CHINA
Landslide leaves 30 missing
A landslide in southwestern Sichuan Province triggered by heavy rain has killed at least one person, with nearly 30 more missing, state media said yesterday. The landslide hit Jinping village in the city of Yibin at about 11:50am on Saturday. As of yesterday morning, “one person has been killed and 28 people are missing,” Xinhua news agency said. Two people were rescued on Saturday, while more than 900 rescuers were attempting to find the rest of the missing people, Xinhua said. “A preliminary study shows this disaster occurred due to the influence of recent prolonged rainfall and geological factors,” China Central Television said, citing local authorities.
Photo: Xinhua news agency via AP
BANGLADESH
Hasina-linked gangs targeted
The government yesterday launched a major security operation after protesters were attacked by gangs allegedly connected to the ousted regime of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. A government statement said the operation began after gangs “linked to the fallen autocratic regime attacked a group of students, leaving them severely injured.” Home Affairs Adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury called it “Operation Devil Hunt,” telling reporters that it would “continue until we uproot the devils.” The sweeping security operations came after days of unrest, following protests triggered by reports that 77-year-old Hasina — who has defied an arrest warrant to face trial crimes against humanity — would appear in a Facebook broadcast from exile in neighboring India.
Photo: EPA-EFE
INDIA
Dalai Lama’s brother dies
The elder brother of the Dalai Lama and former chairman of the exiled Tibetan government in India, Gyalo Thondup, who led several rounds of talks with China and worked with foreign governments for the Tibetan cause, has died. He was 97. Thondup died at his home in Kalimpong, a hill town in the Himalayan foothills of eastern West Bengal state, on Saturday evening, media reports said. No other details were immediately released about his death. Tibetan media outlets credited Thondup for networking with foreign governments and praised his role in facilitating US support for the Tibetan struggle. The Dalai Lama yesterday led a prayer session for Thondup at a monastery in Bylakuppe in the southern state of Karnataka where he prayed for Thondup’s “swift rebirth” and said “his efforts towards the Tibetan struggle were immense and we are grateful for his contribution.”
Photo: AP
UNITED KINGDOM
Starmer sacks junior minister
A Labour Party lawmaker on Saturday said he regretted “badly misjudged” comments after Prime Minister Keir Starmer sacked him as a minister. Starmer dismissed Andrew Gwynne as a junior health minister as soon as he became aware of the WhatsApp comments, the domestic PA news agency said. He has also been suspended from the Labour Party, with a report alleging that Gwynne made anti-Semitic, racist and sexist remarks. “I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments and apologise for any offence I’ve caused,” Gwynne said on X. Gwynne posted messages in a WhatsApp group that he shares with more than a dozen Labour councilors, party officials and at least one other lawmaker, the Mail on Sunday reported. He also joked about a constituent being “mown down” by a truck, the newspaper said. In another comment, he said he hoped a 72-year-old woman who asked a colleague about trash collection would soon be dead.
Photo: Bloomberg
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
In front of a secluded temple in southwestern China, Duan Ruru skillfully executes a series of chops and strikes, practicing kung fu techniques she has spent a decade mastering. Chinese martial arts have long been considered a male-dominated sphere, but a cohort of Generation Z women like Duan is challenging that assumption and generating publicity for their particular school of kung fu. “Since I was little, I’ve had a love for martial arts... I thought that girls learning martial arts was super swaggy,” Duan, 23, said. The ancient Emei school where she trains in the mountains of China’s Sichuan Province
Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on Friday failed to attend in person an initial hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) as he faces crimes against humanity charges over his deadly crackdown on narcotics. The 79-year-old, the first ex-Asian head of state charged by the ICC, followed by video during a short hearing to inform him of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, as well as his rights as a defendant. Sounding frail and wearing a blue suit and tie, he spoke briefly to confirm his name and date of birth. Presiding Judge Iulia Motoc allowed him to
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