AUSTRALIA
Coalition faces poll defeat
The ruling Liberal-National coalition is facing a major defeat in a by-election after voters vented their frustration over recent political infighting that led to a change in prime minister. Rural voters in Wagga Wagga, an agricultural electorate in New South Wales (NSW), yesterday posted a 29 percent swing against the Liberal Party in first preference voting, according to Electoral Commission figures, in a result that would strip the party of the rural seat for the first time since 1956. Independent candidate Joe McGirr was expected to win with a leading primary vote of 24.69 percent, although counting is to continue today to confirm the result. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian conceded defeat on behalf of the party in a news conference.
JAPAN
Pig cholera outbreak reported
The nation is suffering its first outbreak of pig cholera in more than 25 years, authorities said yesterday after culling more than 600 animals and suspending pork exports. A farm in Gifu city saw 80 pigs die last week after catching the highly contagious disease, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries official said. Early tests showed negative results for classical swine fever, but follow-up tests came out positive yesterday, prompting the cull of all 610 pigs at the farm, he added. The government has set up a team of specialists to analyze possible infection routes, the ministry said in a statement.
AUSTRALIA
NSW drought to persist
A devastating drought that has left farmers in the east of the nation struggling to stay afloat is set to persist, despite widespread and significant rain last month, authorities have said. “While the rain has been welcomed and has provided a more positive outlook for field conditions in some regions, the drought is far from over,” New South Wales (NSW) Department of Primary Industries’ agriculture climate specialist Anthony Clark said in a statement. “We need more significant widespread rainfall in the coming weeks and months for agricultural recovery to commence and farmland to return to a productive state.”
AUSTRALIA
Five found dead in Perth
Police in Perth yesterday found up to five dead people, including a woman and children, in a suburb of the city, a senior officer said. “This is early and we’ve not yet fully examined the scene. We understand that there are adults and children involved,” Western Australia Police Assistant Commissioner Paul Steel told a news conference. “I can say there was at least one woman, but I can’t say more than that I’m afraid. The scene has not yet been forensically examined, so the exact number of adults and children is actually unknown to me,” Steel said. A man in his 20s was helping police with their inquiries, he said.
NEPAL
Chopper crash kills six
An Altitude Air helicopter on Saturday crashed into a hillside in central Gorkha District, killing six on board, including a Japanese tourist, officials said. One woman survived the crash with injuries and has been airlifted to Kathmandu. District police chief Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said that authorities were working to retrieve the bodies, but that reaching the crash site, located in thick forest and with no road access, had been “challenging.” The cause of the accident remained unknown, he added.
UNITED KINGDOM
Unions might back poll
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) would support a second referendum on a Brexit deal if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to get a deal with the EU that can help the nation’s workforce, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said yesterday. O’Grady told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We should extend Article 50 [which gives two years to negotiate an exit deal]. We should focus on getting a deal that is actually good for this country and that means good for working people. But if the prime minister is not prepared to do that then I think it has to go back to the people and if there isn’t going to be an early general election the only way is a popular vote.” His comments came as the ruling Conservative Party was embroiled in a new dispute after former secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs Boris Johnson said the government’s strategy put the country in a “suicide vest,” with Brussels holding the detonator. “We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution — and handed the detonator to [EU Brexit negotiator] Michel Barnier,” he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
KOSOVO
erbian leader blocked
Kosovar Albanians yesterday blocked roads and burned tires on a planned route by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the former Serbian province, further fueling tensions between the two Balkan foes. During his two-day trip, Vucic planned to visit a Serb-populated village in the center of the country, but roads leading to the region were blocked by wooden logs, trucks and heavy machinery. Vucic and his entourage were later stopped by police on the road to the Drenica region and were told they could not continue for security reasons. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj posted on Facebook that he had “canceled the permission issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry for Serb President’s visit to the Drenica zone,” adding that “citizens’ security is above all.”
UNITED STATES
Forest fire shuts highway
A roaring wildfire that shut down a stretch of a major interstate near the California-Oregon border exploded in size as crews on Saturday scrambled to prevent flames from reaching rural communities. The blaze in California’s Shasta-Trinity National Forest was burning out of control after chewing through 150km2 of timber and brush since Wednesday. Aircraft were temporarily prevented from making water and retardant drops because heavy smoke was trapped under cloud cover, making for limited visibility for pilots. The fire has destroyed thousands of trees — some 20m tall — that could fall onto the highway that traverses the entire West Coast from Mexico to Canada and serves as a main artery for commerce.
ITALY
Ancient coin cache found
Hundreds of ancient Roman gold coins have been discovered on the site of an old theater in Como, the Ministry of Culture said. The coins date back to the end of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and were found in a kind of stone urn in the Cressoni theater basement, not far from the site of the ancient city of Novum Comum. Media reports said the coins could be worth millions of euros. The theater, which was inaugurated in 1870 and later became a movie theater before closing in 1997, was due to be demolished to allow the construction of a luxury residence. Authorities plan to suspend work at the site to allow further excavations.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was