RUSSIA
Security forces storm prison
Security forces yesterday stormed a detention center in the southern region of Rostov, killing inmates who had taken two members of staff hostage, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. The hostages at the pretrial detention center were uninjured, RIA Novosti said, citing the Federal Penitentiary Service. It said that the hostage takers had been “liquidated,” with other local news outlets reporting that at least some of the prisoners had been killed. Earlier, state news agency TASS, citing unnamed sources, said that six hostage takers were armed with a penknife, a rubber baton and a fire axe. The prisoners include men accused of links to the Islamic State group, it said.
UNITED STATES
Nine injured in shooting
Nine people were on Saturday injured, including two young children and their mother, after a shooter opened fire at a splash pad in a Detroit suburb where families gathered to escape the summer heat. Law enforcement tracked a suspect to a home, where the man, whose name was not released, died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. An eight-year-old boy was shot in the head and in critical condition on Saturday night, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard told a news conference. The boy’s mother also was in critical condition after being wounded in the abdomen and leg, and his four-year-old brother was in stable condition with a leg wound. The other six victims, all 30 or older, were in stable condition, Bouchard said. The shooting, which occurred just after 5pm at a city park, appeared to be random, with the attacker walking to the splash pad and firing as many as 28 times, stopping multiple times to reload, he said. “In terms of the ‘why,’ I don’t know,” he said of the shooter’s motive.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cow-ramming sparks outrage
The interior minister on Saturday demanded an “urgent explanation” after police officers were filmed ramming a runaway cow with their car. The Surrey Police force said it had referred itself to the police ethics watchdog after officers on Friday evening responded to reports of a loose cow “running at members of the public” in Staines-upon-Thames. It said officers spent several hours trying to catch the animal, and eventually “a decision was made to stop it using a police car.” Footage published on social media showed a cow running in a residential road being hit by a police car, getting up and then being hit again. “I can think of no reasonable need for this action. I’ve asked for a full, urgent explanation for this. It appears to be unnecessarily heavy handed,” Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly wrote on X. The footage drew anger in animal-loving Britain. “What sort of monster rams a calf?” BBC nature presenter Chris Packham wrote on X.
UNITED STATES
Trump confuses doctor
Former president Donald Trump on Saturday challenged 81-year-old US President Joe Biden to take a cognitive test, but then confused the name of the doctor who performed his own assessment. Trump extolled his powers of mental recall in a speech in Detroit, challenging Biden to take the same exam he says he underwent in 2018 with then-White House physician Ronny Jackson. However, he immediately flubbed the name of the former official, who is now one of his loyal supporters in Congress. “Doc Ronny Johnson,” said Trump, who turned 78 on Friday. “Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas?” he continued. “He said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much.”
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS