AUSTRIA
Army rescues students
Troops on Friday airlifted a group of German students stranded at a snowbound ski resort, as emergency services scrambled to clear record snowfall across large parts of the country. The army said it used two helicopters to transport the group of 66 pupils and teachers from the central ski station of Kasberg. It had been cut off for days due to the heavy snowfall covering much of the west and center of the country.
UNITED STATES
‘Bird Box’ prank crashes
Police said a Utah teenager crashed into another car when she covered her eyes as part of the so-called “Bird Box challenge.” The 17-year-old drifted into oncoming traffic and hit another car after she pulled a hat over her eyes to emulate Bird Box, a Sandra Bullock movie in which characters are blindfolded to avoid visions that urge them to die. Lyman said it should serve as a warning that he never thought he would need to give: “Don’t drive while blindfolded.”
POLAND
Wild boars culled
The European Commission is supporting the country’s slaughter of wild boars as a way of protecting farm pigs and meat production from the deadly African swine fever. The government’s decision to shoot about 200,000 wild boars has drawn wide public protests, but veterinary and Polish environment officials insist that it is an approved method. Massive boar hunts are planned over the remainder of the month.
CANADA
Saudi woman finds asylum
An 18-year-old Saudi runaway who said she was abused and feared death if deported back home was yesterday expected to arrive in the country, which has granted her asylum. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country would accept Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun as a refugee. It caps a dramatic week that saw her flee her family while visiting Kuwait and fly to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in a hotel to avoid deportation.
UNITED STATES
Shutdown hits record
The government shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding became the longest in the modern era as it stretched into its 22nd day yesterday. No more talks are scheduled for early in the week. Trump’s budget team is drawing up contingency plans for a shutdown that extends through the end of February, an official said.
UNITED STATES
Bicyclist slays policewoman
Authorities have said it is a mystery why a gunman on a bicycle ambushed a policewoman and narrowly missed wounding others in an apparently random shooting that ended in suicide. Davis, California, is mourning Officer Natalie Corona, who was on Thursday shot as she investigated a traffic accident. Police Chief Darren Pytel said the man was not involved in the crash, but opened fire, hitting Corona in the neck. Pytel and witnesses said he then shot at a firetruck, a passing bus and a house. He later shot himself.
UNITED STATES
Endangered orcas have calf
A calf was born to a population of endangered killer whales that live in waters off the state of Washington, researchers said. Staff first saw the calf on Friday at the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Center for Whale Research founding director Ken Balcomb told the Seattle Times. He said the youngster looks healthy, but survival rates for baby orcas are only about 50 percent.
INDIA
Guru convicted of murder
A popular and flamboyant spiritual guru in India, who is serving 20 years in prison for raping two female followers, was on Friday convicted of murdering a journalist 16 years ago in another case. Justice Jagdeep Singh convicted the guru, who calls himself Dr Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, and three other people and is to sentence them on Thursday. All four could face death sentences in the killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati after he published a letter in his newspaper alleging sexual exploitation of women by the guru.
SYRIA
US withdrawing materiel
The US military has begun moving non-essential gear out of Syria, but is not withdrawing troops for now, defense officials said, amid uncertainty over the US’ planned exit from the war-battered nation. Late on Friday, US Department of Defense spokesman Commander Sean Robertson said that the withdrawal “is based on operational conditions on the ground, including conversation with our allies and partners, and is not be subject to an arbitrary timeline.” US defense officials said that the withdrawal was only of certain types of gear and not troops. “We are not withdrawing troops at this stage,” one US defense official said.
UAE
US left without ambassador
When US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday, no US ambassador was there to welcome him. The post has been empty for nine months. The Republican donor US President Donald Trump chose for the job, John Rakolta Jr, has not been approved by the US Senate. Trump has accused Senate Democrats of using the chamber’s web of rules to sabotage his nominees. However, Rakolta’s selection illustrates the challenges of filling a high-level government position with a candidate from the corporate world who has no prior diplomatic experience. Former US ambassador to the UAE Barbara Leaf retired in March last year.
CHAD
Leader sacks two ministers
President Idriss Deby Itno has sacked two members of his Cabinet, including minister of oil and energy Boukar Michel, a presidential decree announced on Friday. Michel and minister for information technology and communication Ndolenodji Alixe Naimbaye were both fired. The official statement gave no reason for their sackings and named no successors, but ministry sources accused Michel of having sold the rights to an oil field to two different businesses, one Chinese and the other Taiwanese. Chad became an oil-producing country in 2003, before which its economy was based mainly on agriculture.
UNITED STATES
Gold trader bribed guard
A New York prison guard who admitted accepting over US$25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader has been sentenced to three years in prison. Federal Judge Richard Sullivan on Friday said that he wanted the public, prison employees and prisoners to understand the graveness of Victor Casado’s crime. Casado pleaded guilty in August, admitting that he accepted cash to make deliveries to the trader, Reza Zarrab. Zarrab later pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal and testified against a Turkish banker who was convicted at trial. The prosecution of the banker strained US-Turkey relations, as officials in Turkey called the trial a charade.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other