MYANMAR
Flood strands thousands
Flooding in the country’s north has trapped thousands of people in their homes and cut electricity and phone lines, residents and local media said yesterday, with the state weather office warning of more heavy rain. After days of heavy rain in Myitkyina, a city in northern Kachin State, the Ayeyarwady River had risen above its “danger level,” state media said. Images on local media showed inundated buildings and people wading through neck-high water carrying their belongings over their heads.
SOUTH KOREA
Car hits pedestrians, 9 dead
A driver whose car struck pedestrians waiting at a crowded intersection in Seoul, killing nine people, would be investigated for accidental homicide, police said yesterday. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that a 68-year-old driver crashed into people who were waiting at a traffic signal in central Seoul on Monday night. He was driving in the wrong direction and hit two other vehicles before hitting the pedestrians, Yonhap said. Six people were injured, including the driver who was detained. He told investigators that his car accelerated abruptly and unintentionally. Tests showed that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, police said.
STANDING HEAD
Xi arrives for summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday arrived in the country for a state visit, during which he is to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Astana. The group’s permanent members are Kazakhstan, India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and, as of last year, Iran. Belarus is expected to join this year.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize