SOUTH KOREA
Stabbed politician in ICU
Opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung yesterday remained hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) in Seoul, a day after a knife attack on him shocked political leaders who were vying for the upper hand in a major election three months away. Surgeons operated on Lee for more than two hours late on Tuesday to repair a major blood vessel in his neck that was sliced when an assailant lunged and stabbed him with a knife in Busan. He was conscious and recovering in the ICU, party officials said. Investigators yesterday searched the suspect’s home and office in Asan, more than 300km from the site of the attack, Yonhap news agency reported. He remains in police custody. The police have not commented on the detail of the investigation including a possible motive.
VIETNAM
COVID-19 graft trial starts
The former minister of health and 37 others yesterday went on trial in Hanoi for their alleged roles in producing and distributing overpriced COVID-19 test kits. The Viet A scandal, named for the semi-private firm that made the kits, allegedly saw senior officials facilitate multiple million-dollar deals to supply hospitals and local communities with testing equipment at vastly inflated prices. Former health minister Nguyen Thanh Long is accused of receiving bribes worth US$2.25 million, while former Hanoi mayor Chu Ngoc Anh is accused of “violating regulations on management of state assets.” At least 100 officials and businesspeople have been arrested across the country in connection with the scandal. The scam was estimated to have netted about US$172 million for Viet A — US$34 million of which was allegedly ploughed straight back into the bribing of officials.
AUSTRALIA
Wife wins sperm suit
A 62-year-old woman can harvest her dead husband’s sperm, after convincing a judge that the pair were considering having a baby before he died. The couple started thinking about having another child after their 31-year-old son was killed in a car accident in 2019, legal documents released yesterday showed. Six years earlier, their 29-year-old daughter had drowned during a fishing trip. Spurred by the traumatic events, the couple started investigating whether the 61-year-old husband’s sperm could be used to impregnate a surrogate. After the husband died at home on Dec. 17, his wife — who cannot be named for legal reasons — asked the hospital morgue to collect and store his sperm, but it dragged its feet, forcing her to seek an order from the Supreme Court of Western Australia, court documents said. A judge allowed the sperm to be harvested, but said separate orders would be needed before it could be used for fertilization.
UNITED STATES
US-Mexico border to reopen
The government is today to reopen four legal US-Mexico border crossings as high levels of illegal immigration have receded and freed up personnel, Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday. The government would resume operations at an international bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, two crossings in Arizona and another near San Diego, California, it said in a news release, adding that it would continue to prioritize border security “as necessary.” Border authorities last month struggled to process migrants as apprehensions reached nearly 11,000 in a single day, which several current and former officials said was near or at a record high.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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