JAPAN
Thousands told to evacuate
Authorities yesterday told tens of thousands of people to evacuate the quake-hit Ishikawa Prefecture as “unprecedented” rains triggered floods and landslides. A dozen rivers in the region had burst their banks by 11am, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism official Masaru Kojima said. Three people were missing in Ishikawa, public broadcaster NHK reported, two of them carried away by strong river currents. At least one person was missing further north in Wajima, and rescue workers were trying to confirm a report of another person missing, a local official said. The cities of Wajima and Suzu, and the town of Noto, ordered about 44,700 residents to evacuate, officials said.
VIETNAM
Activist released early
Prominent climate activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong has been released early from jail, her husband said yesterday, hours ahead of a visit by Communist Party General Secretary To Lam to the US. A second high-profile detainee, dissident Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, was also released, his friend and former human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh said. In September last year, Hong was sentenced to three years in prison for dodging US$275,000 in taxes related to her environmental group. She was one of five environmentalists jailed for tax evasion, in what activists have called a campaign to silence them.
AUSTRALIA
Murder suspect arrested
A 65-year-old man has been arrested in Rome over the “horrific, frenzied” 1977 murder of two women in their home in Melbourne, Victoria Police said yesterday. The bodies of Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, were discovered at their house in Easey Street, Melbourne, on January 13, 1977, with multiple stab wounds. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton told a news conference the 47-year-old crime was the state’s longest and most serious cold case. The suspect, a dual Greek-Australian citizen, had been living in Greece where he was protected by the country’s statute of limitations, Patton said. Police waited for him to leave the country and he was finally arrested on Thursday at Fiumicino airport.
UKRAINE
EU, US prepare aid, loans
The US is preparing a US$375 million military aid package for Kyiv, breaking a months-long trend towards smaller packages for its military operations against Russia, two US officials said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for Brussels to lend Ukraine 35 billion euros (US$39.11 billion) backed by revenues of frozen Russian assets and promised to help Ukraine “keep warm” ahead of a third winter of war with Russia.
ICELAND
Police kill polar bear
A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said on Friday. The bear was killed on Thursday afternoon in the northwest after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson said. “It’s not something we like to do,” he said. The bear was rummaging through the garbage at a summer house, when a woman called for help. Polar bears are not native to Iceland, but occasionally come ashore on ice floes from Greenland, Icelandic Institute of Natural History scientific collections director Anna Sveinsdottir said.
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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