chris murkin posted a photo:
RAF Supermarine Spitfire MkV G-AISU AB910 BBMF AE-H
Aircraft is based at RAF Coningsby and is part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Collection
Photo taken at Old Warden Shuttleworth Wings & Wheels Air Show 30th May 2026
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BANGKOK, June 11 — A Thai court will deliver its verdict today in the long-delayed case of a 2015 attack at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people, the deadliest bombing in the country’s history.
Two Uyghur men, Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammed, stand accused of planting a bomb at a Hindu shrine in Bangkok’s commercial heart in August 2015. The defendants have denied the charges.
The decade-long trial over the horrific attack in Thailand’s capital that also wounded more than 100 people was beset by delays due to coronavirus disruptions and problems securing translators.
Multiple Chinese tourists were among the dead when explosives—apparently left in a backpack—detonated at the Erawan Hindu shrine popular with tourists.
The blast came weeks after Thailand’s then-ruling junta forcibly repatriated 109 Uyghurs to China, where rights groups say the Muslim minority face cultural and religious repression.
The timing prompted speculation that the attack was part of a revenge plot against a country that had been a key transit hub for Uyghurs as Thailand’s then-military leaders grew closer to Beijing.
Delays and drugs
Shortly after the bombing, police named 17 suspects, but only Mieraili and Mohammed were initially apprehended.
Thailand’s junta authorities were criticised for a murky investigation that appeared to wind down shortly after the arrest of the two men.
They went on trial in 2016, accused of planting the explosives.
But the proceedings—which have involved hundreds of witness testimonies—have been delayed multiple times, once because the translator for the accused was hit with drugs charges.
In 2017 a Thai woman called Wanna Suansan was detained on arrival in Bangkok on a warrant linked to the shrine blast—making her the third named suspect arrested by police.
She was charged with attempted murder, associated murder and possession of bombs and weapons, but was acquitted in 2024.
Uyghurs, a Turkic minority, hail from China’s westernmost province, Xinjiang.
Beijing is accused of widespread human rights abuses in the region, including the incarceration of around one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. It denies the allegations.
Thailand deported dozens of Uyghurs to China in February 2025 despite warnings from human rights groups that they would face persecution on their return, drawing swift condemnation from the United Nations.
Erawan Shrine remains a popular draw for Chinese tourists to the kingdom’s capital, but none AFP spoke to ahead of the verdict said they knew about the case.
“I have not heard about it,” said a young Chinese woman on Monday.
A Chinese man who said he came to the shrine “every year” declined to answer when asked about the 2015 bombing.
“It’s nice to come here to pray,” he said before walking away. — AFP
A photographer was bitten by what may have been a “shark or a sea lion” during the finals of a surf competition in New Zealand, forcing the event to be paused for several hours.
A photographer has been charged after he allegedly stole the camera gear of one of the victims of the deadly Bondi Beach shooting before pawning it for hundreds of dollars days after the terror attack.
There are two phone numbers to remember in a situation like this, but one is much more important.
Our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun is an adventurous guy with a wide range of interests, and if you’re out and about in Japan, you might run into him at a Pokémon tournament, nuikatsu gathering, or just seeing how far away from downtown Tokyo a person can bicycle in eight hours. However, he’s currently on break from field assignments, because he’s in the hospital recovering from a heart attack.
Dedicated correspondent that he is, though, P.K. still feels the urge to write while he’s recuperating. For the record, this isn’t something we asked him to do, but he wants to share the story of what happened, so we’ll turn things over to him now.
Seriously, I’m as surprised about this as anybody, but I had a heart attack.
I’m writing this on the morning of Tuesday, May 19, and I had the heart attack on Sunday morning. So yeah, it’s only been two days since it happened. “Should you be working right now?” is probably something a lot of you are thinking, but physically, I’m honestly feeling fine right now. Really, I’m getting antsy just sitting here in the hospital with so much time on my hands, so I figured I’d fire up my laptop and write something.
Getting down to business, on Sunday I woke up at about 7 in the morning and felt a weird pain in my chest. I can’t really remember if it was the pain that woke me up, or if I noticed it after I was awake, but either way, when I made a move to get out of bed, my chest was hurting. At first, it felt like my whole upper body had tensed itself up.
It was strange to feel that sensation over such a large area, and I remember thinking “Geez, is this what getting older feels like?” But after I got up and went to the bathroom, the pain went away…or so I thought. It was only gone for a second, but then it came back so much worse, and I started gushing cold sweat.
In a rush, I grabbed my phone and did a search for “chest pain sickness,” and the results said “There is a possibility that you are experiencing myocardial infarction [a heart attack] or aortic dissection” and “Please call 119 [the nationwide number for emergency medical services in Japan] immediately.” That’s when I realized “Uh oh…this might be something serious.”
