BERNAMA – An eight-month-old boy suffered a brain hemorrhage, allegedly due to abuse by his mother and her boyfriend in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
Pontian Police Chief Mohammad Shofee Tayib said a medical officer lodged a report at 9.15am on Wednesday when the baby boy was brought to Pontian Hospital for treatment.
Prior to that, the baby was taken to a private clinic in Pontian town and was found unconscious on the way to the hospital.
“The baby was then referred to Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Bahru, where paediatric specialists identified a brain hemorrhage, oxygen deficiency and injuries including bruising around the eyes, all suspected to be from abuse,” he said in a statement.
He added that the baby is currently in an induced coma due to respiratory issues.
“Following this, the baby’s 26-year-old mother was arrested at Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Bahru, while her 24-year-old boyfriend surrendered at the Pontian district police headquarters yesterday,” he said.
Both suspects, who are unemployed and reside in Taman Nilam, Pontian have been remanded for seven days from yesterday until July 31.
HANOI (AFP) – Thousands of black-clad mourners including top Vietnamese officials gathered yesterday in Hanoi for the funeral of Communist party leader Nguyen Phu Trong as two days of national mourning began.
The 80-year-old, who died at a military hospital in the capital Hanoi last week “due to old age and serious illness”, was the most powerful leader the country had seen in decades.
Trong, who had led the party since 2011, was the first leader to have held three consecutive mandates in the role, after the liberalisation of the country’s economy in 1986.
He was known for a high-profile anti-corruption drive that swept through the party, police, armed forces and business, which analysts said has been linked to political infighting.
Alongside bouquets of yellow flowers and burning incense, Trong’s flag-draped coffin was laid beneath a large portrait of the leader and dozens of his medals at the National Funeral House in central Hanoi.
People walk to the cultural house to pay their respects in Dong Hoi, Cambodia. PHOTO: AFP
Wearing black and white headbands, Trong’s family greeted the mourners, having requested no customary cash envelopes or flowers be given at the funeral.
All flags across the country flew at half mast, while entertainment and sporting events have been suspended during the mourning period.
Smaller remembrance ceremonies also started yesterday morning for Trong in the southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City and in his village in Dong Anh district on the outskirts of Hanoi.
“The general secretary’s death is an irreparable loss for the party, the state, the people and his family,” said politburo member Luong Cuong as the funeral started.
The country’s top party officials led tributes, including President To Lam, who was handed the reins of power a day before Trong’s death was announced.
AP – Paris has long been a city of dreamers: Just look at the Eiffel Tower, for decades the world’s loftiest structure.
Audacity also underpins the French capital’s plans for its first Olympic Games in a century, which opens today with an opening ceremony for the ages.
The most sprawling and elaborate Olympic opening ever – a gala spectacular evening today on the River Seine that even French President Emmanuel Macron said initially felt like “a crazy and not very serious idea” – kicks off 16 days of competition that promise to be ground-breaking, with nearly every corner of the city hosting some aspect of competition.
After two toned-down, pandemic-hampered Olympics, expect a bold celebration. The heady marriage of sports and France’s world-renowned capital of fashion, gastronomy and culture could also help secure the Olympics’ longer-term future.
Olympic organisers were struggling to find suitable host cities for their flagship Summer Games when they settled on Paris in 2017, enticed by its promise of innovations and the potential for the city of romance to rekindle love for the Olympics, especially with younger audiences that have so many other entertainment options. But Paris’ challenges are huge, too.
Soldiers patrol on a footbridge over the Seine river in Frace, Paris. PHOTO: APABOVE & BELOW: Officers from the National Police Intervention Force stand watch outside Sacre Coeur of Montmartre Basilica; and a soldier a photo of the Eiffel Tower as he patrols at the Trocadero plaza. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
PAST AND PRESENT SORROWS HANG OVER THE GAMES
The city that has been repeatedly struck by deadly extremist attacks has to safeguard 10,500 athletes and millions of visitors.
The international context of wars in Ukraine and Gaza add layers of complication for the gargantuan security effort. French elite special forces are part of the security detail for Israel’s delegation.
Still, if all goes well, Paris hopes to be remembered as a before-and-after Olympic watershed.
The first Games with nearly equal numbers of men and women, an advance that’s been a long time coming since 22 women first got accepted as Olympians 124 years ago, also in Paris, will take another step toward aligning the Olympics with the post-#MeToo world.
