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.
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
‘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
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS