MYANMAR
Rebels control town
An armed alliance of ethnic minority groups claimed late on Friday to have captured a northern town notorious for online scam operations in another blow to the embattled junta. The military is facing its biggest threat since seizing power in a 2021 coup after three armed ethnic groups — known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance — launched a sweeping offensive in northern Shan state in October last year. Since November people have been fleeing Laukkai town, located in a district bordering China that is run by a Myanmar military-aligned militia and notorious for gambling, prostitution and online scams run out of compounds staffed by thousands of people, many trafficked. The alliance — made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army — said the town was now under their control. “All members from the Myanmar Army’s Military Operational Command in Laukkai were disarmed and Laukkai became a clean area where there are no more members of the Myanmar Army,” the alliance said in a statement.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘Starsky and Hutch’ star dies
US-born actor and singer David Soul, a 1970s icon for his role as detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson in the classic TV series Starsky and Hutch, has died aged 80, his family announced on Friday. UK-based Soul, whose decades-spanning career included work as a director, producer and singer-songwriter, died on Thursday “after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family,” said his British wife, Helen Snell. “He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend,” she added in a statement. “His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.” One-time heartthrob Soul starred opposite Paul Michael Glaser’s wisecracking tough guy detective Dave Starsky in the wildly popular 1970s US series that was exported around the world.
UNITED STATES
Plane window blows out
An Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Oregon on Friday after a window and a chunk of its fuselage blew out in mid-air shortly after takeoff. A passenger sent Portland-based KATU-TV a photo showing a gaping hole in the side of the airplane next to passenger seats. It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured. The airline said the plane landed safely with 174 passengers and six crew members. “Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, experienced an incident this evening soon after departure,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. The airline said it would share more information when it became available.
UNITED STATES
Glynis Johns dies at 100
Glynis Johns, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie Mary Poppins and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be Send in the Clowns by Stephen Sondheim, has died. She was 100. Mitch Clem, her manager, said she died on Thursday at an assisted living home in Los Angeles of natural causes. “Today’s a sad day for Hollywood,” Clem said. “She is the last of the last of old Hollywood.” Johns was known to be a perfectionist about her profession — precise, analytical and opinionated.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
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
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