Paris also hopes to reassure climate-conscious Generations Z and beyond by staging Games that are less polluting, more sustainable and more socially virtuous than their predecessors.
Many of the sports venues are temporary, because Paris didn’t want to repeat the mistake of previous Olympic host cities that built new arenas and then had no use for them.
With iconic Paris monuments as backdrops – beach volleyball in the Eiffel Tower’s shadow – and breakdancing added to a growing list of Olympic sports that target young audiences, expect plenty of viral moments on Instagram, TikTok and elsewhere.
Crowds will be back for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced Tokyo to push back its Games to 2021 and keep spectators away, and the Beijing Winter Games in 2022, when China was locked down.
Prize-winning French theater director Thomas Jolly is turning central Paris into an open-air stage for the opening ceremony that will run through sunset and showcase France, its people and their history. The 330-metre-tall Eiffel Tower will surely feature prominently.
Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.
During the extravaganza, a no-fly zone extending for 150 kilometres around the capital will close Paris’ skies, policed by fighter jets, airspace-monitoring AWACS surveillance flights, surveillance drones, helicopters that can carry sharpshooters and drone-disabling equipment.
HELPING PARISIANS MOVE PAST THE ATTACKS OF 2015
Showcasing and celebrating Paris could be joyously cathartic for the city that was plunged into mourning by extremist attacks in 2015.
Guesses about the identity of the person or people who might get the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron include soccer icon Zinedine Zidane and other French sporting heroes, but also survivors of Islamic State-group gunmen and suicide bombers who killed 130 people on November 13, 2015.
Paris is also taking gambles in hopes of leaving an indelible impression on the Olympics’ global audience of billions.
The decision not to stage the opening ceremony in the traditional setting of France’s biggest stadium – the Stade de France that was among the 2015 attackers’ targets and is now the venue for Olympic track and field and rugby sevens – and to host skateboarding, archery and other sports in temporary arenas in the heart of Paris have made safeguarding the Games more complex.
Rights campaigners and Games critics worry about the broad scope and scale of Olympic security, including the use of artificial intelligence-equipped surveillance technology. – John Leicester
PARIS (AP) – Sip a cool drink in Brazil. Sample a spicy samosa in India. Boogie down with a DJ in France ’til the early hours. Or, do all three in a day – and perhaps meet some athletes, too.
If you’re in Paris but don’t have tickets for the Olympics, organisers want you to know that you can spend your days – and nights, too – at the Parc des Nations, or Nations Park, which is hosting 15 festive national team clubhouses in what amounts to a mini-World’s Fair on the edge of Paris.
The project gives a temporary new name to Parc de la Villette, a sprawling 55-hectare space in the northeastern corner of the capital. It opens tomorrow, once today’s ambitious opening ceremony on the Seine River is over, along with its enormous security demands.
Imagine one huge, multicultural fan zone. The idea is for visitors to connect with each other, with Olympic athletes (who will come for medal celebrations) and with the Games themselves, organisers said.
“The slogan of these Olympics is ‘Games Wide Open’, and we wanted to bring that to life,” said Amelie Guignabert of Paris 2024, the Olympic organising committee. “We really believe in it.”
All they need, she noted, is the fans – and officials are advertising in the Paris Metro and elsewhere.
Certainly, there is room for them. The biggest house is not surprisingly, Club France, where there is capacity for 5,000 to 6,000 people inside and 20,000 in the outside spaces, which include two huge fields.
ABOVE & BELOW: A worker stands on a ladder at India’s house; and a mannequin stands inside Brazil’s house at Parc de la Villette in Paris, France. PHOTO: APPHOTO: APABOVE & BELOW: A person walks near a stage at France’s house; and Monica Maurya works at India’s house. PHOTO: APPHOTO: APABOVE & BELOW: India’s house; and a sign stands outside Parc de la Villette. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
Other team clubhouses are Casa Brazil, Canada Team House, Casa Colombia, Czech House, India House, Casa Mexico, Team NL (Netherlands) House, Mongolia House, Serbian House, Slovak House, Slovenian House, Chinese Taipei Pavilion, Volia Space (Ukraine) and Ekhaya South Africa.
