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14.36kg of cocaine found in Manila airport

Tourists at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Philippines. PHOTO: XINHUA

MANILA (XINHUA) – Philippine authorities yesterday seized 14.36 kilogrammes of cocaine at Manila’s international airport from two female Singaporeans who allegedly tried to smuggle the illicit drugs.

In an initial report, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group said the suspects, aged 63 and 39, arrived from Doha, Qatar.

The drugs packed in 341 pieces of pellets inside four cookie cans and two cylindrical chip containers, is worth over PHP76 million, the report added. The items were reportedly detected through the X-ray inspection process.

Tourists at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Philippines. PHOTO: XINHUA

A traffic jam of bicycles

Photos show cyclists on the streets of Paris, France. PHOTO: AP

PARIS (AP) – Ring, ring! It’s rush hour on Paris’ Sébastopol Boulevard, and the congestion is severe – not just gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing, horn-honking snarls but also quieter and greener bottlenecks of cyclists jockeying for space.

Until four years ago, motorists largely had the Paris thoroughfare to themselves. Now, its bike-lane jams speak to a cycling revolution that is reshaping the capital of France – long a country of car-lovers, home to Renault, Citroen and Peugeot.

This revolution, like others, is also proving choppy. A nearly decade-long drive by Mayor Anne Hidalgo to turn Paris from a city hostile for cyclists – except those racing the Tour de France – into one where they venture more safely and freely has become so transformative that bikes are steadily muscling aside motor vehicles and increasingly getting in each other’s way.

And more bike lanes are coming for next year’s Paris Olympics – part of an effort to halve the event’s carbon footprint.

Already, on some Paris boulevards, bikes outnumber cars at peak times. Cycle congestion, with wheel-to-wheel lines of riders ringing their bells and sometimes losing their cool, is becoming a headache.

“It’s the same feeling as the one I had when I was younger, with my parents driving their car, and it was like traffic jams all over the place. So now it’s really a bike traffic jam,” said Thibault Quéré, a spokesperson for the Federation of Bicycle Users.

Photos show cyclists on the streets of Paris, France. PHOTO: AP
PHOTO: AP
PHOTO: AP
PHOTO: AP
PHOTO: AP

“But it’s kind of a good difficulty to have. Especially when we think about what Paris used to be.”

From a measly 200 kilometres in 2001, cyclists now have more than 1,000 of tailor-made bike paths and marked routes to roam, City Hall said.

Motor vehicles have been barred entirely from some roads, most notably a River Seine embankment that used to be a busy highway. It’s become a central Paris haven for cyclists, runners, families and romantics since Hidalgo closed it to motor traffic in 2016.

Farther north, the twin-lane bike path on Sébastopol Boulevard has become one of Europe’s busiest since its inauguration in 2019.

It saw a record 124,000 weekly users in early September, according to tracking by pro-bike group Paris en Selle. Traffic there now regularly surpasses London’s busiest cycleways and at its busiest even approaches the numbers of popular cycle routes in Amsterdam.

North-south Sébastopol empties into another busy east-west route on Rue de Rivoli that passes the Louvre. It also saw record daily and weekly numbers in September, Paris en Selle’s tracking shows.

Add to the mix none-too-thrilled motorists, scooters wriggling through traffic, pedestrians trying not to get squished and construction that seems to have popped up almost everywhere in Paris’ sprint to the Olympics, and negotiating the busiest streets by bike can feel akin to playing Mario Kart – but with real-life dangers and consequences.

Many cyclists, some clearly new and still feeling their way around, seem to think red lights and road rules don’t apply to them. Paris’ removal of for-hire electric scooters following a city referendum in April also is driving some ex-users to biking.

“Paris has become unlivable. No one can stand each other,” bike-rider Michel Gelernt said as he wound his way past whistle-blowing traffic officers and yelling motorists on Concorde plaza, the French Revolution decapitation site of King Louis XVI in 1793.

A former motor-scooter and public-transport user, the retiree switched to cycling during the COVID-19 pandemic and has kept the habit.

He uses Velib’ – Paris’ bike-sharing system, in its 16th year – to get around for 80 per cent of his trips. “Everyone behaves selfishly,” grumbled Gelernt, who’s in his 70s. “The traffic is a lot worse than it was.”

That said, he and others can’t dispute that flows of bikes are better for health and the environment than the noxious pollution that still often blankets Paris.

France’s government blames atmospheric pollution for 48,000 premature deaths nationwide
per year.

