NEPAL
Yadav to be treated in Japan
President Ram Baran Yadav was to fly to Japan yesterday for medical treatment after he was diagnosed with intestinal problems, a spokesman said. The 70-year-old fell ill two days earlier and was admitted to a hospital in the capital late on Saturday, his press adviser, Rajendra Dahal, told reporters. X-rays showed a dark “stain in his large intestine,” Dahal said. “The doctors suggested to us to seek treatment abroad. So he is leaving for Japan this afternoon for further treatment.” Yadav was elected president by parliament in July 2008 after the 240-year-old monarchy was abolished.
NEW ZEALAND
Briton survives 15-story drop
A British man who survived a fall from a 15th-story apartment balcony was “extraordinarily” lucky to be alive, officials said yesterday. The 20-year-old, identified by local media as Tom Stilwell from Brighton, was in a stable condition after his plunge on Sunday morning, Auckland Central Hospital said. Police said he found he was locked out of his 14th-floor apartment when he returned home from going out with friends. He woke a neighbor on the 15th floor, telling her he wanted to clamber down from her balcony onto his own. The neighbor, Geraldine Bautista, said the man appeared “tipsy” and she allowed him into her apartment, intending to point out to him how foolhardy his plan was. Instead, she said he immediately tried to lower himself from her balcony and slipped as she tried to grab him. “I thought I was dreaming. It happened so fast. It happened within seconds,” she told the New Zealand Herald. St John Ambulance medical director Tony Smith said the man’s fall was broken by an adjacent roof, although he still dropped 13 stories. “Survival from falls of that height are extraordinarily unusual,” he said. Stilwell suffered back and neck fractures as well as internal injuries, a broken wrist and grazes, but was awake and able to laugh about his ordeal, his roommate, Beth Goodwin, told Fairfax Media.
AUSTRALIA
Scammers rake in millions
Australians were fleeced out of more than A$93 million (US$90 million) last year by scammers, and officials yesterday said they believe it was just the tip of the iceberg. The money lost on scams was up 9 percent from the previous year with a big jump in online shopping scams, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a new report. The biggest fraud was people being asked to pay to access a share in a sum of money they are told they are owed, with gullible Australians handing over more than A$30 million. This was followed by A$23.3 million being sent to someone they think they are in an online relationship with, but is in fact a con. Online shopping fraud, using increasingly sophisticated fake logos, e-mails or Web sites, raked in more than A$4 million.
EGYPT
Morsi makes allies governors
President Mohamed Morsi put Islamist allies in key positions across the country as he braces for protests on the first anniversary of his inauguration at the end of the month. Seven of the new governors listed by the state news agency are members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. The newly appointed Luxor Governor Adel Mohamed al-Khayat is a member of the Building and Development Party, established by Al Gamaa al-Islamiya, an Islamist group that was involved in attacks in Luxor that killed about 60 tourists in the late 1990s, but later renounced violence.
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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