AUSTRALIA
Bushfire kills elderly couple
An elderly couple have become the first victims of bushfires which have been ravaging drought-stricken areas of the east of the nation, police said yesterday. The bodies of the 77-year-old man and 68-year-old woman were found in the charred remains of their home in rural New South Wales, a spokesman said. A series of fires have destroyed at least 29 homes and numerous other buildings in the past week in the north of the state. The Long Gully fire began on Friday last week, police said, and appeared to have destroyed the couple’s home on Tuesday. Their bodies were found yesterday morning.
AUSTRALIA
Cockatoo survives shootings
A cockatoo has survived after it was shot five times by at least two different rifles in Sydney. Dubbed “Mr Cocky” by its rescuers, the sulfur-crested cockatoo was found in a backyard last month. Unable to fly and with a “reduced range of motion” in its left wing, the bird was taken to the Avian, Reptile and Exotic Pet Hospital in Camden. After an X-ray, veterinarian Lorenzo Crosta discovered the bird had been shot five times. Three pellets — from the same gun — were lodged in the bird’s body, while another two — from a separate airgun — had lodged in its shoulder and head. Crosta said he was not sure who delivered the bird to the practice and it is unclear whether the bird was known to its attackers. “They [sulfur-crested cockatoos] are pretty loud,” he said. “Maybe it was annoying someone, or maybe two kids being stupid. Maybe he was just really unlucky and got shot by one person and flew away, andgot shot by someone else.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Python nuptials staged
A couple spent two years and thousands of pounds planning their Monty Python-themed wedding in the hope of inspiring other fans to try to find their soul mate. John Wood, 59, and Gemma Harris, 35, tied the knot in a “totally bonkers” ceremony on Saturday last week, the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. After a proposal, staged in front of Python stars Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam at a fundraising event in London, the two social media managers from East Grinstead spent more than two years and £15,000 (US$18,350) to create their dream wedding. During the ceremony, attendees were treated to farting noises as the bride walked down the aisle, a “hand of God” pointing at the couple, and later to a sketch featuring the bare bottoms of the groom and three friends. “There was a 9 foot [2.7m] parrot, a handmade albatross, all sorts of things. We commissioned artists to make some of the props, but most things we did ourselves,” Wood said. “Instead of saying: ‘I do,’ I said: ‘Perhaps...’ to which Gemma replied: ‘Oh, say you do,’ to which I replied: ‘Oh, alright then.’”
UNITED STATES
Squirrel haul discovered
Squirreling away supplies for the winter took on a whole new meaning for a couple in Pennsylvania after they discovered a hoodful of walnuts and grass in their vehicle. “My wife called me from Northland Library and said that her car smelt like it was burning, and was making a weird sound,” Chris Persic said on Facebook. Holly Persic opened the hood to find an engine full of walnuts neatly packed in grass, presumably stored there by squirrels over the weekend. Chris Persic spent almost an hour cleaning out more than 200 walnuts and grass from under the hood. “There’s definitely an angry squirrel wife right now wondering where all the nuts went,” he said.
‘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