■INDIA
Goose-stepping toned down
PHOTO: AFP
A daily, goose-stepping display of choreographed aggression by soldiers on the India-Pakistan border has been toned down because of knee injuries to the participants, the Hindustan Times said yesterday. The flag-lowering ceremony takes place every evening at the Wagah border post, drawing crowds who cheer every hostile strut and stare traded by the guards on both sides. Despite the ritualized hostility, the show and the atmosphere surrounding it is one of good-natured rivalry and, according to the paper, the two sides have reached an agreement to take things a little easier. The exaggerated boot-stomping has resulted in guards on both sides suffering “mild to severe” damage to joints in the lower half of their bodies, particularly the knees, said Himmat Singh, a senior Indian Border Security Force officer.
■SOUTH KOREA
Message sent by bullhorn
US commanders used a bullhorn to notify North Korean troops across the border of upcoming military exercises after Pyongyang refused to accept a telephone call, an official said yesterday. The US and South Korea announced on Tuesday that a major exercise would begin on Sunday. The US-led UN Command tried to notify the North on Tuesday of the exercise details — as it does before any joint drills. “Those on the other end refused to take the [phone] communication,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. “So we had to resort to communicating on the intention to conduct a series of exercises via bullhorn across the demarcation line.”
■INDIA
Wanted militant killed
A Pakistani identified as Nouman, the commander of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahedin rebel group, was killed in an overnight firefight with soldiers, army spokesman J.S. Brar said. Nouman was “Kashmir valley’s top most militant” wanted for a number of attacks, including masterminding a nearly 24-hour siege at a hotel in Srinigar in January, Brar said. “His death is a big jolt to insurgency in Kashmir,” he said. The gunbattle took place in Sopore town, about 50km north of Srinagar, and left an unidentified accomplice to Nouman and an Indian soldier dead.
■MALAYSIA
Conservation law toughened
Poachers and smugglers of endangered animals now face tens of thousands of dollars in fines and mandatory jail time following the passage of a new law that activists say is crucial to repairing the country’s reputation as a hub for the illegal trade. Activists say poachers have thrived because of lax laws, a lack of patrols and the ease with which many officers can be bribed. The lower house of parliament last week passed the Wildlife Conservation Act, which increases some fines by 3,000 percent — to 500,000 ringgit (US$155,000) — and imposes mandatory prison sentences for offences such as hunting highly endangered species and laying wildlife snares. The upper house of parliament is expected to pass the bill later this month. Chris Shepherd, an official with international wildlife activist group Traffic, said the act was “a huge step in the right direction” to help reduce Malaysia’s role as a major player in the illegal wildlife trade. More animals have been also added to the list of protected species.
■FRANCE
Stewardess accused of theft
Police have arrested an Air France stewardess on suspicion of stealing thousands of euros in cash, cards and jewelry as passengers slept on long haul flights, Le Figaro reported on Tuesday. Police investigating thefts over several months on flights between France and the Far East picked up the 47-year old attendant identified as Lucie R. after she landed from Tokyo on Friday, the report said. “Her bank accounts showed an absurd gap between her lifestyle and her declared income,” the newspaper quoted a police investigator as saying. Police launched an investigation in January after about 4,000 euros ($5,170) were stolen from five passengers. According to the newspaper, the woman, who worked mainly in business class, began her spree in March last year to ease financial problems and has confessed to 26 thefts.
■AUSTRIA
Lennox leads AIDS rally
Thousands of AIDS activists rallied in downtown Vienna with singer Annie Lennox on Tuesday to demand more rights for people with the disease. The crowd — many carrying banners, waving flags and blowing on whistles — appealed for an end to discrimination and access to treatment for all those infected with the virus. Gathering in Heldenplatz, the activists also urged governments around the world to increase their funding for fighting the illness. “We stand here tonight united in solidarity with one voice, one call to action,” Lennox said amid loud cheers. Tuesday night’s event — organized and attended by delegates of a global AIDS conference — included musical interludes by Lennox, who is a spokeswoman for the UN agency fighting HIV/AIDS. Her “SING” campaign raises awareness for AIDS-infected women and children in southern Africa.
