PHILIPPINES
Doctor wins award
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, a Vietnamese doctor who has helped seek justice for people affected by “Agent Orange” — a defoliant dioxin used by US forces during the Vietnam War — was among this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards announced yesterday. Nguyen carried out extensive research into the long-term effects of Agent Orange, which she first encountered in the late 1960s as a medical intern when she helped deliver babies with severe birth defects as a result of the lingering effect of the highly toxic chemical, the awards body said. “Her work serves as a dire warning for the world to avoid war at all costs as its tragic repercussions can reach far into the future,” the Magsaysay foundation said. Other winners included Indonesian Farwiza Farhan, for her work to help lead a group to protect the Leuser Ecosystem on Sumatra Island; and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki for his work to create animated films for children.
ARMENIA
Lightning strikes plant
A lightning strike on Friday caused the shutdown of the nation’s single nuclear power plant, Interfax news agency reported yesterday, citing local authorities. The plant was hit at 9:55pm and was disconnected from the grid, the report cited the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure as saying. The plant is about 25km outside the capital, Yerevan. “The reason was a lightning strike, which caused the station’s safety systems to switch it into safe shutdown mode,” the ministry said.
IRAQ
ISIS members killed
A joint operation by US and Iraqi forces killed 15 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in western Iraq, Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday. The raid targeted Islamic State leaders and was carried out on Thursday morning, resulting “in the death of 15 ISIS operatives” with “no indication of civilian casualties,” CENTCOM said on X. It said the Islamic State group members were “armed with numerous weapons, grenades and explosive ‘suicide’ belts.”
GERMANY
Stoltenberg defends Ukraine
Ukraine was fully within its rights to launch its offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region as an act of self-defense, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German newspaper Die Welt. “Ukraine has a right to defend itself and according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg said in an interview published yesterday. “The Russian soldiers, tanks and bases there [in Kursk] are legitimate targets under international law.”
UNITED STATES
Suspect dies in crash
A man suspected of abducting a nine-year-old girl from a New York City supermarket and sexually assaulting her in his car was killed on Friday when he crashed while fleeing police, authorities said. Officers tried to pull over the 64-year-old suspect’s car in the early afternoon in Queens, New York Police Department Assistant Chief Jason Savino told a news conference. With police in pursuit, the driver ran a stop sign and struck another vehicle. He died at a hospital. The driver of the other vehicle sustained minor injuries. Police said the man approached the girl in the Key Food store Thursday evening while her grandmother was using the restroom. He told the girl to get in front of him, grabbed her hair and “forcefully” led her outside, Savino said. He then pushed the girl into his car, drove a short distance, assaulted her and left her on the street.
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
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