Inside Club France is a large stage, where athletes will appear after winning medals and where nightly music events will be offered, including sets from DJs like Bob Sinclar, said Arnaud Courtier, executive director of Club France.
“We like to party,” he said.
Fans can pay EUR5 (USD5.42) and stay as long as they like, watching Olympic competitions on a giant screen and athlete interviews, cheering medal winners and buying food and drink. Or, they can buy a package that could run up to EUR385 for an all-night open establishment and a prime spot on the stage.
Outside are some 20 makeshift pavilions designed by architecture students that house various French sports federations. Among other activities, visitors will be able to learn from coaches and try their hand at sports.
The project started with a decision to put Club France at La Villette, said the park’s general director Sophie-Justine Lieber. Then, countries that didn’t have clubs elsewhere decided to join in.
The park, with its many structures, was able to accommodate particular needs – for example, Slovenia and the Czech Republic wanted places with kitchens to emphasise their national cuisines, and Mongolia wanted outdoor space to erect yurts, the traditional circular dwellings.
As for beach volleyball? That’s an attraction at Brazil’s house, along with music like samba and funk. And, of course, pao de queijo, the Brazilian cheese bread.
Organisers at India’s pavilion announced it was the country’s first house at an Olympics, a step towards their dream of bringing the Games one day to India.
India House spares no effort to highlight the country’s rich culture – it has brought in a huge loom, for example, where artisans are weaving traditional saris and carpets. Among many exhibits, one wall displays Gond art from the state of Madhya Pradesh, along with photos of every Indian athlete competing this year.
A key face among them: javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, a star in India who has nine million Instagram followers.
There will be Indian food, of course – samosas, spiced chai tea, savoury dhokla and more. Bollywood music will play, and fans will be able to try yoga and cricket.
Organiser B Srinivasan, greeting the media on Tuesday evening, declared these Games a perfect moment to introduce a new India and pointed to the many notables India has exported to the world – including political figures with Indian heritage like Rishi Sunak, the former British prime minister. And, in the most timely of references, Kamala Harris, the United States vice president who is now running for the top job after President Joe Biden ended his campaign for a second term. – Jocelyn Noveck
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – A Cambodian court fined an opposition leader about USD1.5 million yesterday for defaming the ruling party by claiming democracy had regressed since the former prime minister’s son took power last year.
In a February interview with foreign media, Candlelight Party leader Teav Vannol said the kingdom was “getting worse in terms of democracy” under the rule of Hun Manet.
Hun Manet took power in 2023 after his father Hun Sen stood down after nearly four decades of iron-fisted rule.
The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) election landslide that made Hun Manet premier was widely decried as a sham after main challenger the Candlelight Party was barred from participating.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday found Vannol “guilty of public defamation” and ordered him to pay KHR6 billion (around USD1.5 million) to the plaintiff, the CPP. He was also ordered to pay KHR10 million (USD2,400) to the state.
Vannol was abroad and not present at the ruling. His lawyer Choung Choungy said he was disappointed by the ruling and that his client had merely been “expressing his opinion”.
He said they would discuss whether to appeal.
Hun Sen became senate president after stepping down as premier, taking over a key ceremonial role that allows him to act as acting head of state when the king is overseas.
In 2022, Deputy Candlelight Party leader Son Chhay was found guilty of defamation for claiming the election commission was biased in favour of the ruling CPP.
He was ordered to pay USD750,000 in compensation to the ruling party and a USD4,250 fine to the state.
UPI – A professional football match in Norway was halted when fans hurled fish cakes and other items onto the field in protest against the use of video assistant referee (VAR) technology.
The Norwegian Eliteserien game between Rosenborg BK and Lillestrom was first paused just minutes after kickoff due to the fish cake barrage.
Although players briefly resumed play after the initial stoppage, the game was halted again when fans from both sides escalated their protest, adding tennis balls and smoke bombs to the mix.
The game was officially suspended after just over a half hour of play with the score 0-0.
The protest surrounded the use of VAR, which fans and even several supporter unions complain leads to referees taking too much time to make decisions, bringing games to long halts in the meantime. The league adopted VAR in 2023.
Some fans at the game were seen holding a banner, which read, “We will never give up, VAR will go away.”
ANN/THE JAPAN NEWS – A night parade of dinosaurs is set to take place at the Tokyo National Museum for two nights in September, offering a thrilling opportunity to see these creatures up close without any danger.
