PHILIPPINES
US-bound Afghans arrive
A group of Afghan nationals yesterday arrived to process special immigrant visas for their resettlement in the US, as part of an agreement between Manila and Washington. The Philippines agreed in July last year to temporarily host a US immigrant visa processing center for a limited number of Afghan nationals aspiring to resettle in the US. Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Teresita Daza said the US government would cover the costs for the Afghan nationals’ stay in the Philippines, including their food, housing, security, medical and transportation expenses, she said.
Photo: US embassy manila via AFP
INDONESIA
Rohingya refugees land
More than 260 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, arrived in the westernmost province of Aceh after floating at sea for days, an official said yesterday. East Aceh official Iskandar said that 117 men and 147 women, as well as about 30 children, arrived in West Peureulak on Sunday night. He said they had initially been on two boats, one of which had sunk off the coast while the second managed to move closer to shore, allowing them to walk ashore when the tide was low. “They told me they were rejected in Malaysia,” Iskandar said, adding that the local government has not decided where to move the refugees.
Photo: AFP
CHINA
Beijing to address dementia
The government has launched a national plan to address the rapidly growing prevalence of dementia, which authorities said is becoming “a widespread societal concern” and poses “significant challenges” to the well-being of the elderly and their families. A continuous “prevention and control system for dementia, covering prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and care, will be established by 2030,” Xinhua news agency said, adding that the growth of dementia would be controlled through widespread cognitive screenings, with early intervention. More than 16 million Chinese have dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type, an official report released last year showed.
RUSSIA
Oil spill kills dolphins: group
Thirty-two dolphins have died since fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, an animal rescue group said on Sunday. The Delfa Dolphin Rescue and Research Center said the deaths are “most likely related to the fuel oil spill.” The center wrote on the messaging app Telegram that 61 dead cetaceans had been recorded since the emergency, but the condition of the bodies suggested that 29 had died before the spill.
ISRAEL
Soldier helped out of Brazil
The government helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip based in part on soldiers’ social media posts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday said it had helped the former soldier safely leave Brazil on a commercial flight after what it described as “anti-Israel elements” sought an investigation. It warned Israelis against posting on social media about their military service. The Hind Rajab Foundation said Brazilian authorities had launched an investigation into the soldier after it filed a complaint based on video footage, geolocation data and photographs showing the soldier participating in the demolition of civilian homes.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
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