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.
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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