ECUDAOR
Earthquake survivor found
Crews have rescued a 72-year-old survivor of the nation’s deadly earthquake almost two weeks after it struck the South American country, Venezuela announced on Saturday. A visiting Venezuelan search team located Manuel Vasquez, who had been trapped under rubble since the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that killed 660 people, the Venezuelan embassy in Quito said on its Web site. They found Vasquez “making sounds in a partially collapsed building” on Friday in Manabi Province while doing inspections for structural problems, it said. The April 16 quake was the worst to strike the nation in decades, causing buildings to collapse and damaging roads and other infrastructure in tourist areas along the coast. Vasquez was admitted to hospital with kidney trouble and lost toes. He was also dehydrated and disoriented. The nation welcomed hundreds of rescue teams, doctors, nurses, firefighters and other support staff after the quake from a slew of countries.
SOUTH AFRICA
Malema ‘whispers’ to Zuma
Fiery opposition politician Julius Malema told 40,000 cheering supporters that President Jacob Zuma should step down before the army turns on him because of the corruption allegations against him. “I am whispering to you, Zuma, wherever you are, those soldiers are going to turn their guns against you,” Malema said to roars from the crowd. “Be warned, leave office before the soldiers turn their guns on you.” Malema spoke on Saturday to supporters of his Economic Freedom Fighters party who filled the Orlando Stadium in Soweto. Malema described the policies of his party ahead of local government elections which are to take place in August. He said many members of South Africa’s current parliament are “agents of apartheid.” Malema dismissed the treason charges pressed against him earlier this week by the African National Congress. The party filed the charges after Malema said he would take up arms against the government if he saw rigging in the elections.
VENEZUELA
Minimum wage rises 30%
President Nicolas Maduro is ordering a 30 percent increase in the minimum wage, the latest move by the socialist government to grapple with high inflation and economic stagnation. The boost announced Saturday night by Maduro comes after a 25 percent increase on March 1. The new increase was effective from yesterday, which is Workers’ Day, and would push the minimum wage to 15,051 bolivars (US$1,512.7) per month. This translates into about US$50 at the current black market rate, which largely sets prices of goods for Venezuelans.
INDIA
Teen selfie fan shoots self
An Indian teenager accidently shot himself in the head with his father’s gun while trying to take a “selfie” photograph, police said yesterday. The 15-year-old is being treated in hospital at Pathankot in Punjab State and is expected to survive, Pathankot deputy police superintendent Manoj Kumar said. The accident happened on Friday evening when the schoolboy was playing at home with the licensed revolver which is normally kept in a wardrobe, Kumar told reporters. “The boy’s father and family said that he was trying to take a selfie with his gun,” he said. “We will speak to the boy when he is declared medically fit. We think that part of the blame obviously goes to the father for not keeping his loaded gun under lock and key at their home.”
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
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
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
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
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