Officials warn of fake Adderall pills after two college students die
Police said two Ohio State University students died in apparent drug overdoses this past week as health officials warned that fake Adderall pills could contain fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. Police received a 911 call at 10:46 p.m. Wednesday from a woman who reported that her roommate and her roommate’s friends had overdosed at an off-campus apartment, said Officer Doran Carrier of the Columbus Division of Police. Three university students were taken to hospitals, he said. One person died that night and another died Friday, said Battalion Chief Jeffrey Geitter, a spokesperson for the Columbus Division of Fire. The third student was discharged from the hospital Thursday.
North Korea tests a submarine-launched missile
North Korea fired a short-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast Saturday, hours after the United States warned that the country could carry out a nuclear test as soon as this month. The missile, the first of its kind tested since October, was launched from waters near the coastal city of Sinpo and flew 372 miles, South Korean military said. It was the North’s 15th missile test this year, a rapid pace by recent standards, and its second this week, taking place three days before Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s president-elect, is scheduled to take office.
Sri Lanka’s president declares state of emergency again amid protests
Sri Lanka’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has declared a state of emergency for the second time in just more than a month as his government confronts large, continuing protests over a deepening economic crisis. The announcement came late Friday, after a general strike closed shops and businesses across the South Asian island nation. Protesters outside the Parliament building in Colombo, the capital, blocked exits, trapping lawmakers inside for hours. Protesters are demanding the resignations of Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the prime minister, who have been accused of mismanaging the economy and sending Sri Lanka spiraling toward bankruptcy.
Taliban impose head-to-toe coverings for women
The Taliban government decreed Saturday that Afghan women must cover themselves from head to toe. The government’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice suggested the burqa as the preferred garment for covering a woman’s face, hair and body. But it did not mandate wearing the garment as long as women otherwise cover themselves with a hijab. However, at a three-hour news conference, ministry officials and Islamic religious figures dictated a series of escalating punishments — including jail time for male family heads who repeatedly disregarded warnings from government officials regarding women’s attire.
US presses Taiwan to buy weapons more suited to win against China
The Biden administration is pressing the Taiwanese government to order U.S.-made weapons that would help its small military repel an invasion by China rather than weapons designed for conventional warfare, current and former U.S. and Taiwanese officials say. The war in Ukraine has convinced Washington and Taipei that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the coming years is now a potential danger — and that a smaller military with the right weapons that has adopted a strategy of asymmetric warfare, in which it focuses on mobility and precision attacks, can beat back a larger foe.
Civilians evacuated from Ukraine steel plant
All the women, children and elderly people who were trapped for weeks in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, have been evacuated, Russian and Ukrainian officials said Saturday, after days of start-and-stop efforts to get the last civilians out. The office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine thanked the United Nations and Red Cross for helping with the “first phase” of evacuations. The office said on Telegram that the civilians who had been in the plant were rescued, more than 300 in all. The next goal would be to evacuate the wounded and medics, the office said.
By wire sources
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