NEPAL
No presidential poll: court
The Supreme Court has ruled that there is no immediate need to elect a new president, settling a major point of differences among the political parties. Court spokesman Shree Kanta Poudel said the judge ruled late on Thursday that a new president should be elected only after the new constitution has been promulgated — the main task facing the Constituent Assembly that was elected in November and just assumed duty this week. Ram Baran Yadav was elected the first president in 2008 after the centuries-old monarchy was abolished and Nepal turned into a republic. It was initially thought Yadav would be in office for two years, but he has remained president for more than five years because an assembly elected in 2008 failed to draw up a new constitution amid squabbles, including how a president should be chosen and how much power he or she should have.
HONG KONG
Ivory stock to be destroyed
Hong Kong will destroy most of its huge stockpile of confiscated illegal ivory in a process that could take up to two years, officials said on Thursday. The announcement comes after similar action by mainland China, the US and the Philippines. Conservation groups had urged the government to dispose of the ivory to send a strong sign it is serious about cracking down on the black market trade that is decimating Africa’s elephants. Officials have seized about 32.5 tonnes of ivory in the past decade, with about 30 tonnes left after donating small amounts for legitimate purposes such as conservation awareness or scientific research. Conservation officials said they expect to start disposing of the ivory in the first half of the year.
AUSTRALIA
Activists spray Cook’s house
Activists have sprayed graffiti on the historic home of 18th-century British explorer Captain James Cook to protest against Australia’s national day. The stone walls of the two-story building known as Cook’s Cottage in Melbourne were painted on Thursday night with slogans such as “26th Jan Australia’s shame.” Jan. 26 is Australia Day and commemorates British settlement of Sydney in 1788 as a penal colony. Opponents call it “Invasion Day,” and regard it as a shameful reminder that Australian land was taken from Aborigines by British colonists without a treaty.
INDIA
Court orders rape probe
The Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the gang rape of a 20-year-old woman allegedly attacked on the orders of a village council, the Press Trust of India reported. The woman told police that Monday’s attack in West Bengal came as punishment for falling in love with a man from a different ethnic group. Thirteen suspects, including the head of the village council, have been arrested.
UNITED STATES
Boehner unwilling to run
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday he had no interest in running for the White House, declaring on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno he was not about to give up red wine and cigarettes to be president. Asked by Leno whether he ever thought of running for president, Boehner replied: “No. I like to play golf. I like to cut my own grass. I do drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. And I’m not giving that up to be president of the United States.” Boehner also told Leno he and Democratic President Barack Obama “get along fine” despite their political differences.
UNITED STATES
Obama critic indicted
A commentator known for his fierce criticism of President Barack Obama has been indicted on charges of campaign finance fraud, prosecutors said on Thursday. India-born Dinesh D’Souza courted controversy last year for his political documentary 2016: Obama’s America, a critique of the leader that followed his 2010 book The Roots of Obama’s Rage. The Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said the 52-year-old had been indicted for making illegal contributions to a Senate campaign in the name of others. He was also accused of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission in connection with the contributions. He was expected to be arraigned in federal court yesterday.
UNITED STATES
E-readers not read: study
Two-thirds of young children in the US now have access to an e-reader or tablet, but only half of them use it to read, a research institute said in a study published yesterday. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center surveyed 1,577 parents on how much time their two-to-10-year-old kids spent with educational content on “screen media” such as televisions and computers. Sixty-two percent of children had access to an e-reader or a tablet, but only 49 percent of them used the devices for reading, either alone or with their parents and when they did read, it was typically for about five minutes a day, the study found.
SOUTH AFRICA
Officers arrested over killing
Four South African police officers were arrested and charged yesterday for the killing of a protester in a slum outside Johannesburg this week, a spokesman said. “One officer is charged with murder, the other three who were with him during the incident face charges of defeating the ends of justice,” police spokesman Neville Malila said. He said the charges of defeating the ends of justice were brought because the officers had failed to report the incident to the authorities. “The four were arrested in the early hours of this morning [Friday] and will appear in court soon,” he said.
UNITED STATES
CNN accounts hacked
The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) claimed responsibility on Thursday for hacking some of broadcaster CNN’s social media accounts. The network said the compromised accounts included its main Facebook page, its Twitter page and blogs for The Situation Room and Crossfire. “The posts were deleted within minutes and the accounts have since been secured,” it said in a story on its Web site. It added that one of the posts on its Twitter account said: “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here...Stop lying... All your reports are fake!” On its Twitter feed, the SEA said it was behind the hack. “Tonight, the #SEA decided to retaliate against #CNN’s viciously lying reporting aimed at prolonging the suffering in #Syria,” it said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not