The stage show, titled ‘DINO-A-LIVE Dinosaur Grand Night Parade’, will feature life-like dinosaurs, guided by human handlers, as they stomp, roar, and even engage in fights.
This innovative production is brought to life by ON-ART Corp, a company renowned for its richly detailed and patented dinosaur suits, developed in collaboration with the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.
Based in Higashikurume, Tokyo, ON-ART Corp uses its studies of modern-day animal movements to give each dinosaur unique quirks and idle motions, ensuring they appear realistic and not stiff or artificial.
Over a dozen varieties of dinosaur have been built so far, including carnivores like the Tyrannosaurus, and herbivores like the Ankylosaurus.
The Tyrannosaurus shown in a preview for the press earlier this month was impressively large at eight metres long.
But a larger 12-metre-long model has made an appearance in the past.
The Ankylosaurus comes in at 7.6 metres long, which fits neatly into the size range for its species.
What began as a solo project by Kazuya Kanemaru, the president of ON-ART, painting murals and making models for museums, has ballooned into a massive, ambitious project.
“The dinosaurs are constantly changing. There are many that have gotten injuries during earlier shows that still carry the scars,” he said.
Giganotosaurus at the Tokyo National Museum. PHOTO: THE JAPAN NEWS
FRANKFURT (AFP) – Police yesterday arrested climate activists who glued themselves to the tarmac at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, compelling it to temporarily suspend arrivals and departures.
Traffic was halted during the busy summer holiday season for two hours before the first of the airport’s landing runways was able to operate again at 0502GMT, said a spokesman at the airport.
Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights while the airport ramped up its operations again.
Seven of the activists had managed to reach the runway where they glued themselves onto the tarmac, a police spokesman said. The eighth was still trying to get through the perimeter fence when he was detained.
The police operation to clear activists off the airport’s restricted grounds was ongoing, added the spokesman. All eight were arrested.
According to climate activist group ‘Letzte Generation’ (Last Generation) which claimed the civil disobedience action, its members had used pincers to cut openings in the wire fence before making their way “by foot, with bicycles and skateboards to different points around the runways”.
A photo circulated by the group depicted a protester sitting on the tarmac with an orange banner “oil kills”.
The group is pushing for a binding international accord that would lead to an end in oil, gas and coal use by 2030.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing condemned the protests yesterday as “criminal” action and demanded tough penalties against activists.
Emergency vehicles from the police, fire department and airport security parked at Frankfurt Airport. PHOTO: AP
LONDON (AFP) – A 24-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder over the stabbing of a British soldier earlier this week, United Kingdom (UK) police said yesterday.
Anthony Esan is due to appear in court later in the day following the attack on Tuesday evening near an army barracks in Kent, southeast England.
The victim, a man in his forties, is in hospital and his condition “is currently described as serious but stable”, Kent Police said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled” by the incident, which occurred in the town of Gillingham, about 64 kilometres southeast of London.Kent Police are yet to indicate any motive in the latest attack but they are not thought to be treating it as terror related.
The force had said it was “exploring the possibility that it may be mental health related”.
Officers arrested Esan in nearby Rochester within half an hour of being called to the scene of the attack, near the British Army’s Brompton Barracks.
The suspect was reported to have left the scene on a motorcycle, and “a number of knives” have been seized, the force said in an earlier statement.
ANKARA (AP) – A Turkish bill aimed at regulating the country’s millions of stray dogs moved closer to becoming law on Wednesday as animal rights advocates feared many of them would be killed or end up in neglected, overcrowded shelters.
“Although some people persistently ignore it, Turkiye has a stray dog problem,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling party proposed the bill, told legislators after a parliamentary committee approved the bill late on Tuesday. The full assembly will have a final vote in the coming days.
The government estimates that around four million stray dogs roam Turkiye’s streets and rural areas. Although many are harmless, a growing number are congregating in packs, and numerous people have been attacked in Istanbul and elsewhere. The country’s well-known large stray cat population is not a focus of the bill. Erdogan noted that stray dogs “attack children, adults, elderly people and other animals. They attack flocks of sheep and goats, they cause traffic accidents”.
The proposed legislation mandates that municipalities collect stray dogs and house them in shelters where they would be neutered and spayed.
A stray dog rests outside Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkiye. PHOTO: AP
