One of Japan’s busiest transportation lifelines came to a dramatic halt on Wednesday evening after a metre-long snake slithered onto a power line along the Tokaido Shinkansen route, shorting the system and bringing all train services between Tokyo and Osaka to a standstill. The unusual reptilian disruption occurred at approximately 5:25 p.m. between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima stations, coinciding with the start of Golden Week, a string of national holidays when millions of Japanese citizens travel across the country to visit family and enjoy vacation time. Passengers were left stranded for nearly two hours as engineers worked to restore power, which…
Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso
A Turkish court on Wednesday handed Swedish journalist Joakim Medin an 11 month suspended sentence for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but the reporter remains imprisoned as he awaits trial on a more serious charge of terrorism. Medin, who reports for Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC, was detained on March 27 upon arrival at Istanbul Airport, where he had flown in to cover the widespread protests sweeping the country. He was subsequently charged with insulting the president and belonging to a terrorist organization. The following day, he was incarcerated at the high-security Silivri prison outside Istanbul. While the court has…
In a historic world first, scientists in Britain have successfully used living human brain tissue to mimic the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, marking a major step forward in the urgent quest for a cure. A research team at the University of Edinburgh, working in partnership with NHS surgeons, exposed healthy brain tissue from living patients to toxic forms of amyloid beta, a protein heavily linked to Alzheimer’s. By doing so, they were able to observe in real-time how the disease attacks and disrupts critical brain cell connections. The method offers a rare and powerful opportunity to watch Alzheimer’s develop…
A 16 year old has been detained on suspicion of murdering three people following a deadly shooting at a hair salon in the city of Uppsala, Sweden’s Prosecution Authority confirmed on Wednesday. The attack, which unfolded late Tuesday afternoon, sent shockwaves through the university city, located 45 miles north of Stockholm. According to police, the shooting appears to have been an isolated incident and is not believed to be connected to the city’s Valborg celebrations, the traditional bonfire festival welcoming spring, set to take place Wednesday evening. Police responded to several emergency calls reporting loud bangs shortly after 5 p.m.…
In the first military operation authorised by the Labour government, British fighter jets joined American forces overnight in coordinated airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Royal Air Force Typhoon jets, supported by Voyager air tankers, struck a series of buildings located 15 miles south of the capital, Sana’a. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the targeted sites were being used by the Iran-backed Houthi movement to manufacture drones responsible for recent attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Defence Secretary John Healey described the strikes as a response to “a persistent threat from…
An alleged member of the Islamic State is being interrogated in Iraq after officials there accused him of helping incite the devastating New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans that left 14 people dead. However, U.S. authorities say no direct link has been established between the suspect in Iraq and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old Texas man who plowed a rental truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street before dying in a shootout with police. Although Jabbar flew a black-and-white ISIS flag from the back of the truck during the rampage, the Islamic State never formally claimed responsibility…
President Donald Trump said he “could” call Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to help return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States but…
A critical care paramedic who rushed to the Bondi Junction stabbing attack last year has told an inquest he was “frustrated” after being prevented from reaching injured and potentially dying victims inside the Westfield shopping centre. Christopher Wilkinson, a New South Wales ambulance officer, gave evidence on Wednesday at the ongoing coronial inquest into the deaths of six victims killed on 13 April 2024 by Joel Cauchi, a 40-year-old man with schizophrenia. Cauchi fatally stabbed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, before being shot dead by police…
A U.S. Coast Guard crew seized approximately 10,000 pounds of cocaine from a fishing boat operating in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, the agency announced Monday. The contraband, valued at an estimated $74 million, marks another major victory in the ongoing battle against transnational narcotics trafficking. The seizure occurred in mid-April, roughly 1,200 miles west of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, where the Coast Guard cutter Calhoun identified a suspicious fishing vessel sailing through international waters. The vessel’s behavior triggered suspicions of drug trafficking, prompting a Coast Guard team to board and inspect the ship, where they uncovered…
A senior city official in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, was shot and killed Monday evening while dining at a seafood restaurant, as violence continues to grip western Mexico. Jose Luis Pereira, a high-ranking member of Teocaltiche’s local government, was attacked around 5:00 p.m., according to the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office. Responding officers and medical personnel found Pereira deceased at the scene. The killing comes as Jalisco, a hotspot for cartel violence, reels from a wave of brutal attacks targeting public officials and civilians alike. Just days ago, a mother searching for her missing relatives and her son were murdered in the state.…
