GUYANA
Fishermen might get guns
The threat of pirates near national waters has authorities in Georgetown considering a measure to allow fishermen to begin carrying weapons. The nation strictly controls the use of firearms and the government on Saturday said it is deciding whether to begin permitting deep-sea fishermen to carry guns while at sea. The fishermen would be required to turn in the weapons at police stations once they return to land. Second Vice President and Minister of Security Khemraj Ramjattan said he is open to the proposal because it is too expensive to have government boats and helicopters constantly patrol waters off the coast of the South American nation.
UNITED STATES
Sixth shark attack reported
Officials say a 17-year-old is the latest victim of a shark attack off North Carolina’s coast, the second attack in as many days and the sixth attack in the past two weeks. Rescue personnel and park rangers responded to the teen, who received what they described as injuries to his right calf, buttocks and both hands while swimming in the Outer Banks on Saturday, according to a Facebook post by the National Park Service. The teen was swimming with others when he was bitten, but no one else was hurt, officials said. The unidentified teenager was treated at the scene before being airlifted to a Norfolk, Virginia, hospital, the park service said. On Friday, a North Carolina man was bitten on his back and leg in Avon and 43-year-old man was attacked by a shark near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
COLOMBIA
Rebels claim chopper attack
The second-largest guerrilla group in the nation said it downed a military helicopter, rejecting government assertions that other rebels were involved. The National Liberation Army issued a Twitter message on Saturday claiming responsibility for downing the UH-60M Black Hawk on Monday last week as troops were trying to repair a damaged oil pipeline about 425km northeast of Bogota, the capital. The government said the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia hit the helicopter and it landed in a minefield, killing four soldiers. The government is holding peace talks in Cuba with the larger group. The National Liberation Army has sought establish a similar process.
UNITED STATES
9/11 writing prizes on offer
Leaders of a chapel in Manhattan that became a sanctuary of consolation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are opening national writing competitions to foster reconciliation. The Episcopal Parish of Trinity Church plans to award one prize for preaching and six for storytelling. The winner of the preaching award is to deliver an original sermon on Sept. 11 at St Paul’s Chapel. Trinity’s rector, William Lupfer, said the idea for the competitions came about because visitors to the World Trade Center site still struggle to make sense of the attacks. Entries must be submitted between Wednesday and Aug. 1.
UNITED STATES
White lion dies after surgery
A white lion on loan from the Siegfried and Roy act has died after undergoing a medical procedure at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. Zoo officials on Friday said that 14-year-old Legend died after being immobilized for an hour to allow veterinarians to treat one of its paws. Legend went into cardiac and respiratory arrest after being removed from anesthesia. A necropsy is to be performed to determine a cause of death. The zoo has another white lion, Legend’s 14-year-old brother, Courage.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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