CHINA
Myanmar border drills start
The People’s Liberation Army yesterday started exercises along the border with Myanmar, the Xinhua News Agency reported. No end date was given for the operation. The border zone has become a flashpoint over the past month as armed Burmese ethnic groups opposed to the government have seized a number of towns including a key tin trading hub. Beijing has also been seeking to crack down on cross-border cybercrimes within Myanmar, according to state-run China Central Television. The southern military command, which is leading the drill, said it is “always prepared to respond to various emergencies to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, border stability and the safety of people’s lives and property,” it said on its WeChat account.
JAPAN
Poultry farm has H5 bird flu
The country detected the first case of highly pathogenic H5-type bird flu this season at a poultry farm in the south of the country, public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. The local government in Saga Prefecture would cull about 40,000 birds on the farm, NHK said, citing unnamed Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries officials. Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would convene relevant cabinet ministers to discuss measures to prevent spreading of the virus, NHK said.
INDIA
Tunnel rescue delayed
Efforts to rescue 41 workers trapped in a highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas for two weeks would be further slowed as rescuers are considering drilling through the last 10m of debris manually, an official said yesterday. The heavy drill machine being used to break through the nearly 60m of debris was damaged on Friday and needs to be pulled out entirely, an official statement said. The men have been stuck in the 4.5km tunnel being built in Uttarakhand state since it caved in on Nov. 12. Authorities have said they are safe, with access to light, oxygen, food, water and medicines. Sunita Hembrom, who spoke to her trapped brother-in-law Birendra Kishku, 39, said that “everyone trapped inside is very worried... My brother in law told me that he has hasn’t eaten any food since yesterday. We are very worried.”
UNITED STATES
George Floyd officer stabbed
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured at a federal prison in Arizona on Friday, a person familiar with the matter said. The attack happened at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison. The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an incarcerated person was assaulted at about 12:30pm. In a statement, the agency said responding employees contained the incident and performed “life-saving measures” before the inmate was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.
UNITED STATES
Cuomo sued for harassment
Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo is being sued by a former aide who says he sexually harassed her while he was still in office. Cuomo’s former executive assistant Brittany Commisso filed the case against the ex-governor in state Supreme Court in Albany on Wednesday. The filing, a three-page summons, came just before the expiration for lawsuits under the Adult Survivors Act, a law which gave victims of sexual abuse a one-year window for claims that would otherwise be barred by time limits.
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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