AUSTRALIA
Dolphin rescue abandoned
Marine experts have given up hope of rescuing more than 150 false killer whales that stranded on a remote beach in Tasmania state, officials said yesterday. Experts were at the scene near Arthur River on Tasmania’s northwestern coast where 157 of the dolphins were discovered on an exposed surf beach on Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said. Unfavorable ocean and weather conditions, which prevented the animals from being rescued yesterday, were forecast to persist for days, incident controller Shelley Graham said. “We have been out in the water this morning and have relocated and attempted to refloat two whales, but didn’t have success as the ocean conditions weren’t allowing the animals to get past the break. The animals are continuously restranding,” she said.
Photo: AFP / Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania
JAPAN
Kishida attacker sentenced
A court yesterday convicted a man who threw a homemade pipe bomb at former prime minister Fumio Kishida at a 2023 campaign event, sentencing him to 10 years in prison, court officials said. Ryuji Kimura, 25, was found guilty of attempted murder in the April 15, 2023, attack on Kishida at a small fishing port in Wakayama, and other crimes.
Photo: AFP
SRI LANKA
‘Drug dealer’ killed
A man accused of being a top drug dealer was shot dead inside a courthouse yesterday by a gunman disguised as a lawyer, police said. Ganemulle Sanjeeva was shot at close range as he entered the dock in a bail hearing at the Colombo Magistrates Court, police said in a statement. Sanjeeva was brought to court under a heavy armed escort by commandos from the elite Special Task Force, who handed him over to prison guards at the entrance. The gunman escaped as Sanjeeva was rushed to hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Photo: AFP
VATICAN CITY
Francis has ‘peaceful night’
Pope Francis, who has been diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, passed a “peaceful night,” the Vatican said yesterday. “The pope spent a peaceful night, woke up and had breakfast,” the Vatican said after Francis’ fifth night at the Gemelli hospital in Rome. Francis was admitted with bronchitis last week after experiencing breathing difficulties, but has since developed pneumonia in both of his lungs.
Photo: AFP
PERU
Cusco stone vandalized
An allegedly intoxicated man vandalized a 500-year-old archeological artifact known as the 12-Angle Stone in Cusco, authorities said on Tuesday. Police said that the 30-year-old man was suspected of attacking the stone with a hammer. He was arrested after the incident, which was recorded on a nearby surveillance camera, police said. Police believe the man, identified as Gabriel Roysi, was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he took a hammer to the stone, Henry Valdez, the head of Cusco police station, told state news agency Andina. The Ministry of Culture said in a statement that multiple fragments broke off “the emblematic stone structure.” The stone, a popular tourist attraction and landmark of Incan cultural heritage, is part of a wall that made up the Inca Roca palace. Its 12-angled border is described as symbolic of the advanced stonework of the Inca civilization.
Photo: AFP / Peru’s Ministry of Culture
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
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