AUSTRALIA
Probe into penguin deaths
Wildlife officials yesterday announced an investigation into the mass death of 58 penguins they believe were killed in a dog attack. The carcases of the fairy penguins — the world’s smallest penguin species — were found strewn across a beach in Tasmania. “We would like to remind dog owners of the need to take responsibility for their animals at all times as dogs have the capacity to do a lot of damage to penguin colonies in a short period of time,” the Tasmanian Department of Parks, Water and Environment said in a statement. The latest grisly find comes just months after a dozen birds were found dead on a nearby beach, they too are believed to have been killed in a dog attack. Fairy penguins are only found in Australia and New Zealand, with Tasmania supporting about half of the global population.
AUSTRALIA
Anti-litter campaigner dies
Ian Kiernan, an environmental campaigner who turned a cleanup of Sydney Harbour into a global fight against litter, has died from cancer at 78, Clean Up Australia said yesterday. The round-the-world yachtsman started his anti-litter campaign nearly 30 years ago and then went global in 1993 with Clean Up The World, which now involves more than 30 million people. Kiernan was also known for leaping to shield Britain’s Prince Charles from a protester who fired two blanks shots from a starter’s pistol at a 1994 ceremony in Sydney where the environmentalist was named Australian of the Year. “I didn’t think about it. I just knew we had to get this bloke and we got him,” Kiernan told reporters after he helped to tackle the young man, who was angry about Cambodians being held in detention camps.
MOROCCO
Seven killed in derailment
At least seven people died and nearly 80 were injured after a shuttle train linking Rabat and the town of Kenitra on the Atlantic coast derailed on Tuesday, authorities at the accident site said. The train derailed near the city of Sale. Tangled in the wreckage were doors and seats that had been gouged out of place, while passengers’ belongings and glass from broken windows littered the accident site. Emergency workers rushed people to hospitals in Rabat, Sale and Kenitra, while rescue teams searched for more victims with the help of cadaver dogs. Military personnel guarded the site as railway workers and authorities started to investigate why the train jumped its tracks. “We heard a gigantic explosion. The earth shook and the sound was unbearable,” said Mourad El Kbiri, who owns a cafe near where the train derailed. “I rushed to see what happened. It was horrific. Disfigured bodies all over the place, blood and body pieces.”
UNITED STATES
Brothel owner found dead
A colorful Nevada brothel owner who was running for the state legislature as a Republican has died unexpectedly, but his name is to remain on the ballot for next month’s election, officials said. Dennis Hof, 72, was on Tuesday found dead at Love Ranch, one of his legal brothels in Crystal, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office said. The Reno Gazette Journal reported that Hof had on Monday celebrated his birthday with a party attended by porn star Ron Jeremy and other guests. Chuck Muth, Hof’s campaign manager, said on Twitter that Jeremy found Hof’s body when he went to wake him up. Muth said Hof had apparently “died quietly in his sleep.” Hof also starred in the HBO reality TV show Cathouse about the prostitutes working at one of his establishments.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
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