While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 1
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Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin testifies before the House Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
US Republicans blast Lloyd Austin over cancer secrecy
Republican lawmakers slammed US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at a hearing on Feb 29 for failing to disclose his prostrate cancer diagnosis, his surgery and his subsequent hospitalisation to President Joe Biden or even his deputy at the Pentagon.
Mr Austin, with support from Democrats on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, sought to dispel accusations that his secrecy jeopardised national security or that his unnoticed absence demonstrated his lack of influence in Mr Biden’s Democratic administration.
But Republicans, who are seeking to defeat Mr Biden in the presidential election in November, questioned how the US president could go for days without discovering Mr Austin was hospitalised.
“I find it very concerning that the secretary could be hospitalised for three days without anyone else in the administration even noticing,” said Representative Mike Rogers, the committee’s chairman. “That suggests Secretary Austin’s advice is not sought or heeded in the White House, even while military operations were ongoing in the Middle East.”
Conflicting claims as dozens killed waiting for aid in Gaza
AFP
Gaza health authorities said more than 100 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces as they waited for an aid delivery on Feb 28, but Israel challenged the death toll and said many of the victims were run over by aid trucks.
At least 104 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said, and the death toll in nearly five months of war passed 30,000.
Medical teams said they were unable to cope with the volume and severity of the injuries, with dozens of wounded taken to the Al-Shifa hospital, which is only partially operational after Israeli raids on the facility.
Drones, snake robot enter wrecked nuclear reactor in Japan
AFP
Japan on Feb 29 sent two mini-drones and a “snake-shaped robot” into one of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant crippled by a tsunami in 2011, the facility’s operator said.
The gadgets were deployed in preparation for the removal of hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive fuel and rubble, a risky operation expected to take decades.
“We sent two drones yesterday and two drones today”, in addition to the “snake-shaped robot” on Feb 29, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) told AFP.
Mercedes dominate Bahrain practice, Verstappen sixth
Lewis Hamilton led team mate George Russell in a surprise Mercedes one-two at the top of the practice timesheets on Feb 29 for Formula One’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen only sixth.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton lapped the 5.4km floodlit Sakhir desert track in a best time of one minute 30.374 seconds with Russell 0.206 seconds adrift and Aston Martin’s double world champion Fernando Alonso in third.
Reigning triple world champion Verstappen, who won in Bahrain last year and chalked up 19 victories in 22 races, was 0.477 off the pace.
South-east Asia’s Swifties go the extra mile - to Singapore
Thousands of Taylor Swift fans from South-east Asia will be converging on Singapore by plane, bus and even boat, as the singer’s Eras Tour approaches this weekend, beginning on March 2.
With a total of more than 300,000 tickets sold for six concerts at the National Stadium, overseas fans have already snapped up plane tickets and hotel accommodation in Singapore.
But others are taking more unconventional routes.
