ISRAEL
Drone launched at PM home
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a drone was launched toward his residence in Caesarea yesterday, after the military reported a drone from Lebanon had “hit a structure” in the central town. “The prime minister and his wife were not at the location, and there were no injuries in the incident,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether a structure reported hit by the military earlier was his private residence.
NORTH KOREA
Crashed drone remains found
The government yesterday said it had discovered the remains of at least one crashed South Korean military drone in the capital, Pyongyang, releasing images of the device found on Sunday last week that some analysts confirmed was South Korean. The government has accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on the capital. Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that based on the images released by Pyongyang, the drone was “clearly a long-range reconnaissance small drone used by ... the South Korean military.”
AUSTRALIA
Mystery black balls cleared
Beaches in Sydney yesterday reopened for swimmers after authorities cleared thousands of black pollution balls washed ashore, which testing found to be formed from chemicals similar to those in cosmetics and cleaning products. About 2,000 of the mystery black balls, some golf ball-sized, had washed onto beaches across Sydney since Tuesday, forcing the closure of eight beaches, including the iconic Bondi Beach, and a massive cleanup operation, amid fears they were highly toxic. New South Wales Maritime Executive Director Mark Hutchings said the balls were not harmful to health when left on the sand, but people should avoid touching them.
MEXICO
Navy seizes 8 tonnes of drugs
The navy on Friday announced it had seized more than 8.3 tonnes of drugs in the Pacific Ocean, a record for a single operation at sea. It did not specify the type of the drugs, but said they were valued at 2.099 billion pesos (US$105.55 million). Twenty-three people were arrested during the bust southwest of the port of Lazaro Cardenas, off the country’s west coast. The drugs were distributed in six small boats, including a submersible, which implied a “complex” action on the part of the sailors, the Secretariat of the Navy said.
UNITED STATES
Teen rescued at sea
A teenager in Hawaii was recovering on Friday after spending more than 11 hours clinging to a kayak before being rescued during an overnight ocean search by an off-duty lifeguard and the Coast Guard. Kahiau Kawai, 17, had gotten separated from his high school paddling team on Wednesday afternoon after capsizing about 0.8km south of Honolulu’s Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort. He was on a 6m kayak and was not wearing a life jacket, the Coast Guard said. Off-duty lifeguard Noland Keaulana, a Polynesian voyager and part of a well-known Native Hawaiian waterman family, had been searching through the night on a boat, when at 4am a Coast Guard flare directed him to the kayak. “I was expecting the worst, and then when I seen his head up next to the kayak ... his family is lucky and this kid is strong,” Keaulana told a news conference on Thursday. “I think he was in total shock because he wasn’t emotional at all, and I was actually crying my guts out because he was OK.”
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
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