UNITED STATES
Princess arrested
A Romanian princess and her husband, a former sheriff’s deputy, were among several people federal agents arrested in Oregon on Thursday last week in connection with an alleged cockfighting ring. Indictments unsealed in US District Court in Portland charge Irina Walker, 60, and her husband, John Wesley Walker, 67, with hosting cockfighting derbies and illegal gambling at their ranch outside Irrigon. Federal prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of the ranch. The Oregonian newspaper identified Irina Walker, also known as Irina Kreuger, as a daughter of the last king of Romania. The Walkers and four other people from Irrigon and Hermiston were to be arraigned in federal court in Portland yesterday on charges of operating an illegal gambling business.
UNITED KINGDOM
Ryanair sacks pilot
Ryanair has sacked pilot John Goss with “immediate effect” and issued legal proceedings against him after he appeared in a Channel 4 television documentary which raised questions over the airline’s safety policy. The airline has rejected recent claims from pilots that it encourages crew to carry less back-up fuel and that threats of disciplinary action discourage reporting of safety fears. Ryanair had already instructed lawyers to take legal action against Channel 4’s Dispatches over the documentary, called Ryanair: Secrets from the Cockpit. Goss, a captain who has been with the airline for about 25 years, is a member of the interim council of the Ryanair Pilot Group.
UNITED STATES
Elvis vigil draws thousands
Elvis Presley fans from around the world made their annual pilgrimage to Graceland to pay their respects with a solemn candlelight vigil on the 36th anniversary of his death. Thousands of Presley fans carried lit candles on Thursday as they walked slowly and silently through the Mediation Garden at Graceland, Presley’s Memphis, Tennessee, home. The graves of Presley, mother, father and grandmother are buried are in the garden.
CANADA
Railway to appeal order
Canadian Pacific Railway will appeal a government order to pay for the clean-up of a deadly train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, last month, a spokesman said on Thursday. The Quebec government on Wednesday added the railway to a list of companies it says are responsible for the cleanup of the town where a runaway train crashed and dumped millions of liters of crude oil on July 6, killing 47 people and forcing the evacuation of 6,000 others. The order said CP had subcontracted the smaller railway involved in the crash to carry crude oil from North Dakota in 72 tanker cars to a refinery in New Brunswick. Florida-based World Fuels Services, which owned the oil, was also named in the order.
UNITED STATES
Maui beach reopened
Officials reopened a Maui beach on Thursday, a day after a shark bit off the right arm of a German visitor about 46m offshore. About 3km of beach in Makena reopened at noon after lifeguards and firefighters surveying the ocean found no sign of sharks in the area, Maui County officials said. The woman, who was about 20 years old, was snorkeling at Palauea Beach when the attack occurred on Wednesday. Bystanders on shore heard the woman scream, put her on a kayak and brought her to land, said Lee Mainaga, fire services chief at the Maui Fire Department.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
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