But even still, I didn’t call 119 right away. I didn’t want to jam up the line calling for an ambulance if my condition turned out to be nothing major, and I can’t deny that at this point I was still thinking “No, I couldn’t be having a heart attack. Not me.”
So instead I dialed 7119, which is the Tokyo Fire Department’s Emergency Consultation number, thinking that I should ask them whether or not I really needed an ambulance. To be honest, my memory starts getting a little fuzzy from here, but I remember the operator asking me “Do you think you can make it to the hospital by yourself?”, but by that time the pain had gotten exponentially worse. “No, I don’t think I can,” I told her, and she said she’d send an ambulance, telling me to stay in my apartment, so I sat in my entryway and waited.
Actually, a fire engine arrived even before the ambulance, and they administered first aid to me. The ambulance rolled up right after that, though, and it seems like they did some other on-site treatment too. While that was going on, they kept asking me “Can you tell us your name and date of birth?” “Damn, quit asking the same thing over and over!” I thought, but now I can understand that they were doing that to make sure I was still able to think straight and communicate. Once they were done with the first aid, they loaded me into the ambulance and rushed me to the hospital and into the emergency room, with my consciousness starting to fade. The doctors diagnosed me as having had a heart attack, and I had to have surgery, but it’s crazy how a few hours later I felt so much better.
P.K. says he has more to say about his experience, but we’re going to let the guy get some rest now. As mentioned in his report, the number for emergency medical services in Japan, and emergency fire department response too, is 119, and the number in Tokyo for “emergency consultation” is 7119. We should also add, however, that we don’t necessarily recommend copying P.K.’s hesitancy to call for an ambulance when experiencing searing chest pains, since it really could be a matter of life and death.
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SINGAPORE, June 3 — A 30‑year‑old man accused of attacking another passenger on a Sengkang bus after grabbing a cap bearing an Israeli emblem will be charged in court on June 4, police said.
The Straits Times reported that according to preliminary findings, the incident took place on Oct 27, 2025, when officers received a call about an assault along Rivervale Drive at around 10.40pm. The younger man allegedly snatched the cap from a 55‑year‑old passenger and assaulted him. The two men were not acquainted. The older man later sought medical treatment.
Police said the suspect was identified through ground inquiries and police camera footage. If convicted of voluntarily causing hurt, he faces up to three years’ jail, a fine of up to S$5,000(RM15,575), or both.
The victim was issued a stern warning for displaying a foreign national emblem in public — an act that requires a permit under Singapore law. Authorities reiterated that members of the public should not display items linked to foreign conflicts and should avoid importing overseas disputes into Singapore’s social space.
The Ministry of Home Affairs previously reminded the public that wearing or exhibiting foreign national symbols, including those related to the Israel‑Hamas conflict, without approval is an offence. Penalties include up to six months’ jail and a fine of up to S$500 .
The Ministry of Manpower has also advised foreign residents to refrain from using Singapore as a platform for political expression amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.
Police investigations are ongoing.
MELBOURNE, June 14 — Restrictions on drones flying over Australia’s Coogee Beach will be reviewed by a regulator so rescuers in New South Wales state can monitor for sharks, after an attack on Saturday left a woman critically injured in the hospital.
Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in eastern Sydney on Saturday morning following reports that a 35-year-old woman had been bitten by a large shark about 30 metres from the shore.
The woman was in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital on Sunday, a spokesperson told Reuters, after she sustained serious injuries to her lower left leg and arms.
Coogee Beach and others in the city’s Randwick Council area were closed for 24 hours following the attack. Drones flew overhead under emergency provisions to scan for sharks.
“It’s been a really tough summer of shark activity and shark attacks in Sydney and it’s something that the NSW government is taking really, really seriously,” said Tara Moriarty, New South Wales state’s minister for agriculture. Moriarty said the government would consider fresh measures to keep swimmers safe from shark attacks, including using drones and other technology.
Australian lifesavers use drones to help watch for sharks, but Coogee Beach has had restrictions covering commercial drone use because it sits under the flight path of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.
After the attack, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said in a statement that it would look at adapting the current rules.
Paddleboarder rescue
Paddleboard champion and off-duty lifeguard Charlie Verco, 25, who rescued the woman and brought her to shore, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he was “very scared” when he saw the three-to-four-metre shark near a group of swimmers.
“I just looked at the beach, tried to signal to the lifeguards, a big code X, to get them to understand how it was going on out there, clear the water if they could, and get the power craft out there,” he said.
“She ended up getting taken underwater for a second. I couldn’t see where she was because it was all red. And luckily, she popped up and shark had let her go and I was able to get close enough to bring her into shore.”
There, they were met by lifeguards, police and medical experts, after which the woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Australia has seen a spate of shark attacks this year.
Most shark attacks occur along the east and southeast seaboard of Australia, which averages around 20 such incidents a year, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. — Reuters
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