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 Venezuelan government on Monday said that it would close its embassies in Norway and Australia, and open new ones in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe in a restructuring of its foreign service, after weeks of growing tensions with the US. The closures are part of the “strategic reassignation of resources,” Venezueland President Nicolas Maduro’s government said in a statement, adding that consular services to Venezuelans in Norway and Australia would be provided by diplomatic missions, with details to be shared in the coming days. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had received notice of the embassy closure, but no
A missing fingertip offers a clue to Mako Nishimura’s criminal past as one of Japan’s few female yakuza, but after clawing her way out of the underworld, she now spends her days helping other retired gangsters reintegrate into society. The multibillion-dollar yakuza organized crime network has long ruled over Japan’s drug rings, illicit gambling dens and sex trade. In the past few years, the empire has started to crumble as members have dwindled and laws targeting mafia are tightened. An intensifying police crackdown has shrunk yakuza forces nationwide, with their numbers dipping below 20,000 last year for the first time since records
EXTRADITION FEARS: The legislative changes come five years after a treaty was suspended in response to the territory’s crackdown on democracy advocates Exiled Hong Kong dissidents said they fear UK government plans to restart some extraditions with the territory could put them in greater danger, adding that Hong Kong authorities would use any pretext to pursue them. An amendment to UK extradition laws was passed on Tuesday. It came more than five years after the UK and several other countries suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong in response to a government crackdown on the democracy movement and its imposition of a National Security Law. The British Home Office said that the suspension of the treaty made all extraditions with Hong Kong impossible “even if
Former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, best known for making a statement apologizing over World War II, died yesterday aged 101, officials said. Murayama in 1995 expressed “deep remorse” over the country’s atrocities in Asia. The statement became a benchmark for Tokyo’s subsequent apologies over World War II. “Tomiichi Murayama, the father of Japanese politics, passed away today at 11:28am at a hospital in Oita City at the age of 101,” Social Democratic Party Chairwoman Mizuho Fukushima said. Party Secretary-General Hiroyuki Takano said he had been informed that the former prime minister died of old age. In the landmark statement in August 1995, Murayama said
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