NEW ZEALAND
Envoy rapped over tweets
A top diplomat in Washington was reportedly censured yesterday over social media posts expressing fears “we will all die” if US President Donald Trump is re-elected. Caroline Beresford, the No. 2 diplomat in the US, tweeted “get your shit together” discussing a Democratic ticket of US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren against Trump in the 2020 election. “Please get your shit together or we will all die,” she tweeted, since deleted, later adding: “They’ve learned nothing.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told stuff.co.nz it “does not in any way endorse the content or tone of the tweets” and that Beresford’s tweets were prompting “appropriate action.”
SINGAPORE
Firms probed over N Korea
The government yesterday said it was investigating two local companies accused of supplying luxury goods to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions. Citing a leaked draft of a UN report, the BBC earlier this week said the two firms were OCN and T-Specialist, sister companies that share the same director. “The Singapore authorities are aware of these cases and we are in correspondence with the UN Panel on them,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “However, we are unable to provide additional details as investigations are ongoing.” OCN and T-Specialist could not be immediately reached for comment, neither could lawyer Edmond Pereira, who local media reported was representing the firms.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Quake death toll rises to 125
The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary yesterday said that an earthquake last month killed at least 125 people and forced another 35,000 from their homes. It said that major relief efforts are under way in the central region where the magnitude 7.5 quake struck on Feb. 26. The official death toll rose from 55 last week and police said it could rise further. The region is remote and undeveloped, and assessments about the scale of the damage and injuries have been slow to filter out. Strong aftershocks have continued to rattle the area.
UNITED STATES
Dog dies in overhead bin
A dog died on a United Airlines plane after a flight attendant ordered its owner to put the animal in the plane’s overhead bin. United on Tuesday said that it took full responsibility for the incident on the Monday night flight from Houston to New York. The dog was in a small pet carrier designed to fit under an airline seat. Passengers reported that they heard barking during the flight and did not know that the dog had died until the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport. United spokesman Charles Hobart said the airline is investigating the incident and talking to the flight attendant, whom he declined to identify.
UNITED STATES
VA chief may be replaced
President Donald Trump is considering putting Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), replacing David Shulkin as he faces criticism within his department. Two people familiar with Trump’s thinking said the president has floated the notion of moving Perry to the VA. One official said Trump raised the idea with Perry on Monday, but did not offer him the job. The VA inspector general is looking into a complaint by a member of Shulkin’s security detail. Two people familiar with the allegation said that the person was asked to accompany Shulkin to a Home Depot and carry furniture into his home.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
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
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
LAOS: The bars of bustling Vang Vieng remain open, but information on the investigation into the deaths of six backpackers from suspected methanol poisoning is scarce The music is still playing and the alcohol is still flowing at the bars along one of the party streets in Vang Vieng. Inside a popular venue, a voice over the speaker announces a special offer on beers, as disco lights flicker on the floor. Small paper flags from nations across the world — from the UK to Gabon — hang from the ceiling. Young people travel from all corners of the globe to party in the small town nestled in the Laos countryside, but Vang Vieng is under a global spotlight, following a suspected mass methanol poisoning that killed six
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