UNITED STATES
Serial cow killer sought
The fatal shootings of several cows in southeastern New Mexico have sparked fears of a serial cattle killer running loose. The Eddy County Sheriff’s Office announced this week that another six cattle on two separate properties were shot and killed, according to the Carlsbad Current-Argus newspaper. Detectives say a high-caliber rifle was used in the shooting from within an 800m radius. Deputies have ruled out an accidental shooting and do not believe the cows are being killed for meat, because they were left in fields. The case is being labeled as one of “extreme animal cruelty,” which is a fourth-degree felony.
UNITED STATES
‘Karate Kid’ returns
YouTube Red, the online video giant’s subscription service, on Friday announced a new series based on the cult classic Karate Kid, with two of the film’s principal actors reprising their roles as foes. The 1984 original starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, a bullied teen who turns to elderly Japanese-American Mr Miyagi, the late Pat Morita, for mentoring and training, was a worldwide blockbuster that led to three sequels and a 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith. The new series, titled Cobra Kai after the fanatical dojo attended by the first film’s villains, is set 30 years later and sees Daniel struggling to deal with the loss of Miyagi. His teenage nemesis Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, has held on to a grudge and is determined to restart their rivalry in the ring.
JAPAN
US Navy calls off search
The US Navy has ended a three-day search for a sailor who is believed to have gone overboard during operations in the South China Sea. A statement on Friday said that US, Japanese and Chinese navy vessels and aircraft spent 79 hours combing roughly 25,900km2 of the South China Sea west of the Philippines, demonstrating what it called “the common bond shared by all mariners to render assistance at sea.” The sailor from the guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem, based in Yokosuka, was reported missing and assumed overboard on Tuesday. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the US Navy said.
UNITED STATES
Comedians gather in NY
Nationally known comedians were to perform yesterday and today at the annual Lucille Ball Comedy festival in western New York, where the late comedy legend was born. Among highlights of this year’s festival — a celebration of what would have been her husband, Desi Arnaz’s, 100th birthday — are performances by Jim Gaffigan, Kevin James, Robert Klein and Lisa Lampanelli. Visitors can also see the late comedian George Carlin’s handwritten notes and jokes.
INDIA
Hair thefts investigated
Police are investigating a mysterious raft of attacks in which Indian women say they are waking up to find someone has chopped off their hair. A top official in Uttar Pradesh on Friday said that police have advised people not to believe or spread rumors following the death of a 65-year-old woman who was beaten by a mob on suspicion that she was a witch responsible for the hair theft. Anand Kumar said village committees have been ordered to quash rumors about ghosts or witches cutting off women’s braids. Police were investigating the claims, he said.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
RIGHTS FEARS: A protester said Beijing would use the embassy to catch and send Hong Kongers to China, while a lawmaker said Chinese agents had threatened Britons Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns. The new embassy — if approved by the British government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier. Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents.” China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the
A deluge of disinformation about a virus called hMPV is stoking anti-China sentiment across Asia and spurring unfounded concerns of renewed lockdowns, despite experts dismissing comparisons with the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago. Agence France-Presse’s fact-checkers have debunked a slew of social media posts about the usually non-fatal respiratory disease human metapneumovirus after cases rose in China. Many of these posts claimed that people were dying and that a national emergency had been declared. Garnering tens of thousands of views, some posts recycled old footage from China’s draconian lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in the country in late
BACK TO BATTLE: North Korean soldiers have returned to the front lines in Russia’s Kursk region after earlier reports that Moscow had withdrawn them following heavy losses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday pored over a once-classified map of vast deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals as part of a push to appeal to US President Donald Trump’s penchant for a deal. The US president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine’s war with Russia, on Monday said he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort. “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskiy said, emphasizing Ukraine’s need for security guarantees