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Myanmar burns $446 million worth of seized drugs as illicit trade booms in Southeast Asia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The authorities in Myanmar destroyed more than $446 million worth of illegal drugs seized from around the country to mark an annual international anti-drug trafficking day on Monday, police said.The drug burn came as U.N. experts warned of increases in the production of opium, heroin and methamphetamine in Myanmar, with exports threatening to expand markets in South and Southeast Asia.Myanmar has a long history of drug production linked to political and economic insecurity caused by decades of armed conflict. The country is a major producer and exporter of methamphetamine and the world’s second-largest opium and heroin producer after Afghanistan, despite repeated attempts to promote alternative legal crops among poor farmers.In the country’s largest city, Yangon, a pile of seized drugs and precursor chemicals worth $207 million was incinerated. The destroyed drugs included opium, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, kratom, ketamine and crystal meth, also known as ice....

Lightning strikes kill 10 as pre-monsoon rains lash Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Lightning strikes across Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province killed at least 10 people, officials said Monday as heavy pre-monsoon rains lashed the region. The strikes on Sunday mainly took place in the Sialkot and Sheikhupura districts of Punjab. Lightning strikes are frequent across Pakistan, especially in Punjab’s mountainous areas and plains.The Pakistan Meteorological Department said more rains were expected this week, bringing some respite from the ongoing heatwave. The National Disaster Management Authority warned the ongoing rains could trigger flash flooding. Every year, many areas of Pakistan struggle with the annual monsoons, drawing criticism for poor government planning. The season runs from July through September. Last summer, floods triggered by rains killed 1,739 people across Pakistan. The deluge displaced about 8 million people and caused $30 billion in losses.The Associated Press

Thousands of North Koreans march in anti-US rallies as country marks Korean War anniversary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Tens of thousands of North Koreans marched in anti-U.S. rallies in the nation’s capital over the weekend, pledging “merciless” revenge against “U.S. imperialists,” as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War, state media said Monday.More than 120,000 people participated in Sunday’s mass rallies in Pyongyang, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said.While the 1950-53 conflict was triggered by a North Korean surprise attack, the demonstrators mobilized in Pyongyang promoted their government’s version of events and accused the United States of provoking the war and leaving Koreans with “wounds … that can never be healed.”They also expressed pride in North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons and missile programs, insisting their country now has the “strongest absolute weapon to punish the U.S. imperialists and the war deterrence for self-defense which no enemy dare provoke.”Photos published by the North’s Rodong S...

Ukraine: Chaos in Russia works to our advantage

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

Chaos in Russia works to Kyiv's advantage, Ukraine officials said on Saturday (24 June), but it remains to be seen whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his army can capitalize on the disorder caused this weekend as mercenaries marched towards Moscow.Late on Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a founder of the Wagner army, said he was halting his "march for justice" on Moscow after a deal that spared him and his mercenaries from facing criminal charges. The deal also exiled Prigozhin to Belarus."Today the world saw that the masters of Russia do not control anything. Nothing at all. Just complete chaos," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, urging Ukraine's allies to use the moment and send more weapons to Kyiv.The Prigozhin unrest, the biggest internal challenge to President Vladimir Putin as Russia's paramount leader for 23 years, has spurred global security concerns and a frenzy of calls between Washington and its allies to coordinate actions."Any chaos behind the enemy lines...

Taylor Swift interpreta “Dear John” y pide amabilidad antes del lanzamiento de “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

(CNN) — Taylor Swift hizo saber a su público de Eras Tour este sábado que aprecia las “hermosas interacciones” que ha presenciado en la gira, pero sólo tiene una pequeña petición antes del lanzamiento de “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”.“Me gustaría pedirles que, mientras nos acercamos al lanzamiento de este álbum, me encantaría que esa amabilidad y gentileza se extendieran a nuestras actividades en Internet”, dijo Swift durante su concierto en el US Bank Stadium de Minneapolis, según muestran los videos publicados por los asistentes en las redes sociales.“Tengo 33 años, no me importa nada de lo que me pasó cuando tenía 19, excepto las canciones que escribí”, continuó, añadiendo que sus oyentes no deberían “sentir la necesidad de defenderme en Internet contra alguien del que crees que podría haber escrito una canción hace 14.000 millones de años”.ANÁLISIS | Taylor Swift envía un poderoso mensaje a las mujeres en e...

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appears in public for first time since Wagner revolt demanded his ouster

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appears in public for first time since Wagner revolt demanded his ouster.Source

Australian man plans Enhanced Games for doping athletes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — Aaron D’Souza is sure if he builds it they will come. Not ghostly baseball players but athletes of another sort. Those who compete with an edge.The Australia-born, London-based businessman is president of the Enhanced Games, a sort of Olympics without drug testing which he says “will obliterate all the world records” by “unlocking human potential.”The Enhanced Games has its own website, featuring a video that purports to show the “fastest man in the world.”“He has broken Usain Bolt’s 100m record. He has unlocked his body’s true athletic potential,” the website says. “But the world isn’t ready for him.“The Olympics hate him. He has been vilified. He will be vindicated.”The website invites fans to “come watch him compete at the 2024 Enhanced Games.” It accuses the International Olympic Committee of vilifying “enhanced athletes” and lists “enhanced” world record rejected by the IOC.“Each Olympiad another cohort of brave athletes sets new world records only to have their m...

Moscow lifts security measures after Wagner mutiny

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

All the restrictions implemented in Moscow over the weekend as mercenary Wagner Group troops marched on the city have been lifted, the Russian capital’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Monday.“All restrictions related to the introduction of the anti-terrorist operation regime are being lifted,” Sobyanin said in a statement, in which he thanked Moscovites for “their calmness and understanding.”Moscow residents were advised to stay home Saturday, as troops with the Wagner paramilitary group closed in on the Russian capital during an armed mutiny.The aborted insurrection eventually ended Saturday evening, after a deal was reached between the Kremlin, Minsk and renegade Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, under which the rebellious warlord would leave for Belarus. By that point, Prigozhin’s troops had made it to the Moscow region, about 200 kilometers from the capital, where several public venues had been evacuated.

Prigozhin’s Wagner mutiny is over. What now?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

Vladimir Putin’s strongman mask is slipping — and Ukraine sees opportunity in the chaos.Warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived mutiny over the weekend exposed Putin’s tenuous grip on the levers of power, the disunity within his ranks and the weakness in Russia’s own border defenses. The ease with which Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries were able to take control of Russian territory and march to within 200 kilometers of Moscow — and the videos of Russians cheering for them — showed Putin’s regime is far from invincible.“Today the world saw that Russia’s bosses do not control anything,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address late Saturday. “In one day, they lost several of their million-plus cities and showed all Russian bandits, mercenaries, oligarchs and anyone else how easy it is to capture Russian cities and, probably, weapons arsenals.”Switching from Ukrainian to Russian, Zelenskyy continu...

Russian defense minister makes first public appearance since mercenary revolt as uncertainty swirls

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:23 GMT

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance since a mercenary uprising demanded his ouster, inspecting troops in Ukraine Monday in a video aimed at projecting a sense of order after a weekend that saw armed rebels seize a Russian city and march seemingly unopposed on the capital.Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced an end to the “counter-terrorism regime” imposed on the capital Saturday, during which troops and armored vehicles set up checkpoints on the edges of the city and authorities tore up roads leading into the city.Shoigu is one of three powerful Russian military leaders whose diverging interests erupted into mutiny when thousands of Wagner Group mercenaries headed from Ukraine deep into Russia, before turning around Saturday after less than 24 hours.He is the first to appear publicly since then, in video released by the Defense Ministry that was widely picked up by Russian media, including state-controlled television. It was unclear when it was ...