In a landmark decision, a Paris court in June awarded EUR5,000 in compensation to two families with children who were sickened by air pollution, suffering from asthma and other health issues when they lived near the capital’s car-choked ring road. The court ruled the French state was at fault.

Hidalgo cites pollution as a prime motivation for her drive to increase bike use, squeeze out emission-spewing vehicles and make “a Paris that breathes”.

Re-elected in 2020, her second five-year “Bike Plan” budgets EUR250 million in additional investments by 2026. That’s EUR100 million more than on her first-term bike plan. Most of it is earmarked for more cycle routes and parking.

City Hall said all Olympic venues in the city will be bike-accessible for the July 26-August 11 Paris Games, on a 60-kilometre cycle network.

So Olympic fans will be able discover what growing numbers of Parisians are learning: Experiencing the city by bike can rekindle love for its charms.

Behind busy thoroughfares are countless quieter streets that embrace cyclists with sights, sounds and smells that are too easily missed by car.

And for a start-the-day jolt to energize the senses without over-priced espresso, try bouncing along the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysées on any crisp morning.

“It’s a feeling of freedom, rather than being in the Metro, sitting down or in the heat,” said Ange Gadou, 19, a convert who previously relied on rental e-scooters before Paris banished them. “There’s nothing about it I don’t like.”

Get ogre-excited!

Photos show a real-life recreation of Shrek’s swamp home. PHOTO: AIRBNB

UPI – Airbnb presents an opportunity for a complimentary weekend getaway at ‘Shrek’s Swamp’, a Scottish residence inspired by the iconic tree stump abode of the fictional ogre from the Shrek film series.

Hosted by ‘Donkey’, the October 27-29 stay can be booked for up to three people starting October 13. Airbnb said the stay is not a contest, but will be booked on a first-come, first-served basis.

The stay is completely free, in what Airbnb called “a nod to the priceless refuge Shrek’s Swamp has provided fairytale creatures of all kinds”.

The home, modelled after Shrek’s house from the 2001 DreamWorks animated film, features oversized furniture, earwax candles and an outhouse.

The listing states children are welcome, but must be at least five years old.

Photos show a real-life recreation of Shrek’s swamp home. PHOTO: AIRBNB
PHOTO: AIRBNB

Star-studded showdown

English golfer with a disablility Kipp Popert, Member of Dude Perfect Garrett Hilbert, Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, former Welsh footballer Gareth Bale, former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie and Italian surfer Leonardo Fioravanti pose with the trophy on the 18th green after the All-Star match played ahead of the 44th Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy. PHOTO: AFP

ROME (AFP) – Novak Djokovic and Gareth Bale played seven holes on the Ryder Cup course during a celebrity match on Wednesday, with the tennis star enjoying the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.

Djokovic and Bale’s team, led by Ryder Cup icon Colin Montgomerie, came out on top in the contest against Corey Pavin’s outfit.

“It’s a great honour, I want to thank the Ryder Cup for giving me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… it’s a unique experience,” said Djokovic, who won a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open earlier this month.

His highlight at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club was driving through the par-four 16th green. “The crowd made me do it and I’m really happy they did,” added Djokovic, who played alongside disability golf world number one Kipp Popert.

Former footballer Bale, who was often criticised by fans for playing too much golf while at Real Madrid, won his match alongside Montgomerie against the Scot’s fellow 2010 Ryder Cup captain Pavin and AC Milan attacking great Andriy Shevchenko. “It (playing golf) is similar to a free-kick, to a penalty. I was a free-kick taker… So it definitely helps,” said Bale. Actor Kathryn Newton, former Super Bowl winner Victor Cruz and Formula One driver Carlos Sainz also took part.

English golfer with a disablility Kipp Popert, Member of Dude Perfect Garrett Hilbert, Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, former Welsh footballer Gareth Bale, former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie and Italian surfer Leonardo Fioravanti pose with the trophy on the 18th green after the All-Star match played ahead of the 44th Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy. PHOTO: AFP

Rare Abraham Lincoln photo joins Presidential Library collection

An ambrotype image of President Abraham Lincoln circa 1858. PHOTO: AP

ILLINOIS (AP) – During his momentous United States (US) Senate campaign against Stephen A Douglas, Abraham Lincoln sat for a photograph after politicking in western Illinois and presented one of the copies to a man severely injured while testing a cannon for Lincoln’s campaign rally.

As a small measure of compassion, Lincoln presented one version of the image to the injured man, Charles Lame, who overcame a deadly infection in an arm torn up by the blast with the help of flesh-eating maggots.

