RUSSIA
US citizen arrested
The Federal Security Service (FSB) yesterday said that it had arrested an American-Russian woman suspected of treason and raising funds for the Ukrainian army while in the US, state media reported. The FSB in the central Urals city of Yekaterinburg said it had “suppressed the illegal activities” of a 33-year-old woman, a resident of Los Angeles with dual citizenship, and taken her into custody. It said the unnamed woman had been “proactively collecting funds ... which were subsequently used to purchase tactical medical items, equipment, means of destruction and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces,” local news agencies reported, citing an FSB statement. The RIA Novosti agency posted a video from the FSB showing hooded officers escorting and handcuffing a woman in a white coat with a white hat pulled down over her eyes. Treason is punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Russia.
HAITI
Moise’s widow charged
A judge in charge of the investigation into the 2021 assassination of former president Jovenel Moise has charged about 50 people, including his widow and a former prime minister, a document leaked to local media showed. The 122-page document from Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire, made public by AyiboPost, said that Moise’s widow, Martine, conspired with former prime minister Claude Joseph to kill the president with the aim of replacing him herself. Jovenel Moise was shot and killed when armed men broke into his Port-au-Prince bedroom on the night of July 7, 2021, a raid that left the former first lady injured. The judge’s order calls for the arrest and trial of those charged. Martine Moise and Joseph did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
INDIA
Farmers reject price offer
Farmer groups rejected a government offer to guarantee minimum prices for some crops traded with no such safeguard, and are expected to resume their protest today. The farmers, who are seeking price guarantees for 23 crops, last week traveled toward New Delhi, demanding that the government fulfill that promise, made at the end of the 2021 protests. After multiple rounds of talks, the federal government offered to guarantee minimum prices on a small number of crops. Growers had temporarily halted their protest to consider the proposal. The nation is keen to reduce its dependence on water-heavy crops such as rice and is encouraging farmers to diversify their crops. Speaking to reporters at the protest site, one of the group leaders said that the share of the crop basket covered by the government’s offer is too small. “The proposal is not in favor of the farmers nor for their benefit,” Jagjit Singh Dallewal said late on Monday evening.
UNITED STATES
Cougar attacks cyclist
A woman suffered injuries to her face and neck after a cougar leapt out and “latched onto” her while she was cycling with a group on a trail in Washington state, authorities said. The incident happened on Saturday on a trail northeast of Fall City, about 40km east of Seattle, KOMO-TV reported. Friends of the woman, 60, “were able to detach and fight this thing off” after it “latched onto” her, Sergeant Carlo Pace of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police said. “They were able to pin down a good size lion with its claws and teeth and everything else under a mountain bike until we arrived,” he said. The woman was released from the hospital. The cougar was shot and killed by wildlife police.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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