UNITED KINGDOM
Greek vote rumbles London
Britain will do “whatever is necessary to protect its economic security,” a government spokesman said on Monday after Greeks voted overwhelmingly against austerity in a referendum that could send them crashing out of the eurozone with unknown consequences. “This is a critical moment in the economic crisis in Greece,” a Downing Street spokesman said. “We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect our economic security at this uncertain time. We have already got contingency plans in place and later this morning the prime minister will chair a further meeting to review those plans in light of yesterday’s result.”
PAKISTAN
Blast kills one, hurts eight
A bomb hit a market in southwest Pakistan late on Sunday, killing one person and wounding eight, police said. The bomb went off in the center of the city of Quetta, where thousands of shoppers visit daily. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan Province. “One person was killed and eight wounded. Police are investigating the nature of the bomb,” senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema told reporters. Another Quetta police official speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed the blast and casualties, adding that dozens of police and paramilitary personnel were on duty near the site of the blast, “but fortunately all remained safe.” No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. Rebels began their fifth insurgency against the state in 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting. Pakistan accuses neighboring India of funding and arming the rebels a charge some analysts say is payback for Pakistan’s perceived interference in Kashmir.
CHINA
Animals aid quake research
Government researchers are using chickens, fish and toads to try to predict earthquakes, media reported. The seismological bureau in the eastern city of Nanjing has transformed seven animal farms into seismic stations, the China Daily newspaper reported last week. Breeders on the farms are asked to update the bureau about the behavior of the animals twice a day, the report said. Possible abnormal behaviors that could indicate imminent earthquakes include chickens flying to the tops of trees, fish leaping out of water or toads moving in a group, it added. Nanjing plans to recruit seven more farms into the program this year, it said. Facilities must house more than three species to be eligible, but some animal keepers seemed reluctant to become involved. “Our zoo is not being transformed into a monitoring station because the animals will display abnormal behavior when they are teased by visitors,” the report quoted a local zookeeper as saying. Using animals predict earthquakes is not new in China. State-run media said last year that the central city of Nanchang was using dogs to predict tremors. Three people died in an earthquake last week in the far western region of Xinjiang.
UNITED STATES
‘Jurassic’ slaughters rivals
Dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic World showed no signs of extinction at North American movie theaters last weekend, taking the top spot for the fourth week running, according to industry estimates showed on Sunday. The film brought in US$30.9 million over the weekend, bringing total earnings to US$558 million — making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, according to media analysts.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
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