MONGOLIA
Australian cleared of graft
An Australian lawyer who had been barred from leaving the country has been cleared of involvement in a corruption case and will soon be able to leave the country, her employer said yesterday. SouthGobi Resources, a subsidiary of Anglo-Australian resources giant Rio Tinto, said the Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) had ended its questioning of its chief legal counsel, Sarah Armstrong. The Australian was barred from boarding a flight from Ulan Bator to Hong Kong in October as authorities probed a corruption case.
AUSTRALIA
Scottish boy dies in outback
A 14-year-old Scottish boy has died in searing heat in the harsh outback while hiking with his father, police said. Ewan Williamson, who arrived in the country in the middle of the month, collapsed four hours into the walk in the Cape Range National Park on Friday with little water or shade as temperatures soared above 40oC. In naming the boy who died in hospital, police said late on Sunday that his father alerted authorities who located the pair 20km south of Exmouth. The cause of death is yet to be determined, but reports said he was severely dehydrated.
GERMANY
Dead man rides subway
A 65-year-old man thought to be sleeping while sitting upright on a Berlin underground train as it cross-crossed the capital was actually dead, police said on Sunday. “It’s tragic,” a Berlin police spokeswoman said. “We don’t know how long he was sitting dead on the train nor do we know the exact cause of death yet. There are no indications of foul play. He seems to have died of natural causes.” The man was found in the U-8 underground train line that runs all night at the Weinmeisterstrasse station at 5:45am, when a rail worker tried wake the man up by gently shaking him. Medics were called in, but could only pronounce the man dead.
UNITED STATES
License 48 years late
After spending nearly a half-century as husband and wife, Bob and Norma Clark are finally married. The couple from Redlands, California, celebrated their 48th anniversary in August, and last month, they were getting their end-of-life documents in order and sought a copy of their marriage license for Social Security purposes. The Clarks, who met in college, took their vows in August 1964, shortly after Bob had served in the army during the Cuban missile crisis. However, when clerks at the Hall of Records in San Mateo County tried to pull the license last month, they came up empty. On Nov. 21, the couple made their marriage legitimate, obtaining their license at the San Bernardino County Hall of Records, with the maid of honor and a junior usher from the original wedding serving as witnesses.
UNITED KINGDOM
Hillsborough single No. 1
A charity single for the families of those killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, featuring Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams, has claimed the country’s coveted Christmas No. 1 spot, officials announced on Sunday. The Justice Collective’s cover version of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother sold more than 269,000 copies. Funds raised from sales will go toward meeting the families’ ongoing legal costs. Ninety-six Liverpool fans were crushed to death in the Hillsborough soccer stadium disaster in Sheffield, England, in April 1989. A report in September concluded that 41 of those who died could have survived if they had received medical treatment more quickly.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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