BANGLADESH
Lightning strikes kill dozens
Dozens of people have been killed by lightning strikes as pre-monsoon thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the country, an official said yesterday. Farmers harvesting rice in open fields made up the majority of victims, Department of Disaster Management Director Iftekharul Islam told reporters. “In the last 24 hours, 29 people have died from lightning in 12 districts. Almost all of them are farmers,” he said. Scores of people die every year after being struck by lightning during Bangladesh’s wet season, which runs from April to October, but officials have said the numbers are exceptionally high this year. More than 112 people had been killed in strikes in the first 10 days of this month, Islam said. “Every day 10 to 12 people are dying from lightning,” he said, adding that it was instilling fear in farmers who harvest rice during this time of the year. Authorities declared lightning a natural disaster after 82 people were killed in a single day in May 2016. Independent monitors estimated that some 349 Bangladeshis died from lightning that year.
KENYA
Burst dam kills at least 20
A dam burst in the town of Solai in Nakuru County after weeks of heavy rain, causing “huge destruction” and deaths, a government official said yesterday, while a local TV station said 20 bodies had so far been recovered. The dam gave way late on Wednesday. “The water has caused huge destruction of both life and property. The extent of the damage has yet to be ascertained,” Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyajui said in a statement. Private TV station KTN News said that 20 bodies had been recovered from the scene. The Kenya Red Cross said on Twitter it had rescued 39 people so far. The nation, like other countries in east Africa, has experienced heavy rain over the past two months. The government on Wednesday said the rain had killed 132 people and displaced 222,456 in 32 counties since March.
MEXICO
Nicknames allowed for vote
A northern state is allowing 194 candidates to put nicknames next to their formal names on ballots for the July 1 elections. The nicknames include El Bigoton (Big Mustache), La Comadre (the Godmother) and “Paty Tamales.” The Nuevo Leon State Electoral Commission on Tuesday ruled that state law allows the candidates for state assembly and local posts to use nicknames that are not vulgar or intended to insult or confuse people. It might sound a bit informal, but it is the new normal in a state whose governor refers to himself by the nickname El Bronco. The use of nicknames has become so common that some struggle to remember the governor’s real name, Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, who is now on leave and is an independent candidate for president.
VIETNAM
Facebook dissident jailed
A court has sentenced a Facebook user to more than four years in jail for posts that the court said distorted the political situation in the country and opposed the ruling Communist Party and the state. A state-run newspaper said 56-year-old Bui Hieu Vo was convicted of conducting anti-state propaganda at the one-day trial on Wednesday in the People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City. Newspaper Tuoi Tre said authorities found 57 posts on Vo’s Facebook page that opposed the party and instigated people to engage in terrorist activities. He was arrested in March last year. The newspaper said that police in northern Thanh Hoa Province on Tuesday had detained Nguyen Duy Son for Facebook posts that defamed the country’s leaders.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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