NATION AND WORLD BRIEFS
Biden to host South Korean leader Yoon for 2nd state visit
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will host South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for the second state visit of his administration, the White House announced on Tuesday.
Yoon will be joined by first lady Kim Keon Hee. A state dinner will be held on April 26.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-pierre said the event would celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the United States and South Korea, which she called “critical to advancing peace, stability, and prosperity for our two countries, the Indopacific, and around the world.”
Roman shrine uncovered beneath graveyard in central England
LONDON – Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a Roman shrine beneath a former graveyard in the grounds of a cathedral in central England.
Experts from the University of Leicester said Tuesday that they found what appears to be the cellar of a Roman building and a fragment of a 1,800-yearold altar stone during excavations in the grounds of Leicester Cathedral.
“There’s always been this folk tale that there was a Roman temple underneath the cathedral,” said Mathew Morris, excavation director for the University of Leicester’s Archaeological Services.
“Until now, there’s been no way of being able to say whether there was or not,” he added, but the new findings reveal that “there is definitely a Roman place of worship underneath the cathedral.”
Morris and his team believe the cellar, nearly 10 feet below the ground, was built in the second century. Several pieces of Roman pottery and coins were also found at the site.
Syrian state media: Israeli strike damages Aleppo airport
DAMASCUS, Syria – An Israeli airstrike hit the international airport in the
Experts from the University of Leicester said Tuesday that they have uncovered what they believe to be a Roman shrine beneath a former graveyard on the grounds of a cathedral in central England. northern Syrian city of Aleppo early on Tuesday, putting it out of service, Syria state media said. All flights were rerouted to two other airports in the war-torn country, according to the report.
State news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, said Israeli warplanes fired missiles that hit Aleppo International Airport while flying over the Mediterranean Sea. It said the strike “caused material damage to the airport and put it out of service.”
There was no comment from Israeli officials, and it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Rescuers search for dozens buried in Indonesian landslides
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Rescuers were searching for 47 people who were believed to be buried in their houses by landslides that tore through villages on Indonesia’s remote Natuna islands after torrential rains. Eleven people were confirmed dead, officials said Tuesday.
Eight others were pulled alive with injuries, three of them in critical condition, said National Disaster Management Agency chief Suharyanto.
They were rushed to a hospital in nearby Ranai as well as Pontianak city on Borneo island, about 180 miles from Genting and Pangkalan villages.
They are located on a remote island surrounded by choppy waters and high waves in the Natuna archipelago at the edge of the South China Sea.
There were reports that 47 people were trapped in 27 houses that were buried on Monday under tons of mud from surrounding hills.
The landslides displaced more than 1,200 people, who were taken to evacuation centers and other shelters. Authorities feared the death toll could rise.
Hungarian delegation backs Sweden’s NATO application
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A parliamentary delegation from Hungary said Tuesday that it supports Sweden’s NATO membership bid after meeting the speaker of the Swedish parliament to iron out what Hungary’s governing party has called “political disputes.”
Some Hungarian lawmakers have raised doubts about whether to support the NATO membership applications by Sweden and Finland, citing what they call “blatant lies” from Stockholm and Helsinki on the state of Hungary’s democracy.
But the Hungarian delegation indicated Tuesday that the parliament in Budapest would ultimately ratify Sweden’s NATO bid.
“We support Sweden’s NATO membership,” Hungary’s deputy parliamentary speaker, Csaba Hende, told Swedish news agency TT.
Thai man gets 2-year term for calendar said to mock king
BANGKOK – A Thai man was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for selling calendars featuring satirical cartoons of yellow ducks that a court said mocked the country’s monarch, a legal aid group said.
Bangkok’s Criminal Court ruled that the calendar for 2021 contained pictures of yellow ducks in poses resembling and ridiculing Thailand’s king, diminishing his reputation, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.
Yellow rubber ducks were at one point a tongue-in-cheek symbol of Thailand’s pro-democracy protest movement.
The defendant was charged under Thailand’s lese majeste law, which provides for three to 15 years’ imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent.