AUSTRALIA
Dingoes attack boy
A six-year-old boy has been attacked after unexpectedly running into a pack of dingoes on world heritage-listed Fraser Island, where the dingo population is a protected species. The child was bitten on a leg on Saturday afternoon after running up a sand dune. The boy had been swimming with his family and ran up the dune, Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Lifeflight rescue helicopter crewman Dan Leggat said in a statement. “Unfortunately, when he got to the top, there was a pack of four dingoes,” Leggat said. “One of the dingoes attacked the boy and bit him on the leg.” The boy was treated by paramedics on the island and airlifted to the mainland at Hervey Bay.
LIBYA
Journalist killed by shrapnel
A freelance journalist was killed on Saturday in the capital, a colleague said. Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was in his 30s, was hit by shrapnel while accompanying a militia patrolling the Qaser Bin Ghashir area south of Tripoli, said Hamza Turkia, also a freelance journalist. The militia came under attack by another armed group, Turkia said. There was gunfire and a missile was also fired, he said. Ben Khalifa, a photographer and video journalist, is survived by his wife and a seven-month-old daughter, another colleague said.
RUSSIA
Sex-ed accuser apologizes
A Belarussian model and self-styled sex instructor who last year claimed to have evidence of interference by Moscow in the 2016 US presidential election on Saturday apologized to a tycoon for the claim and would not say more about the matter. Anastasia Vashukevich made the statement in a Moscow court that was considering whether to keep her in jail as she faces charges of inducement to prostitution. The court extended her detention for three more days. Vashukevich, who goes by the name Nastya Rybka on social media, was arrested in Thailand in February last year on prostitution charges.
SOMALIA
US says militants killed
The US military on Saturday said it had carried out its deadliest airstrike in Somalia in months, killing 52 al-Shabaab militants after a “large group” mounted an attack on local armed forces personnel. The US Africa Command said the airstrike occurred near Jilib in Middle Juba region. There were no reports of Americans killed or wounded. The statement did not say whether any local forces were killed or wounded by the militants. Al-Shabaab via its Shahada news agency said that its attack on two army bases killed at least 41 soldiers. It described the location as the Bar Sanjuni area near the port city of Kismayo. There was no immediate comment from the government.
YEMEN
Rebel targets destroyed
The Saudi-led coalition fighting on the side of the government yesterday said that it had “destroyed” rebel targets, including drone facilities, in Sana’a. Footage taken by journalists overnight showed a series of explosions in the capital, which has been under Houthi rebel control since 2014. This came 10 days after the Iran-aligned Houthis killed seven loyalists in a drone attack on the nation’s largest air base in government-controlled Lahij Province. In Riyadh, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said that the alliance launched an “operation to destroy multiple military targets,” including seven bases across Sana’a.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At 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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese