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Ukrainian drone attacks wound 18 people in Russian regions, governors say

Ukrainian drone attacks wound 18 people in Russian regions, governors say

Straits Times2 days ago
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MOSCOW - At least 18 people were wounded and houses and other buildings damaged in Ukrainian drone attacks overnight in the Russian regions of Voronezh, Lipetsk and Bryansk, governors there said on Tuesday.
Russia's air defence units destroyed 12 drones over the Voronezh region, which borders Ukraine, Governor Alexander Gusev said on the Telegram messaging app.
Sixteen people, including a teenager, were hurt as a result of the attack, he said. Residential buildings in the city of Voronezh and its outskirts were damaged, along with regional commercial facilities.
Unverified video published by Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russian security services, showed an aerial object crashing into a building on a busy residential street in Voronezh, followed by a large fireball.
The city's mayor, Sergei Petrin, said a kindergarten had been damaged and children were being temporarily transferred to neighbouring facilities.
In the city of Yelets in the Lipetsk region, a drone crashed in an industrial zone, injuring one person, regional governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.
In the Bryansk region, a woman was injured in a drone attack on the village of Sluchevsk, said the regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz.
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The Russian defence ministry said on Telegram that its units destroyed 55 Ukrainian drones overnight over five Russian regions and the Black Sea, including three over the Lipetsk region.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about the attacks.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes during the war that Russia launched against Ukraine more than three years ago. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
Ukraine has launched multiple air strikes on Lipetsk, a strategically important region with an air base that is the chief training centre for the Russian Aerospace Forces. REUTERS
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Trump cancels billions in funds for California high-speed rail 'boondoggle'
Trump cancels billions in funds for California high-speed rail 'boondoggle'

Straits Times

time23 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Trump cancels billions in funds for California high-speed rail 'boondoggle'

Find out what's new on ST website and app. A drone view of a California High-Speed Rail Bridge where it crosses through Fresno, California, on June 8. Los Angeles - US President Donald Trump announced on July 16 that his administration was cutting billions in federal funding for the construction of a high-speed rail line in California, a project beset by delays. The Republican had previously signalled his opposition to the project, launched 15 years ago to build a high-speed train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. 'Not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again,' he posted on social media, using a pejorative name for California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and bitter political rival of the US president. 'This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money,' said Mr Trump. Launched in 2008, the project to connect the two main cities of the country's most populous state has seen numerous delays and overshot budgets. Mr Trump had earlier cancelled federal funding for the project in his first term, but the move was suspended after California challenged it in court. When Democrat Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, he restored the funds. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore HSA launches anti-vaping checks near 5 institutes of higher learning Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Business Singapore key exports surprise with 13% rebound in June amid tariff uncertainty Business Market versus mission: What will Income Insurance choose? Life First look at the new Singapore Oceanarium at Resorts World Sentosa Opinion AI and education: We need to know where this sudden marriage is heading Singapore Coffee Meets Bagel's Singpass check: Why I'll swipe right on that Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Mr Trump returned to office in January, and in June, his administration threatened to cancel US$4 billion (S$5.14 billion) in funding for the project after a report by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) concluded that the initial section of the line would not be completed by a 2033 deadline. 'Governor Newsom and California's high speed rail boondoggle are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption,' said US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a post on social media. Mr Duffy alleged the project's price tag had gone up from US$33 billion to US$135 billion, 'with no completion date in sight.' 'That's why TODAY we're pulling the plug on federal funding for this train to nowhere,' he said. Governor Newsom hit back on social media by assailing Duffy over the recent US air safety record. 'Won't be taking advice from the guy who can't keep planes in the sky,' he said. Even if California once again challenges Mr Trump's decision in court, the funding cancellation would be a serious blow to the project, with new delays almost inevitable. Unlike Europe or Asia, passenger rail travel is one of the least developed forms of transportation in the United States, with high-speed rail virtually non-existent. The country's first fully high-speed rail line, planned to run about 355km between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is expected to be completed by 2028, in time for the Olympic Games. AFP

HSA launches anti-vaping checks near 5 institutes of higher learning, Singapore News
HSA launches anti-vaping checks near 5 institutes of higher learning, Singapore News

AsiaOne

timean hour ago

  • AsiaOne

HSA launches anti-vaping checks near 5 institutes of higher learning, Singapore News

