CHINA
Scientist protests eviction
The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in the nation was staging a sit-in protest after authorities locked him out of his lab. Virologist Zhang Yongzhen (張永振) wrote in a post on Weibo on Monday that he and his team were suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since he first published the sequence in early January 2020. The post was later deleted. Zhang wrote that he had been sitting outside his lab since Sunday despite pouring rain. When reached by phone yesterday, Zhang said it was “inconvenient” for him to speak, but a collaborator confirmed to the Associated Press on Monday the protest was taking place.
YEMEN
Houthi attack damages ship
A missile attack by Houthi rebels on Monday damaged a ship in the Red Sea, authorities said, the latest assault in their campaign against shipping in the crucial maritime route. The attack happened off the coast of Mokha, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center said. The ship was damaged in the attack, but its crew was safe and heading to its next port of call, it said, urging vessels to exercise caution in the area. The US military’s Central Command identified the ship damaged as the Cyclades, a Malta-flagged, Greece-owned bulk carrier. It added that it had shot down a drone on a flight path toward the USS Philippine Sea and USS Laboon. Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree in a statement early yesterday claimed the attack on the Cyclades and targeting the US warships. Meanwhile, the Italian Ministry of Defense said its frigate Virgino Fasan shot down a Houthi drone on Monday morning near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
ESTONIA
Russia violating airspace
Accusing Russia of violating international airspace regulations by interfering with GPS signals, Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna said it would take up the matter with its NATO and EU partners. Finnair on Monday announced a temporary suspension of its flights to Tartu for a month due to ongoing GPS disturbances that prevented two aircraft from landing. The Finnish airline said it did not know where the interference originated, but in the past had reported similar problems near Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and Finland’s eastern border with Russia. “GPS interference in Estonian airspace by RF [Russian Federation]) has affected civil aviation in our region. In doing so Russia violates international regulations,” Tsahkna wrote on X, without providing evidence to support the claim. Neither the Kremlin nor the Russian defense ministry immediately replied to requests for comment.
INDONESIA
Ruang volcano alert raised
Ruang volcano early yesterday spewed explosive incandescent lava into the night sky as lightning flashes lit up its crater, prompting authorities to raise the alert status and warn of a possible tsunami. The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation warned residents living on Tagulandang Island, the island closest to the volcano, that a tsunami could be triggered by volcanic material collapsing into the ocean. The warning was issued yesterday morning, with center official Hetty Triastuty saying it remained in placed as of the afternoon. The agency raised the alert status of Ruang to the highest level, urging residents not to go near the volcano.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘EAST SHIELD’: State-run Belma said it would produce up to 6 million mines to lay along Poland’s 800km eastern border, and sell excess to nations bordering Russia and Belarus Poland has decided to start producing anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War, and plans to deploy them along its eastern border and might export them to Ukraine, the deputy defense minister said. Joining a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia, with the exception of Norway, announce plans to quit the global treaty banning such weapons, Poland wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia. “We are interested in large quantities as soon as possible,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Pawel Zalewski said. The mines would be part
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