PHILIPPINES
China exploring shoal
China has deployed vessels and divers to explore a South China Sea shoal for reclamation, Manila said, in another incident that could escalate the two nations’ maritime dispute. The coast guard sent a patrol ship to the area near Sabina Shoal (Sianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) to deter China’s activities close to the Southeast Asian nation’s coast, coast guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela was quoted as saying in a government statement on Saturday. Manila is closely monitoring Chinese research vessels in the area, Tarriela said.
INDONESIA
Floods, cold lava kill 12
At least 12 people after flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano hit the west of the nation, rescue officials said yesterday. The disaster hit Agam and Tanah Datar districts in West Sumatra Province at about 10:30pm on Saturday after hours of heavy rain, triggering a flash flood and a cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, the National Search and Rescue Agency said. Cold lava is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano’s slopes by rain. “Twelve people died and they had been taken to the hospital ... and four other people are still being searched in Agam district,” local rescue agency head Abdul Malik said in a statement yesterday. Nine bodies have been identified, including those of a three-year-old and eight-year-old, he said.
INDONESIA
At least 11 die in bus crash
A bus hit cars and motorbikes in West Java Province, killing at least 11 people, mostly students, and injuring dozens, officials said yesterday. The bus carrying 61 students and teachers was returning to a high school in Depok outside Jakarta late on Saturday from the hilly resort area of Bandung after a graduation celebration, West Java police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast said. Nine people died at the scene and two others died later in the hospital, including a teacher and a local motorist, Abast said. Fifty-three other people were hospitalized, he said. “A preliminary investigation showed the bus’ brakes malfunctioned,” Abast said.
SOUTH AFRICA
Man free days after collapse
Rescuers and onlookers on Saturday cheered and applauded as a survivor emerged after 116 hours from underneath the rubble of a collapsed building, with the tragedy having killed at least 13. “It is a miracle that we have all been hoping for,” Western Cape Premier Alan Winde wrote on X. An apartment block under construction in the southern city of George crumbled on Monday afternoon last week while a crew of 81 were on site. “I’m okay now, I’m okay now, everything is okay. Thank you, God bless you guys,” Gabriel Guambe said in a video shared by the municipality. “Mr Guambe is recovering well ... having remarkably sustained only minor injuries,” authorities said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Pig kidney recipient dies
The first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died nearly two months after he underwent the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery said on Saturday. Richard Slayman had the transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in March at the age of 62. The transplant team at the hospital said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by Slayman’s passing. They said they did not have any indication that he died as a result of the transplant. The Weymouth, Massachusetts, man was the first living person to have the procedure.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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