AUSTRIA
Army rescues students
Troops on Friday airlifted a group of German students stranded at a snowbound ski resort, as emergency services scrambled to clear record snowfall across large parts of the country. The army said it used two helicopters to transport the group of 66 pupils and teachers from the central ski station of Kasberg. It had been cut off for days due to the heavy snowfall covering much of the west and center of the country.
UNITED STATES
‘Bird Box’ prank crashes
Police said a Utah teenager crashed into another car when she covered her eyes as part of the so-called “Bird Box challenge.” The 17-year-old drifted into oncoming traffic and hit another car after she pulled a hat over her eyes to emulate Bird Box, a Sandra Bullock movie in which characters are blindfolded to avoid visions that urge them to die. Lyman said it should serve as a warning that he never thought he would need to give: “Don’t drive while blindfolded.”
POLAND
Wild boars culled
The European Commission is supporting the country’s slaughter of wild boars as a way of protecting farm pigs and meat production from the deadly African swine fever. The government’s decision to shoot about 200,000 wild boars has drawn wide public protests, but veterinary and Polish environment officials insist that it is an approved method. Massive boar hunts are planned over the remainder of the month.
CANADA
Saudi woman finds asylum
An 18-year-old Saudi runaway who said she was abused and feared death if deported back home was yesterday expected to arrive in the country, which has granted her asylum. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country would accept Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun as a refugee. It caps a dramatic week that saw her flee her family while visiting Kuwait and fly to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in a hotel to avoid deportation.
UNITED STATES
Shutdown hits record
The government shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding became the longest in the modern era as it stretched into its 22nd day yesterday. No more talks are scheduled for early in the week. Trump’s budget team is drawing up contingency plans for a shutdown that extends through the end of February, an official said.
UNITED STATES
Bicyclist slays policewoman
Authorities have said it is a mystery why a gunman on a bicycle ambushed a policewoman and narrowly missed wounding others in an apparently random shooting that ended in suicide. Davis, California, is mourning Officer Natalie Corona, who was on Thursday shot as she investigated a traffic accident. Police Chief Darren Pytel said the man was not involved in the crash, but opened fire, hitting Corona in the neck. Pytel and witnesses said he then shot at a firetruck, a passing bus and a house. He later shot himself.
UNITED STATES
Endangered orcas have calf
A calf was born to a population of endangered killer whales that live in waters off the state of Washington, researchers said. Staff first saw the calf on Friday at the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Center for Whale Research founding director Ken Balcomb told the Seattle Times. He said the youngster looks healthy, but survival rates for baby orcas are only about 50 percent.
INDIA
Guru convicted of murder
A popular and flamboyant spiritual guru in India, who is serving 20 years in prison for raping two female followers, was on Friday convicted of murdering a journalist 16 years ago in another case. Justice Jagdeep Singh convicted the guru, who calls himself Dr Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, and three other people and is to sentence them on Thursday. All four could face death sentences in the killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati after he published a letter in his newspaper alleging sexual exploitation of women by the guru.
SYRIA
US withdrawing materiel
The US military has begun moving non-essential gear out of Syria, but is not withdrawing troops for now, defense officials said, amid uncertainty over the US’ planned exit from the war-battered nation. Late on Friday, US Department of Defense spokesman Commander Sean Robertson said that the withdrawal “is based on operational conditions on the ground, including conversation with our allies and partners, and is not be subject to an arbitrary timeline.” US defense officials said that the withdrawal was only of certain types of gear and not troops. “We are not withdrawing troops at this stage,” one US defense official said.
UAE
US left without ambassador
When US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday, no US ambassador was there to welcome him. The post has been empty for nine months. The Republican donor US President Donald Trump chose for the job, John Rakolta Jr, has not been approved by the US Senate. Trump has accused Senate Democrats of using the chamber’s web of rules to sabotage his nominees. However, Rakolta’s selection illustrates the challenges of filling a high-level government position with a candidate from the corporate world who has no prior diplomatic experience. Former US ambassador to the UAE Barbara Leaf retired in March last year.
CHAD
Leader sacks two ministers
President Idriss Deby Itno has sacked two members of his Cabinet, including minister of oil and energy Boukar Michel, a presidential decree announced on Friday. Michel and minister for information technology and communication Ndolenodji Alixe Naimbaye were both fired. The official statement gave no reason for their sackings and named no successors, but ministry sources accused Michel of having sold the rights to an oil field to two different businesses, one Chinese and the other Taiwanese. Chad became an oil-producing country in 2003, before which its economy was based mainly on agriculture.
UNITED STATES
Gold trader bribed guard
A New York prison guard who admitted accepting over US$25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader has been sentenced to three years in prison. Federal Judge Richard Sullivan on Friday said that he wanted the public, prison employees and prisoners to understand the graveness of Victor Casado’s crime. Casado pleaded guilty in August, admitting that he accepted cash to make deliveries to the trader, Reza Zarrab. Zarrab later pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal and testified against a Turkish banker who was convicted at trial. The prosecution of the banker strained US-Turkey relations, as officials in Turkey called the trial a charade.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
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