JAPAN
Test rocket catches fire
A lightweight rocket yesterday failed its second test run after catching fire in the latest setback for the nation’s space program. The Epsilon S rocket’s second-stage engine suffered a malfunction 49 seconds into a ground test at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a statement. A live feed from the national broadcaster showed plumes of smoke rising from the site. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, the agency said. The Epsilon is scheduled to make its debut launch in March next year, but the failed test could trigger further delays in the program.
CHILE
Boric rejects sex complaint
President Gabriel Boric was accused in a criminal complaint of sexually harassing a woman in 2013, an allegation he “rejects and categorically denies,” his lawyer, Jonatan Valenzuela, said on Monday. The complaint was filed on Sept. 6 in the local prosecutors’ office of Magallanes. Office head Cristian Crisosto confirmed “there is a criminal case related to the facts listed,” adding that there was a special team at the agency investigating the complaint. Valenzuela said the complaint was filed by a woman who at the time sent Boric 25 e-mails that were “unsolicited and non-consensual,” including one with explicit images. More than 10 years later, the woman “filed a complaint without any basis whatsoever against now-president Gabriel Boric.” Boric, now 38, was 27 at the time and had just completed his law degree.
UNITED KINGDOM
Scrooge’s tomb smashed
If life imitates art, a vandal in the English countryside might be haunted by The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Police in the town of Shrewsbury are investigating how a tombstone that marked the fictional grave of Ebenezer Scrooge was destroyed. The movie prop used in the 1984 adaption of A Christmas Carol was kept in place and became a tourist attraction. Town Clerk Helen Ball said the town is discussing what should be done to fix or replace the stone that is “hugely popular” with residents and visitors. This time of year, organized tours of locations used in the movie visit the grounds of St Chad’s Church to see the marker. “There’s not much to see other than broken bits of the gravestone,” Ball said. “You can’t see that it says Ebenezer Scrooge at the moment because it’s so damaged. It’s hugely disrespectful... If the ghosts of past, present and future would like to visit [the vandals] in the middle of the night and drop them and break them in pieces, I think that would be a perfect punishment.”
UKRAINE
Drone attacks reach record
Russia launched a record number of drones at Ukraine overnight, the air force said yesterday, damaging buildings and “critical infrastructure” in several regions. “During the night attack, the enemy launched a record number of Shahed strike uncrewed aerial vehicles and unidentified drones,” the air force said, referring to Iranian-designed drones and putting the overall number fired at 188. The air force said it had shot down 76 Russian drones in 17 regions, while another 95 were either lost from their radars or downed by electronic jamming defensive systems. Moscow also fired four Iskander-M ballistic missiles, the air force said. “Unfortunately, critical infrastructure facilities were hit, private and apartment buildings were damaged in several regions due to massive drone attacks,” the statement said.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
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