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.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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