SINGAPORE — The anti-vaping blitz has extended to areas near schools, with enforcement officers conducting checks outside five institutes of higher learning (IHL) across Singapore on Monday (July 14). In total, 27 people were caught and fined for vaping in enforcement operations conducted at several community hot spots, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) told The Straits Times. Another eight persons were caught for underage smoking. Those caught were aged 17 to 66 years old, said HSA, which added that 31 e-vaporisers were seized in the four-hour-long operation. [[nid:720201]] Work in the East started just after 11am, with HSA officers positioning themselves at various spots where people gather outside the institutes. Within the first hour, a man was caught loitering at a HDB void deck across from the school, with a vape around his neck. HSA officers confiscated his vape, suspected to be a Kpod or etomidate-laced pod. Etomidate is an anaesthetic agent used in clinical practice. It is classified as a poison under the Poisons Act. This means a licence is required for its importation or sale. About 500m away from where the first man was caught, HSA officers found a man vaping at a bus stop directly opposite a school, in full public view. He told officers that he had just seen a doctor and was given a medical certificate. The man was allowed to leave after enforcement officers recorded his particulars. At around 4pm, ST followed HSA officers to an IHL in the north of Singapore, where officers found six people using vapes. IHLs comprise autonomous universities, art institutions, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education. The Ministry of Health and HSA said in a joint statement on May 16 that from January 2024 to March 2025, about 2,600 students were referred to HSA by schools and IHLs for vaping. Previous figures released showed that there were about 800 cases in 2022, 900 cases the following year and 2,000 cases in 2024. Teachers, who spoke to ST on the condition of anonymity, say vaping, which has been banned in Singapore since 2018, has been a problem in schools here. Roger (not his real name) said he sees an average of three to four cases of students getting caught with vapes a month. "Some schools have resorted to using portable metal detectors to check students when there is a tip-off," said Roger, who has been teaching in a secondary school for more than 20 years. He added that at his school, bags are checked only when there is reliable information that the student may be using e-vaporisers. Jim (not his real name) said the situation at his IHL has worsened since 2023, when about 200 students were caught vaping in the institute each month. He said students would hide the vapes in false ceilings or behind mirrors inside toilets. Jim declined to provide the number of students caught for vaping offences in 2024 and 2025, saying that it might identify his institute. Roger said he is aware of the emergence of etomidate-laced vapes, or Kpods. His school was first alerted to the use of laced vapes by a concerned parent who found her child in a "drugged out" state. Laced vapes rose to prominence in April when a 13-year-old girl was caught behaving erratically outside the State Courts after puffing on a vape. A subsequent raid of her home by HSA officers found that she had an etomidate-laced vape device in her possession. Roger said that, fortunately, no students have been caught with laced pods in his school. Jim said the emergence of Kpods has added another layer of complexity. "Kpods are my number one nemesis because we have seen students using Kpods and, within seconds, they're not themselves. They don't know what is happening to them and their surroundings," he added. Jim said that he had previously contacted the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) for guidance when a student was caught while high on the laced product. He said he was referred to HSA. 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The advisory provides warning of the dangers of vaping and how parents can protect their children. Secondary school teacher Lim (not his real name) said he has received e-mails from his school's student management committee to look out for vapes. "Metal detectors have been used during bag checks, but that happens only if there is a tip-off or when we have a valid reason to be suspicious that the particular student possesses a vape," said Lim. Gopal Mahey, senior counsellor at the Centre for Psychotherapy, said more parents and their children have reached out for help in dealing with addiction to vaping. He said many clients had initially assumed that vaping was a safer or "cleaner" alternative to cigarettes. "With substances like etomidate or even tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and amphetamines lacing the same devices, the risks have escalated dramatically. 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Scandal-ridden Fyre Festival is sold for $315k on eBay
Scandal-ridden Fyre Festival is sold for $315k on eBay

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Scandal-ridden Fyre Festival is sold for $315k on eBay

Find out what's new on ST website and app. According to the eBay listing, 175 bids had been placed in about a week on the auction site. It had billed itself as an unrivaled music festival experience, one that its organisers fancied would bring together jet-setters for an Instagram-worthy lineup of A-list acts and hedonism in paradise. Eat your hearts out, Coachella and Burning Man. But after ignominiously failing to deliver on lofty promises, ones that resulted in prison time for the event's founder and documentaries by Netflix and Hulu, the scandal-ridden Fyre Festival sold its branding rights on July 15 via the auction website eBay. It did not exactly go out in a blaze of glory – more like a whimper – with an unidentified buyer paying US$245,300 (S315,000) to take over the brand and its intellectual property rights from Billy McFarland, 33, a so-called big-time millennial grifter. Still, the sale raised a fundamental question: Why would anyone pay any amount to inherit a brand with such a dubious reputation? According to the eBay listing, 175 bids had been placed in about a week on the auction site, where a description about the marketing opportunities associated with the Fyre Festival was presented in familiar grandiose terms. 'FYRE isn't just a name – it's a global attention engine,' the listing said. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore HSA launches anti-vaping checks near 5 institutes of higher learning Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Business Singapore key exports surprise with 13% rebound in June amid tariff uncertainty Business Market versus mission: What will Income Insurance choose? Life First look at the new Singapore Oceanarium at Resorts World Sentosa Opinion AI and education: We need to know where this sudden marriage is heading Singapore Coffee Meets Bagel's Singpass check: Why I'll swipe right on that Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence The listing was not eligible for eBay's purchase protection programmes, the auction site advised. Even before the bidding ended, Mr McFarland, who served nearly four years in prison for a fraud scheme involving the 2017 festival, could not hide his disappointment that the sale was not going quite as he had hoped. 'We had a seven-figure deal for the complete Fyre brand and IP package that fell through this morning,' he said in a July 7 social media video while walking along the Hudson River in New York. 'Ugh.' As the bidding closed on July 15, Mr McFarland bemoaned the sale price during a livestream, NBC News reported. 'This sucks,' he said. 'It's so low.' In a statement, Mr McFarland congratulated the buyer, whom he did not name, and wrote that the auction proved that 'attention is currency'. The sale appeared to bring an unceremonious end to Mr McFarland's festival gambit, which relied on influencers including models Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner to promote its inaugural event in 2017. Weekend ticket packages ranged from US$1,200 to more than US$100,000 for the festival, which was held on a Bahamian island once owned by Pablo Escobar. But when guests arrived on the island of Great Exuma, it was not the glamping experience that they had signed up for. NYTIMES

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