AUSTRALIA
Ancient site recognized
An Aboriginal settlement older than the pyramids that provides evidence that indigenous people developed sophisticated aquaculture thousands of years ago has been granted World Heritage status, the UN has announced. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was created by the Gunditjmara nation about 6,600 years ago and includes remnants of elaborate stone channels and pools built to harvest eels from a lake, and wetland swamp areas. The site also holds evidence of stone dwellings that counter the myth that Aboriginal peoples were simply nomadic hunter-gatherers with no established settlements or sophisticated means of food production.
IRAN
Tehran condemns ‘piracy’
The government said an oil tanker that was seized by British forces near Gibraltar was not destined for Syria. The ship “was navigating in international waters,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi told a news conference in Tehran. He said the tanker was not heading toward Syria, without saying where the vessel was going. “We consider this an act of piracy,” he said. Grace 1, a supertanker able to haul 2 million barrels of crude, was last week seized on suspicion that it was going to breach EU sanctions by delivering crude to Syria. The cargo came from Iran.
UNITED STATES
Vacant pizzeria explodes
A vacant pizza restaurant on Saturday exploded at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 21 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and vehicles were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause. The explosion demolished the building, leaving behind only part of its metal frame. The restaurant, called PizzaFire, had been out of business for several months.
NEPAL
Celebration canceled
The Tibetan community called off plans to mark the birthday of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama after their request for a public celebration was rejected over security concerns, a government official said yesterday. The Dalai Lama turned 84 on Saturday and his followers in the country had hoped to celebrate the occasion in the capital, Kathmandu, but the government rejected their request. Krishna Bahadur Katuwal, assistant district administrator of Kathmandu, said the government refused permission for Tibetans to mark the Dalai Lama’s birthday because “infiltrators” could create trouble.
FINLAND
‘Wife carrying’ race held
A Lithuanian man and his wife on Saturday won the world “wife carrying” title, leaping over timber and wading through waist-high water to beat dozens of other couples for a second year running. The prize was the wife’s weight in beer. Vytautas Kirkliauskas and his wife, Neringa Kirkliauskiene, cleared a grueling 253.5m obstacle course in 1 minute 6.72 seconds. That was just a 10th of a second ahead of former six-time world champion, Finland’s Taisto Miettinen and his new partner, Katja Kovanen. The rules stipulate that the woman must be over 17 years of age and weigh at least 49kg. Despite the event’s name, couples do not have to be married and organizers said male contestants could “steal a neighbor’s wife” if they do not have a female companion.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in