QUICK READ
Lebanon
THE families of migrants who died when their vessel capsized on Lebanon’s northern coast held funerals in the port city of Tripoli yesterday while rescue efforts continued to find dozens still missing. A dinghy carrying Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian migrants sank on Saturday off the coast near Tripoli when naval forces collided with the vessel as the smuggler tried to evade capture. The UN estimates the dinghy was carrying 80 people at the time. The authorities say 47 people were rescued, leaving around two dozen unaccounted for. A seventh body was found yesterday. | Reuters
Indonesia
INDONESIA raised the alert status for the offspring of the infamous Krakatoa volcano to its second highest level yesterday, a day after it erupted and spewed a towering ash cloud 3 000m into the sky. Authorities bumped the threat of Anak Krakatoa, which means Child of Krakatoa, to level three of a four-tier volcanic alert system after witnessing a sharp rise in activity in the last month, with the biggest eruption coming on Sunday. They also widened the exclusion zone around the crater a day after warning nearby residents to wear masks outside because of the large plume of ash. | AFP
Sri Lanka
POPE Francis urged Sri Lankan authorities yesterday to reveal who was behind the country’s 2019 Easter bombings in an attack the island’s Catholics suspect was a plot to propel President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power. While meeting with a delegation of more than 60 victims of the Easter Sunday attacks on three churches and three hotels that killed 279 people, Francis asked Rajapaksa’s administration to reveal the truth. The head of Sri
Lanka’s Catholic Church, Malcolm Ranjithl, has suggested that the attacks helped Rajapaksa win the November 2019 elections. | AFP
North Korea
NORTH Korea kicked off a muchanticipated military parade yesterday, a South Korean military source said, commemorating a major army holiday with a show of strength at a time when Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing. Monday’s parade celebrated the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. North Korea had been widely expected to showcase its military strength to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of its founder and leader Kim Jong-un’s grandfather,
Kim Il Sung, on April 15, but instead, the day was celebrated with a civilian parade. | AFP