PHILIPPINES
Soldier, rebels die in clash
Six guerrillas and a soldier were killed in a clash yesterday, officials said, as the government prepared to restart peace talks to end one of the world’s longest-running Maoist insurgencies. Government troops exchanged fire with New People’s Army guerrillas near the town of Balayan, about 68km south of the capital, Manila, an army statement said. The clash came three weeks after the government and the rebels agreed to resume negotiations aimed at ending the near 55-year insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
UKRAINE
Drone attack repelled
The government yesterday said that it had repelled two Russian missile and 20 drone attacks overnight, as Moscow reported downing 33 drones fired from Ukraine. “The Russian occupying forces attacked with the Iskander-K cruise missile, the Kh-59 guided air missile ... as well as 20 Shahed-type strike drones,” the air force said in a statement. The military shot down the drones and the Kh-59 missile, while the “Iskander-K cruise missile did not reach its goal,” the air force said, adding that the missiles were launched from Crimea and the occupied Kherson region.
UNITED KINGDOM
Grid removes China tech
The National Grid has started removing components supplied by a unit of China-backed Nari Technology from the electricity transmission network over cybersecurity fears, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The decision came in April after the utility sought advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, the newspaper quoted a Whitehall official as saying. An employee at the Nari subsidiary, NR Electric UK, said the company no longer had access to sites where the components were installed and that National Grid did not disclose a reason for terminating the contracts, the Financial Times said. It quoted another person it did not name as saying the decision was based on NR Electric UK components that help control and balance the grid and minimize the risk of blackouts.
UNITED STATES
Wine fraudster faces charges
A British man accused of allegedly defrauding investors of nearly US$100 million through a Ponzi-like scheme involving nonexistent luxury wines pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Saturday. Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited to New York from Morocco on Friday to face the charges, following his arrest last year, after entering that country using a fake Zimbabwean passport, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said that Burton, along with a codefendant, ran Bordeaux Cellars, a company they said brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors.
AUSTRALIA
Original AC/DC drummer dies
Australian drummer Colin Burgess, an original member of the hard rock band AC/DC in the early 1970s, has died, the band confirmed on its social media accounts. He was 77. “Very sad to hear of the passing of Colin Burgess,” said an unsigned post on the band’s official Facebook page late Friday. “He was our first drummer and a very respected musician. Happy memories, rock in peace Colin.” No cause of death was given. Burgess was recruited in November 1973 to help form AC/DC with Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar and his brother Angus on lead guitar, lead vocalist Dave Evans and bassist Larry Van Kriedt. The band fired Burgess in February 1974, accusing him of being drunk on stage. He later said someone had spiked his drink.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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