CHINA
No emerging illness: official
A surge in respiratory illness is caused by known pathogens and there is no sign of new infectious diseases, a health official said yesterday as the country faces its first full winter since lifting strict COVID-19 restrictions. The spike in illness attracted attention when the WHO sought information last week, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children. Authorities are to open more pediatric outpatient clinics, seek to ensure more elderly people and children receive flu vaccines and encourage people to wear masks and wash their hands, National Health Commission official Mi Feng (米鋒) told a news conference.
PHILIPPINES
Troops kill 11 militants
Troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery fire, killed 11 suspected Islamic militants near a hinterland village in the south, authorities said yesterday, in one of the military’s bloodiest anti-insurgency offensives this year. The military launched the offensive on Friday after receiving intelligence about the whereabouts of suspected leaders and armed followers of the Dawla Islamiyah and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters groups near Tuwayan in Maguindanao province, military officials said.
UNITED STATES
Trump immunity rejected
Former president Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute presidential immunity against criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ruled, saying the office does not come with a “lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.” US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday rejected Trump’s early efforts to get the federal indictment against him in Washington tossed out, including his contention that he could not be prosecuted over actions he took after the 2020 election while he was president. Trump’s “four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens,” the judge wrote. The decision came hours after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit rejected Trump’s effort to claim presidential immunity against civil claims seeking to hold him responsible for the violence at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
JAPAN
Officials worry over Ospreys
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Friday expressed concern that the US military is continuing to fly Osprey aircraft in the country without providing adequate information about Wednesday’s fatal crash near Yakushima Island, in which one crew member was killed and seven others remain missing. “We are concerned about the continuing Osprey flights despite our repeated requests and the absence of a sufficient explanation about their safety” from the US military, Matsuno said.
NICARAGUA
Pageant head faces charges
The director of the national beauty pageant was accused of “treason” on Friday, after a woman seen as a symbol of opposition to the government was crowned Miss Universe. A police statement said that Karen Celebertti, her husband and her son — all owners of the Miss Nicaragua pageant — had participated “in the terrorist actions of the failed coup attempt,” a reference to the 2018 mass protests against President Daniel Ortega. Sheynnis Palacios, 23, has been widely portrayed as a symbol of opposition to the longtime president since she was crowned as the first Miss Universe from Nicaragua last month.
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 —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
RSS