FRANCE
Refugee killed by train
A refugee was killed overnight on Thursday after being hit by a freight train on the site of the Channel tunnel near Calais, firefighters said, taking the death toll there among people trying to reach Britain to 16 since June. The body was found by firefighters alongside a train platform in Coquelles. The force of the impact made it impossible to immediately identify the victim’s sex, age or nationality.
SOUTH AFRICA
ICC extends deadline
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has given the nation more time to explain why it failed to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is accused by the court of war crimes, when he visited the country in June. As a court signatory, Pretoria is obliged to implement warrants from the court. However, when al-Bashir visited for an African Union summit, the government refused to arrest him, and allowed him to leave the nation in violation of a domestic court order. The government said it needed more time to respond. Pretoria should report back to the ICC on the progress of legal proceedings no later than Dec. 31, the ICC said in a statement.
CHINA
Corpse theft brings arrests
Police have detained three people suspected of stealing a corpse to sell as a bride in the ancient rite of ghost weddings, which join single people who died for a belated marriage in the afterlife. Xinhua News Agency said the main suspect had heard about the death of a young woman in a nearby village in Shanxi Province and thought of selling the corpse to relatives of a single dead man, citing police in Ruicheng County. Xinhua said the three suspects pretended to be relatives of the woman and negotiated a sale price of 25,000 yuan (US$4,000) with a buyer. However, while raiding a tomb for the body on Saturday last week, they were caught by villagers.
DENMARK
Zoo dissects lion cub
Zoo staff on Thursday dissected a nine-month-old lion cub in front of an audience of enthralled young children, as a social media storm about the gruesome display raged outside. Some of the youngsters held their noses as zookeepers methodically sliced up the cat.
UNITED KINGDOM
Bridge ruling upheld
Legions of bridge players in Britain might feel they have been dealt a rotten hand after a court decision endorsed an earlier ruling that the popular card game is not a sport. A High Court judge on Thursday backed Sport England’s assertion that bridge is not a sport because it does not involve physical activity.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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