CANADA
MP downed by tight pants
Opposition MP Pat Martin on Thursday offered up one of the most original excuses ever heard for hurriedly running out of the House of Commons during a vote: His new cheap pair of underpants was too tight. Martin, of the New Democratic Party, bolted as MPs began to rise one by one to vote. He later blamed his departure on an unwise purchase at a local store. “They had men’s underwear on for half price and I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me. I find it difficult to sit for any length of time,” he told the chamber to guffaws and applause from fellow legislators. He did return in time to cast his vote.
UNITED STATES
Second-warmest January
Last month was the second-warmest January on record globally, behind 2007, with temperatures 0.77°C above the average for the 20th century, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Meteorologists calculated that temperatures last month in the US was 1.6°C warmer than normal, making it the 24th warmest January since 1880, even though there were record snowfalls in parts of the US northeast. China had its warmest January since it started keeping records in 1961, with last month 1.9°C warmer than normal. Some areas in southern Siberia and far eastern Russia were more than 5°C warmer than normal for January. Parts of Norway were 5°C to 7°C warmer than normal, while eastern Austria was 3.8°C warmer than normal. Northern Australia, eastern Canada and parts of southern and eastern US were cooler than normal, but not too much cooler.
UNITED STATES
Giulani softens Obama jab
It may be as close as Rudy Giuliani will come to a retraction. The former New York City mayor called Bloomberg Politics’ With All Due Respect on Thursday to try and walk back comments he made a day earlier at New York’s 21 Club where he said: “I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.” When pressed over whether he stood by his remarks about Obama’s love of the country, Giuliani softened his tone. “Well actually, if I could express it more clearly, what I mean is he doesn’t express it,” Giuliani said. “I shouldn’t say that the president does or does not love anything. I don’t know, I’m not a psychiatrist, and he doesn’t have one and he doesn’t need one.” However, he added that Obama “seeks to criticize [the US], more than uplift it, and doesn’t get the notion of American exceptionalism.”
COLOMBIA
US missionary released
A judge on Thursday said there was not enough evidence to keep a US missionary jailed after he was arrested over suspected links to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. Russell Martin Stendal, 59, a Christian missionary who is a longtime resident of Colombia, was detained on Wednesday at police headquarters in Bogota. He turned himself in after learning of his arrest warrant. Prosecutors said they had been investigating Stendal over suspicions that he provided logistical support to the FARC, but a judge on Thursday ruled that the case against Stendal was not currently sufficient to warrant his detention, and ordered his release. An official in the prosecutors’ office had earlier said that Stendal helped set up secret stations to care for wounded and sick fighters, and a police report said he was accused of providing “electronic and communications” support to the group.
INDIA
Corporate spy arrests made
Police yesterday said they have arrested six people, including a senior journalist, on charges of stealing top-secret documents from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and selling them on to energy companies. The arrests follow a major police sting operation to trap those responsible for taking the secret government documents, which police said were sold to energy companies and consultancies. The men, who also include two government employees, are alleged to have used duplicate keys and forged identity cards to gain access to the ministry at night and photocopy documents related to high-value bids and pricing policies. Police did not name the companies involved.
THAILAND
Law regulates surrogacies
Parliament has passed a law that bans foreigners from seeking surrogacy services to end a “rent-a-womb” industry that made the kingdom a top destination for fertility tourism. The law stipulates that surrogate mothers must be Thai and over 25. “Thailand and its women’s uteruses will no longer be a hub” for surrogacy, National Legislative Assembly member Wallop Tungkananurak said. Under the new law, only Thai couples or those where at least one partner comes from kingdom will be eligible to use surrogates. They will have to prove that they are unable to bear children and have no relatives to act as surrogates on their behalf.
TURKEY
Ankara still eyes China deal
Minister of National Defense Ismet Yilmaz on Thursday said the country does not plan to integrate a new missile defense system with NATO infrastructure and officials said a US$3.4 billion deal with China was still under consideration. The government chose China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp as a preferred bidder in 2013, prompting Western concern about security and the compatibility of the weaponry with NATO systems. Yilmaz, in a written response to a parliamentary question, indicated Ankara planned to go ahead with the Chinese system, saying no new offers received. However, other government officials later made clear that did not mean a final decision had yet been reached.
JAPAN
Red Army member arrested
A member of the Red Army guerrilla group, who was released from prison in exchange for hostages held in a 1977 plane hijacking, was arrested yesterday when he arrived at Narita International Airport. Tsutomu Shirosaki, 67, was deported from the US after serving a prison term, public broadcaster NHK said. He is wanted on suspicion of attempting to set fire to a hotel room in Jakarta in 1986 in an attempt to destroy evidence related to mortar attacks on the US and Japanese embassies in Indonesia.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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