The tale provides an unlikely, ghastly background to the original 1858 ambrotype created during the future nation-saving Civil War president’s ascendancy, an image which the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has added to its collection, officials said on Tuesday.

“Original images of Abraham Lincoln are extraordinarily rare, and images with a fascinating back story like this are even more rare,” said Executive Director of the library and museum Christina Shutt.

“Lincoln fans everywhere should thank Charles Lame’s descendants for this generous donation.”

The ambrotype given to Lame remained in the family and was inherited by Mary Davidson of Hendersonville, Tennessee.

When she died in August 2022, her children decided the image should go to Springfield.

“Lincoln’s gift was a small gesture, but it reaffirms his reputation as a man of compassion.

“The photo… is a physical reminder of his kind spirit and concern for others,” said head of acquisitions for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Ian Hunt.

The ambrotype, a popular and cheaper alternative to the daguerreotype in the 1850s, was made by creating a photographic negative on glass.

It was then placed on a dark background which showed through the clear parts of the negative, giving it the appearance of a black-and-white photograph.

An ambrotype image of President Abraham Lincoln circa 1858. PHOTO: AP

North Korean leader calls for more atomic weapons

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the country’s parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea. PHOTO: AP

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea has enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution, with leader Kim Jong-un calling for more modern atomic weapons to counter the threat from the United States (US), state media reported yesterday.

Despite international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea has conducted a record number of missile tests this year, ignoring warnings from the US, South Korea and their allies.

Diplomatic efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its atomic arsenal failed, and the constitutional change came after Kim’s declaration last year that North Korea was an “irreversible” nuclear weapons state.

North Korea’s “nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout”, Kim said at a meeting of the State People’s Assembly, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The rubber-stamp parliament met on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kim said North Korea needed nuclear weapons to counter an existential threat from the US and its allies.

The US has “maximised its nuclear war threats to our Republic by resuming the large-scale nuclear war joint drills with clear aggressive nature and putting the deployment of its strategic nuclear assets near the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis”, he said.

ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE’

Kim described the recently enhanced security cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo as the “worst actual threat”.

As a result, he added, “it is very important for the DPRK to accelerate the modernisation of nuclear weapons in order to hold the definite edge of strategic deterrence”.

Kim also “stressed the need to push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means”, according to KCNA. Neighbouring Japan, however, said North Korea’s atomic weapons programme was “absolutely unacceptable”.

“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development threatens the peace and security of our country and the international community,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said yesterday in response to the constitutional change.

And South Korea said its special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs spoke to his US and Japanese counterparts, and that the three “strongly condemned” the constitutional amendment.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the country’s parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea. PHOTO: AP

Agriculturalist who helped India’s farming to grow at industrial scale dies at 98

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan. PHOTO: AP

NEW DELHI (AP) – Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, a renowned agricultural scientist who revolutionised India’s farming and was a key architect of the country’s “Green Revolution” died yesterday. He was 98.

Swaminathan died at his home in southern Chennai city after an age-related illness, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, the agriculturalist was instrumental in bringing industrial farming to India, making the country self-sufficient in food and reducing widespread hunger. India’s “Green Revolution”, as it was known, turned the northern states of Punjab and Haryana into breadbaskets for wheat and rice production, helping low-income farmers.

The initiative, now dubbed as a transformational era in Indian agriculture, introduced high-yielding cereal varieties and expanded use of irrigation and fertilisers.

Grain production increased exponentially, at a time when India was beset with widespread starvation. For his work, Swaminathan was named one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th Century by Time magazine.

Swaminathan also held administrative positions in various agricultural research institutes in India and served as a top planner at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research between 1972 and 1979. He received the Padma Shri, one of the Indian government’s top honours, in 1967. Swaminathan also served as a lawmaker in India’s upper house of the Parliament.

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan. PHOTO: AP

Fifty arrested after mobs ransacked stores

One of the retail shops damaged and looted in Philadelphia, United States. PHOTO: AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Dozens of people faced criminal charges after a night of social media-fuelled mayhem in which groups of thieves, apparently working together, smashed their way into stores in several areas of Philadelphia in the United States stuffing plastic bags with merchandise and fleeing, authorities said.

Police said they made at least 52 arrests. Burglary, theft and other counts have been filed so far against at least 30 people, all but three of them adults, according to spokesperson for the Philadelphia district attorney’s office Jane Roh.

The flash mob-style ransacking at dozens of stores including Foot Locker, Lululemon and Apple came after a peaceful protest over a judge’s decision to dismiss murder and other charges against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver, Eddie Irizarry, through a rolled-up window. Those doing the ransacking were not affiliated with the protest, Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said at a news conference, calling the group a bunch of criminal opportunists.

