SOUTH KOREA
Yoon casts early vote
President Yoon Suk-yeol cast his ballot yesterday as early voting got under way ahead of next week’s general election, where his party is seeking to win back its parliamentary majority. Yoon’s approval ratings have fallen below 40 percent in recent weeks, according to some pollsters, driven by a litany of scandals and voter dissatisfaction with rising inflation. However, experts say the poll is crucial for Yoon’s People Power Party, because his authority could be significantly weakened for the final three years of his term if the opposition wins a supermajority. Yoon cast his vote in Busan and afterwards thanked the staff at the polling station, his office said.
DENMARK
Faulty missile shuts strait
An important shipping strait between two Danish islands was closed for several hours on Thursday after a missile malfunction on a navy frigate, the military said. The malfunction happened during a missile test on the Niels Juel frigate in the port of Korsor, west of Copenhagen, which created the risk of a missile launch. “The problem happened during a compulsory test where the launcher had been activated” and could not be deactivated for several hours, Danish Defence Command said in a statement. As long as the launcher was not deactivated, there was “a risk that the missile would be fired and would travel several kilometers,” the military said, adding however that there was no risk of the missile exploding. The Great Belt shipping lane, which separates the islands of Zealand and Funen, and air traffic over it were closed between mid-afternoon and 8pm. However, road traffic on the bridge between the two islands was not suspended.
RUSSIA
Governor stabbed
The governor of the northwestern Murmansk region was stabbed in the stomach after a meeting with local residents, the most dangerous assault on a high-ranking government official in more than a decade. Governor Andrei Chibis, 45, had just finished a meeting at the cultural center in the town of Apatity on Thursday, when a man walked up and stabbed him with a knife, local media reports said. The suspect, who was not named, told interrogators that he committed the attack because he “disliked” the governor, although he did not know him personally, the Investigation Committee said on its Telegram channel. The investigation is ongoing. Chibis underwent surgery for his injuries, and posted a video in his Telegram channel yesterday, saying he is conscious and will recover.
CHINA
Space pact with India inked
China and Thailand yesterday signed initial pacts to cooperate on peaceful use of outer space and international lunar research stations, the China National Space Administration said in a statement. The countries aim to form a joint working group on space exploration and applications, encompassing data exchanges and personnel training, the memorandums of understanding said. They also agreed to cooperate on plans for appraising, engineering and managing lunar research stations, it said. Last year, China selected a space weather monitor developed by Thailand for its Chang’e-7 lunar probe mission, the agency added. To be launched around 2026, the Chang’e-7 mission will explore resources on the moon’s south pole, looking to sustain long-term human habitation. China aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS