INDONESIA
Eruption prompts moves
Thousands of people are to be permanently relocated from around a volcano that erupted in the past few days, killing nine people after spewing fireballs and ash on homes, officials said yesterday. Authorities raised Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki’s alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system after several eruptions since Sunday evening, telling locals and tourists to avoid a 7km radius of the crater. More than 2,600 families living in the area around the volcano on the popular tourist island of Flores were advised to permanently relocate, the disaster mitigation agency said in a statement. “The mountain cannot be moved. We must move,” agency head Suharyanto, who goes by one name, told residents at a temporary shelter, according to a video the agency released yesterday. “We must empty the 7km radius.” The government would help locals move to a new area or to build houses on land they already own, he said.
Photo: Antara Foto / Aditya Pradana Putra / via Reuters
JAPAN
Snow falls late on Fuji
Mount Fuji finally got its trademark snowcap early yesterday, more than a month after it normally would and after setting a record for the most-delayed snowfall in 130 years. The first snowfall on Mount Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, could be seen from the southwestern side of the mountain, the Shizuoka branch of the nation’s meteorological agency said. However, the agency’s Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which is on the other side of the mountain and has been in charge of making the announcement since 1984, still could not see the snow due to cloudy weather — meaning it was not official as of yesterday. The lack of snow on Mount Fuji on Tuesday broke the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said. Usually, the 3,776m-high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting on Oct. 2, about a month after the summertime hiking season there ends. Last year, snow fell on the mountain on Oct. 5, the agency said. The snowless mountain has captured attention on social media. People posted photographs showing the bare peak, some expressing surprise and others concerned over climate change.
Photo: Kyodo / via Reuters
CHINA
Spy to be executed
A former high-level government employee has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, Beijing’s spy agency said yesterday. The individual, surnamed Zhang, “provided a large number of top secret and classified state secrets to foreign intelligence agencies,” the Ministry of State Security said in a post on its official WeChat account. In his job, Zhang had access to “a large number of state secrets,” the ministry said. He was recruited and became a “puppet” after leaving that job and began handing foreign spy agencies state secrets in exchange for cash, the ministry said. “Zhang ... was weak in character and unable to resist the temptation of money,” it added. The ministry did not specify which state organization employed Zhang, nor did it give his full name. It accused a foreign spy surnamed Li of luring Zhang to an unnamed country with the promise of “experiencing exotic customs,” where they pressured him into becoming a double agent. Zhang was sentenced to death following an investigation, it added. A colleague who assisted him, surnamed Zhu, was given six years in jail, it said. No details were given about when he would be executed. China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, although rights groups say that thousands of people are executed every year.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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