World News Quick Take – Taipei Times

JAPAN

Mongooses eradicated

The nation has wiped out all mongooses on a subtropical island, officials said, after the animals ignored the venomous snakes they were brought in to hunt and preyed on endangered local rabbits instead. About 30 of the venom-resistant predators were released on Amami Oshima, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in the late 1970s to keep down the population of habu, a pit viper whose bite can be deadly to humans. However, the snakes are mostly active at night when mongooses prefer to sleep and the toothy mammals turned their ravenous appetites to local Amami rabbits, drastically reducing their numbers. The rabbits only live on Amami Oshima and one other island and are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list. The mongoose population had exploded to about 10,000 by 2000 and authorities began a program of eradication. The government declared the island mongoose-free on Tuesday, almost 25 years after the start of that program and nearly 50 since the ill-fated initiative began.

Photo: EPA-EFE

SOUTH KOREA

Leaders slam N Korea

The leaders of South Korea and New Zealand during a summit in Seoul yesterday condemned North Korea’s weapons program and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Yoon Suk-yeol and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also agreed to work toward elevating bilateral ties, the presidential office said. “It is more important than ever for countries that share values, including South Korea and New Zealand, to form solidarity at this critical juncture, where challenges from authoritarian forces continue, with the war in Ukraine and military cooperation between Russia and North Korea,” Yoon said in his opening remarks.

Photo: Reuters

BANGLADESH

Thousands of Rohingya flee

About 8,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from across the border with Myanmar in the past few months, escaping escalating violence in Rakhine State, an official said yesterday. The violence has intensified as fighting between Myanmar’s ruling junta and the Arakan Army continues to worsen. “We have information that around 8,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh recently, mostly over the last two months,” said Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a senior official in charge of refugees for the government. “Bangladesh is already overburdened and unable to accommodate any more Rohingya.”

Photo:AFP

UKRAINE

Foreign minister resigns

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba has submitted his resignation, the speaker of parliament said yesterday, as part of a major government reshuffle. The announcement came a day after several other ministers resigned in a significant government reset. Kuleba is the most senior of the ministers to offer to step down.

ECUADOR

Prison director killed

The director of a prison was killed in an armed attack on Tuesday and two officers were wounded, the Latin American country’s prison management service said. “Three administrative officials of the Center for Deprivation of Liberty … were victims of an armed attack” on the road to Coca city, the SNAI prisons agency said on WhatsApp. Alex Guevara, director of the prison in Sucumbios Province, “unfortunately died due to the attack,” it said. Two other workers who were with him were wounded. SNAI said that police are investigating the incident.