AUSTRALIA
Synagogue vandalized
Authorities yesterday denounced “hate-filled” vandals who daubed swastikas and other graffiti on a Sydney synagogue in the early morning. The vandalism on the Southern Sydney Synagogue was “a hate-filled attack by individuals that have got hate in their hearts,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told journalists. “I think the painting of a swastika on a Jewish building shows you everything you need to know about how appalling these particular individuals are and what their ultimate aim is.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
AUSTRALIA
Bumbling arsonists sought
Police on Thursday released CCTV video of an apparent arsonist who set their own pants alight and had to run from the scene without them. Footage of the incident on a fast-food outlet in Melbourne showed two people in dark hoodies and trousers with a container of what police described as “flammable liquid.” One of them tried to set the fluid alight at the front of the outlet, just out of the view of a camera. In an instant, the person is seen again engulfed in flames and then hurriedly removing the burning trousers before running off bare-cheeked with an apparently unharmed accomplice. Victoria state police, who distributed the footage, asked for witnesses to the attack, which happened in the early hours of Dec. 25. “Investigators have released CCTV and images of two people they believe may be able to assist with their inquires,” they said in a statement.
Photo: AFP / Victoria Police
JAPAN
Russian sanctions approved
Tokyo yesterday approved additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine, including freezing the assets of dozens of individuals and groups and banning exports to dozens of organizations in Russia and several other countries that have allegedly helped it evade sanctions. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that the additional sanctions shows its commitment to the G7’s effort to bolster action against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. “It is Japan’s contribution as part of the international effort toward achieving global peace and resolving the problems surrounding Ukraine because of Russian invasion,” Hayashi said.
Photo: AP
VENEZUELA
Maduro to take oath
President Nicolas Maduro was due to take the oath of office for a third term yesterday despite a global outcry that brought thousands out in protest on the ceremony’s eve. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who came out of hiding to lead a demonstration in Caracas on Thursday, was briefly detained after the rally, according to her team, reigniting international condemnation of Maduro’s alleged vote steal and cowing of critics. The government denied arresting her.
Photo: Reuters
YEMEN
Tanker salvage completed
An oil tanker that burned for weeks in the Red Sea after being attacked by Houthi rebels and threatening a massive oil spill has been salvaged, a security firm said yesterday. The Sounion had 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard when it was struck and later sabotaged with explosives by the Houthis. It took months to tow the vessel away, extinguish the fires and offload the remaining crude oil. “Over three challenging weeks, the fires were extinguished, cargo tanks patched and pressurized with inert gas and the vessel declared safe,” said private security firm Ambrey, which helped lead the response alongside a European naval force and salvagers.
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
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
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
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