Video on social media showed masked people in hoodies running out of Lululemon with merchandise and police officers grabbing several and tackling them to the sidewalk. Photos of a sporting goods store at a mall showed mannequins and sneakers scattered on the sidewalk.

The thefts and unrest stretched from downtown to northeast and west Philadelphia, leaving smashed display windows and broken storefront coverings.

One of the retail shops damaged and looted in Philadelphia, United States. PHOTO: AP

Police said seven cars were stolen from a lot in the northeast. One of the cars had been recovered as of Wednesday afternoon.

Six businesses in a single retail corridor of North Philadelphia were looted, including three pharmacies, a hair salon, a tax preparation company and a cellphone store, according to the North 22nd Street Business Corridor, a business group.

Pharmacist and store manager at Patriot Pharmacy Benjamin Nochum said it was the third time since 2020 his business had been hit.

“When looters steal from us, what they don’t seem to understand is that they are also stealing from our neighbours,” Nochum said in a statement. ”It makes you question how much longer you can hang on.” People appeared to have organised efforts on social media, according to Stanford, the interim police commissioner.

Police are investigating that there was possibly a caravan of a number of different vehicles that were going from location to location. Video posted to social media showed people hanging out of cars in a shopping centre parking lot, appearing to yell directions to one another. “This destructive and illegal behaviour cannot and will not be tolerated in our city,” said Mayor Jim Kenney, calling it a sickening display of opportunistic criminal activity.

“The administration is working with police to assess which areas of the city may need increased coverage or additional resources,” he said.

Three dead in car crash, minutes after police pursuit

A heavily damaged vehicle from the crash. PHOTO: AP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Three people including a teenage boy died when a sports car being chased by police in Indianapolis, United States collided with another vehicle just minutes after officers ended their pursuit, authorities said.

An Indiana state trooper began the pursuit when the driver of a Dodge Challenger fled the officer’s attempt to pull it over on suspicion of reckless driving on Indianapolis’ far east side, state police said.

The pursuit lasted about 12 minutes, traversing several city streets before shifting into rural areas of adjacent Hancock County and then back toward Indianapolis’ east side, police said.

State troopers and other officers tried to deploy stop sticks but couldn’t get into position to stop the car, police said.

After the car left a rural, low populated area and began returning to Indianapolis’ east side, troopers ended their pursuit at 9.50pm, in part due to the driver’s aggressive, reckless driving.

A heavily damaged vehicle from the crash. PHOTO: AP

About five minutes later, police learned there had been a serious crash involving two vehicles close to the area where the pursuit had started.

Officers found that the car, which was carrying three people, drove through a red light and collided at extremely high speed with a vehicle being driven by a woman who was travelling alone.

The woman, who died at a hospital, was identified as Makayla Hankins, 21, by the Marion County Coroner’s Office.

Two male passengers who were extricated from the Challenger’s wreckage were pronounced dead at a hospital and identified by the coroner’s office as Christian Leyba-Gonzalez, 14, and Jose Gonzalez Jr, 32.

Police identified the Challenger’s driver as Luis Leyba-Gonzalez, 19, adding he suffered minor injuries in the crash.

He was arrested on a preliminary charge of resisting law enforcement causing death, police said.

Six dead, one survivor found, in search for kidnapped youth

PHOTO: ENVATO

MEXICO CITY (AP) – A search for seven kidnapped youths in the north-central Mexico state of Zacatecas appeared to come to a tragic end when searchers found six bodies and one survivor in a remote area.

State prosecutors said the surviving young man was found with serious head wounds. His condition was listed as stable.

They said the bodies of six young men were found nearby, but that investigators had not yet confirmed they were the youths abducted from a farm on Sunday.

The bodies were brought to the state capital for identification.

Their relatives had carried out protests earlier this week in the violence-plagued state to demand authorities find them. It was the latest tragic outcome to mass abductions of young people this year.

In August, a gruesome video circulated on social media recorded the last moments of five young men kidnapped in the neighbouring state of Jalisco. At the height of Mexico’s drug cartel brutality in the 2010s, gangs sometimes forced kidnap victims to kill each other.

In 2010, one Mexican cartel abducted men from passenger buses and forced them to fight each other to death with sledgehammers.

In May, as many as eight young workers were killed in Jalisco after they apparently tried to quit jobs at a call centre operated by a violent drug cartel that targeted Americans in a real estate scam.

PHOTO: ENVATO