DR CONGO
‘Disease X’ spreads
More cases of a mysterious flu-like illness labeled “Disease X” were reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the WHO has dispatched a rapid response team to help investigate. From Oct. 24 to Thursday, 406 cases of the unidentified illness — marked by fever, headache, cough, runny nose and body aches — have been reported in the Panzi health zone in the southwest, the WHO said in a statement on Sunday. While more than half of the cases involve children under five, a 50-year-old male traveler hospitalized in Lucca, Italy, is suspected to have recovered from the disease, Il Tempo reported. Thirty-one deaths have been recorded, down from 79 reported last week, the WHO said. The outbreak is centered in a remote rural area of Kwango province that is hard to access. All severe cases involve people with severe malnutrition, adding complexity to identifying an infectious source. “Laboratory tests are under way to determine the exact cause. At this stage, it is also possible that more than one disease is contributing to the cases and deaths,” the WHO said.
PHILIPPINES
Eruption sparks evacuation
Mount Kanlaon in Negros province erupted at 3:03pm yesterday, sending a huge ash column into the sky as the government called for the evacuation of surrounding villages. Rising more than 2,400m above sea level, Kanlaon is one of the nation’s 24 active volcanoes. in the Philippines. “All local government units are advised to evacuate the 6km radius from the summit of the volcano and must be prepared for additional evacuation if activity warrants,” the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement. Video clips posted by residents on social media showed a giant cauliflower-shaped grey mass of smoke billowing above Kanlaon’s crater. The seismology office said the plume rose to 3,000m above the vent, with red-hot ashes and other materials also falling on its southeastern slope.
SOUTH KOREA
Seven killed in sea collision
A fishing boat capsized early yesterday after colliding with a sand barge in waters off the nation’s southeastern coast, leaving seven crew members dead and one missing, the local coast guard and fire departments said. The 29-tonne fishing boat, which had eight passengers — three South Koreans and five Indonesians — capsized after colliding with a 456-tonne barge in waters near the city of Gyeongju, Pohang coast guard official Kim Eul-dong said. Dozens of emergency workers, along with 15 coast guard vessels and six helicopters, were mobilized to search for the missing passenger, who was Indonesian. None of the passengers from the barge were hurt.
THAILAND
Police bust ‘drug party’
Police have detained more than 120 people at a “drug party” in Bangkok, officers said yesterday. Police Colonel Pansa Amarapitak said they were tipped off about the party at a hotel early on Sunday morning. Police photos showed a room full of mostly male suspects in handcuffs and wearing nothing but underpants as officers searched them for drugs. They found 31 of the 124 people arrested were in possession of illegal narcotics, such as crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine, Pansa said. All of them were tested for the substances and 66 were found with traces in their system. All except two were men, and about five were foreigners, he said. Police are seeking the courts’ permission to hold those suspected of drug possession for questioning beyond the 48-hour window, Pansa said. The rest have been released.
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
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
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
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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