AUSTRALIA
Seal found in toilet
A woman using the toilets at a cemetery in Tasmania had the fright of her life after finding a large fur seal napping in the cubicle. The discovery of the 120kg animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometer from the nearest water. “We thought it was a practical joke when we were told,” Karina Moore from Devonport Council said yesterday. The council called in Parks and Wildlife officials who sedated the seal, which they named Sammy, before moving him to a beach and releasing him.
MALAWI
Child sex provider arrested
Police on Tuesday arrested a man who said he was hired by families to have sex with more than 100 young women, including children, in what was described as ritual cleansing. President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest of Eric Aniva, who told local and international media he had been paid to have sex with young girls. Aniva also told the media he was HIV-positive. Aniva was charged with multiple cases of defilement, Police Inspector General Lexten Kachama said. In interviews, Aniva claimed to be a paid sex worker, known as a “hyena,” hired by families and village elders in the south to have sex with young girls once they reach puberty as a form of ritual cleansing.
UNITED STATES
Beyonce leads MTV nods
Beyonce on Tuesday led nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards, as she basked in acclaim for her intertwined film-album Lemonade. The pop diva was in the running for 11 awards at MTV’s annual extravaganza, which is to take place on Aug. 28 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a shift from the more common venue in Los Angeles. Adele came in second with eight nominations. All but seven were for the chart-topping English balladeer’s Hello, which, with more than 1.6 billion views, is the fifth-most watched video on YouTube.
UNITED STATES
Three charged in NY heist
Three New Yorkers were arrested and charged on Tuesday after criminals blow-torched their way into bank vaults and stole more than US$5 million in a plot akin to Robert de Niro’s heist film Heat. The Brooklyn suspects were detained after a painstaking police and FBI investigation into the robberies at an HSBC branch in Brooklyn in April and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May, officials said. They were part of a crew that cut through roofs and into the vaults using acetylene torches, hiding from view by building a plywood shed on the roof, officials said. Breaking open deposit boxes, they snatched millions in cash, diamonds, jewelry and other valuables, prosecutors said. That included US$330,000 in cash and valuables from HSBC, and US$296,000 in cash and US$4.3 million in valuables from the Maspeth bank.
UNITED STATES
Cop quits over on-duty sex
A Wisconsin police officer resigned after an internal investigation found he had sex nearly 100 times on duty. Hudson Police Chief Marty Jensen on Tuesday confirmed that Officer John Worden stepped down in May, after first being placed on administrative leave. The Star-Observer reported a woman filed a complaint with police in April, saying she had been in a relationship with Worden. The woman reported having sex with Worden in or outside of his police SUV or at her home. The newspaper quoted Worden as saying he “screwed up.”
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
‘VIOLATIONS OF DISCIPLINE’: Miao Hua has come up through the political department in the military and he was already fairly senior before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday. Miao Hua (苗華) was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to corruption. It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. China in June
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