INDIA
Street mutt becomes top dog
Eighteen months after being rescued from stone-throwing children, a street mutt has emerged top dog in an elite bomb and drug-sniffing squad. Asha — “hope” in Hindi — was rescued by West Bengal police when they found her being mistreated outside their training facility. “The dog was bleeding when she was taken inside the campus,” West Bengal Police Training Academy official Dipankar Bhattacharya said. Officers originally intended keeping the mixed-breed stray as a pet, but Asha turned out to have a nose every bit as good as the German Shepherds and Labradors usually trained to sniff out explosives and drugs. Sajal Mondal, the head of the academy, said she passed the grueling training with flying colors. “She performed better than her pedigree peers... She is also our fastest runner,” Mondal said.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Lion mauls, kills owner
A lion that mauled and killed its owner in a cage at his property has been shot dead by police. Local media reported that the male lion attacked Michal Prasek when he entered the cage he had built for the animal in his garden, about 350km southeast of Prague. A lioness was also shot by police. “A 33-year old man died after his lion attacked him,” police spokeswoman Lenka Javorkova said on Tuesday. “The police had to shoot two lions in order to get to the man who was with the animals.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Hundreds play royal match
Hundreds of people on Tuesday descended on the town of Ashbourne in central England to play a traditional soccer game in which the rules are hazy and the goals 5km apart. The Royal Shrovetide Football Match involves teams called the Up’ards and the Down’ards, who battle to try and tap the ball three times on stone plinths that act as goals. Well aware of the passions involved, local shops close early and board up as if preparing for a riot. Due to the large numbers taking part, there is little kicking of the ball, with players instead tending to carry the ball across the pitch. The match is played from 2pm to 10pm on both Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, but goals are rare because of the size of the pitch, with last year’s match finishing 1-1. The centuries-old event gained its “royal” title when the future Edward VIII started a 1928 game by throwing up the ball, an act repeated by present heir to the throne Prince Charles in 2003.
UNITED STATES
Jackson backlash begins
Michael Jackson fans have bombarded Oprah Winfrey with hateful messages after the broadcast of a documentary about alleged child abuse by the late singer. Leaving Neverland, and her follow-up interview with the two men at the center of the film, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who said they were befriended by Jackson and were abused by him from the ages of seven and 10 in the early 1990s. The film has been met with a mixture of horror and disbelief after a two-part airing on HBO on Sunday and Monday. Winfrey, herself a sexual assault survivor, conducted the follow-up interview in a special in front of an audience of assault victims. Winfrey was aware of the attacks they might face. “All the anger — you guys are going to get it,” she said. “You’re going to get it. I’m going to get it. We’re all going to get it.” Robson said that he had already received death threats. Jackson’s family has called the documentary a “public lynching” and said he was “100 percent innocent.” Some radio stations in Canada and the Netherlands have stopped playing Jackson’s music
‘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