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Volcanic eruption in Indonesia kills three hikers

MEXICO CITY: Singapore has isolated and is testing two residents who were on board a cruise ship linked to a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday. Countries worldwide are tracking passengers on the virus-hit ship to prevent further spread of the hantavirus. Three individuals – a Dutch couple and a German national – have died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius , while eight people are believed to have contracted the virus. Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but could in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person. The two residents of Singapore, men aged 67 and 65, have been isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. They were onboard the MV Hondius when it departed from the Argentinian port of Ushuaia on April 1, the CDA said in a statement. “One has a runny nose but is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic. The risk to the general public in Singapore is currently low.“ – Reuters Singapore tests residents for hantavirus Japan confirms first fatal bear attack of 2026 TOKYO: Japanese authorities yesterday confirmed the first fatal bear attack of this year, with media reports saying police were also investigating two other possible cases. The victim, reportedly a 55-year-old woman, died on April 21 in Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, an environment ministry official said. Media reports said police were investigating two other deaths potentially caused by bears. One body was discovered elsewhere in the Iwate region on Thursday and another in a forest in Yamagata prefecture on Tuesday. Police confirmed to AFP that two individuals had died but could not immediately verify other details. Last year, Japan saw a spate of deadly bear attacks, with a record 13 individuals killed. In the latest suspected attack in Iwate, Kumagai Chiyoko, 69, went missing after going to a mountain forest to pick edible wild plants, broadcaster NHK reported. – AFP TAIPEI: Taiwanese opposition parties announced yesterday they have agreed to raise their defence spending proposal for US weapons to nearly US$25 billion, after months of political wrangling. The figure falls well short of the government’s proposed budget of nearly US$40 billion for critical defence purchases, which includes

o Seven led down safely, 10 still missing: Police

imprisonment if the offender commits no crimes during the period of reprieve. After the commutation, Wei and Li will be imprisoned for life without the possibility of further commutation or parole, Xinhua said. Commutations for minister-level convictions in China are not unusual. Fu Zhenghua, a former justice minister, was sentenced to death in 2022, with the sentence later commuted to life in prison. The same happened with Liu Zhijun, a former railways minister who was convicted in 2013. The PLA in its official newspaper called on party members and its military cadres to heed the lessons from the two cases, warning against harbouring “divided loyalties towards would be in addition to normal defence spending that is included in the government’s annual budget. Months of fighting have left the KMT deeply divided, with the party’s chairperson Cheng Li-wun, who has drawn criticism from inside and outside the KMT for being too pro-China, pushing for the allocation of NT$380 billion (US$12 billion) for JAKARTA: Three hikers, including two foreigners, died and 10 were missing after Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s eastern Halmahera Island erupted yesterday, spewing an ash cloud about 10km into the air, a local police chief said. “There are three dead, two foreigners and one resident of Ternate Island in east Indonesia,” said North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu. He added that seven individuals had come down safely, but 10 more were missing in an area declared off-limits to visitors last month after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. According to Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, five climbers were injured in the eruption. “The joint teams from the Regional Disaster Management Agency and the National Search and Rescue Agency continue to conduct sweeps and evacuations of climbers in the mountain area as volcanic activity increases,” spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement. Erlichson said the rescue operation was taking place in rough terrain only accessible to vehicles part of the way up the slope. “The rest of the way, (the victims) need to be carried on a stretcher. And there is still rumbling from the eruption. It slows down our evacuation.”

Geology Agency head Lana Saria said the early-morning eruption was accompanied by a “booming sound” and a thick smoke column. “The direction of the ash distribution leans northward, so residential areas and Tobelo City need to be vigilant for volcanic ash rain.” She added that the smoke could be dangerous for public health and risked disrupting transport services. Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide. The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes. Mount Dukono is currently on level two of Indonesia’s four-tiered alert system. Since December, the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has recommended that tourists and climbers do not come within four kilometres of the volcano’s Malupang Warirang Crater. Erlichson said the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs put up at the entrance to the trail to stay away. “Local residents understand and don’t want to climb. Many (hikers) are foreign tourists who wish to create (social media) content.” – AFP the Party”, referring to China’s ruling Communist Party. The military said Wei and Li had caused great damage to the party’s cause, national defence and military construction, as well as the image of senior leaders. Singapore-based China security scholar James Char said the suspended death sentence was the most severe sentence handed down in recent history to a member of the Central Military Commission, the Communist Party’s supreme military leadership body. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, said the purges were leaving deficiencies in the military’s command structure. – Reuters US weapons, with the option for more acquisitions. The weapons – M109A7 self propelled howitzers, Javelin anti armor missiles, TOW 2B missiles and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems – account for nearly US$9 billion of the US$11.1 billion arms package announced by Washington in December. – AFP

A picture taken and released by Indonesia’s Geological Agency yesterday shows smoke rising from the volcano as seen from Tobelo in North Maluku. – AFPPIC

Ex-ministers in China sentenced to death over graft

BEIJING: Former Chinese Defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu have been sentenced to death over graft charges, with a two-year reprieve, state news agency Xinhua reported, underscoring the severity of the purge in the military. The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by President Xi Jinping after coming to power in 2012. The purges reached the elite Rocket Force in 2023, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles. Earlier this year, they escalated further, resulting in the removal of the top general in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Zhang Youxia, who was a Politburo member and was long seen

as an ally of Xi. Past reports in Xinhua said Li had been suspected of receiving “huge sums of money” in bribes as well as bribing others, and an investigation found he “did not fulfil political responsibilities” and “sought personal benefits for himself and others”. An investigation launched into Wei in 2023 found that he had accepted “a huge amount of money and valuables” in bribes and “helped others gain improper benefits in personnel arrangements”, Xinhua reported in 2024, adding that his actions were “extremely serious in nature, with a highly detrimental impact and tremendous harm”. A death sentence with reprieve in China is typically commuted to life biggest opposition party, which favours closer ties with China, and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), said they would be willing to support NT$780 billion (nearly US$25 billion) in spending on US arms. The KMT and the TPP control Taiwan’s 113-seat parliament. The special funds would be spread out over eight years and

Taiwan opposition backs US$25 billion defence spending proposal

US arms as well as Taiwan-made drones and other weapons. Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over how much to spend on improving defence capabilities against a potential attack by China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to forcibly seize it. The Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s