out duties in Russia, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday. In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) for “heroic” conduct and “mass heroism” in fulfilling orders issued by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during a 120-day overseas deployment. Video footage released by North Korea showed uniformed soldiers disembarking from an aircraft, Kim hugging a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials
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