■NETHERLANDS
Officials block teen sailor
Welfare authorities on Tuesday requested a year’s extension to their supervision of teenage sailor Laura Dekker, which could scuttle her plans to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo. Dekker, 14, had intended to start a two-year solo voyage round the world in September last year financed by sponsors, but a court blocked her departure and placed her under state supervision, saying the trip was a risk to her safety. Child care authorities made their request for an extension at a court in Middelburg on Tuesday and a ruling is due on Tuesday. Although her parents support the voyage, the Dutch state argues that Dekker’s development, education and well-being would be at risk if she makes the attempt. Dekker was born on her parents’ yacht off New Zealand and also holds a New Zealand passport.
■SPAIN
Pirates release two ships
A Kenyan-flagged fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates in February has been released, the Spanish foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The Sakoba, carrying its crew and Spanish captain Manuel Ferreira, was sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the ministry said in a statement. It said it did not know how many crew members were aboard. Norwegian shipping company TH. Broevig Shipowners also announced that its chemical tanker, UBT Ocean, had been released by Somali pirates after being held captive for four months. The company’s fleet manager, Knut Myklebust, said the tanker was released on Tuesday and the 21 crew members from Myanmar were believed to be safe. Myklebust said he did not know if a ransom had been paid because the situation had been handled from Singapore.
■UNITED STATES
Lohan arrives at jail
Lindsay Lohan has arrived at a Los Angeles County women’s jail to begin serving a 90-day sentence for a probation violation that is likely to be whittled down to a few weeks. Her arrival in an unmarked Sheriff’s Department car on Tuesday morning at the Century Regional Detention Facility in the industrial suburb of Lynwood, California, came about an hour after she surrendered and was handcuffed across town in a Beverly Hills courtroom. A judge determined two weeks ago that the Mean Girls star violated her probation by missing seven alcohol education classes since December. Sheriff’s officials have said Lohan would be placed in an isolation cell at the jail, where she will spend most of her time and take her meals.
■UNITED STATES
Marmot population booms
Global warming has been rough on polar bears, but for Colorado’s marmots it has meant more food and more sex, according to a unusual study released yesterday. Longer summers — and less time spent burning up stored fat during hibernation — have given the large burrowing rodents an evolutionary leg up, the research published in Nature said. Not only has climate change made individual specimens heavier and healthier, it has led to a marmot baby boom as well. Yellow-bellied marmots are awake only four to five months of the year, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to take care of essential business, said the study’s lead author Arpat Ozgul, a scientist at Imperial College London.
■SOUTH AMERICA
Cold snap kills dozens
A cold snap across a swathe of Latin America has left dozens dead across several countries, as the region shivers through its winter season. In Argentina, 33 people died as polar air sent temperatures down to about minus 14°C in the center of the country. Many of the victims of the chilly weather in Argentina were homeless people who died on the streets of the capital city Buenos Aires. In Paraguay, the Health Ministry reported nine people died of hypothermia and another three were killed after inhaling toxic fumes from coal-burning ovens. The Rural Association of Paraguay estimated that 1,000 cattle died in the freezing temperatures, particularly in the north of the country, while the country’s meteorological authorities said that cold weather and rain were expected to continue for the rest of the week. The southern cone of South America is now at the peak of its winter season, but the temperatures being experienced in a number of countries in the region are unusually harsh.
■BRAZIL
Penguins washing up dead
Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches country’s beaches, worrying scientists who are still investigating what’s causing them to die. About 500 of the black-and-white birds have been found just in the last 10 days on Peruibe, Praia Grande and Itanhaem beaches in Sao Paulo state, said Thiago do Nascimento, a biologist at the Peruibe Aquarium. Most were Magellan penguins migrating north from Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in search of food in warmer waters. Many are not finding it: Autopsies done on several birds revealed their stomachs were entirely empty — indicating they likely starved to death, Nascimento said. Scientists are investigating whether strong currents and colder-than-normal waters have hurt populations of the species that make up the penguins’ diet, or whether human activity may be playing a role.
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
ICE DISPUTE: The Trump administration has sought to paint Good as a ‘domestic terrorist,’ insisting that the agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense Thousands of demonstrators chanting the name of the woman killed by a US federal agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, took to the city’s streets on Saturday, amid widespread anger at use of force in the immigration crackdown of US President Donald Trump. Organizers said more than 1,000 events were planned across the US under the slogan “ICE, Out for Good” — referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is drawing growing opposition over its execution of Trump’s effort at mass deportations. The slogan is also a reference to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother shot dead on Wednesday in her
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