INDIA
Street mutt becomes top dog
Eighteen months after being rescued from stone-throwing children, a street mutt has emerged top dog in an elite bomb and drug-sniffing squad. Asha — “hope” in Hindi — was rescued by West Bengal police when they found her being mistreated outside their training facility. “The dog was bleeding when she was taken inside the campus,” West Bengal Police Training Academy official Dipankar Bhattacharya said. Officers originally intended keeping the mixed-breed stray as a pet, but Asha turned out to have a nose every bit as good as the German Shepherds and Labradors usually trained to sniff out explosives and drugs. Sajal Mondal, the head of the academy, said she passed the grueling training with flying colors. “She performed better than her pedigree peers... She is also our fastest runner,” Mondal said.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Lion mauls, kills owner
A lion that mauled and killed its owner in a cage at his property has been shot dead by police. Local media reported that the male lion attacked Michal Prasek when he entered the cage he had built for the animal in his garden, about 350km southeast of Prague. A lioness was also shot by police. “A 33-year old man died after his lion attacked him,” police spokeswoman Lenka Javorkova said on Tuesday. “The police had to shoot two lions in order to get to the man who was with the animals.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Hundreds play royal match
Hundreds of people on Tuesday descended on the town of Ashbourne in central England to play a traditional soccer game in which the rules are hazy and the goals 5km apart. The Royal Shrovetide Football Match involves teams called the Up’ards and the Down’ards, who battle to try and tap the ball three times on stone plinths that act as goals. Well aware of the passions involved, local shops close early and board up as if preparing for a riot. Due to the large numbers taking part, there is little kicking of the ball, with players instead tending to carry the ball across the pitch. The match is played from 2pm to 10pm on both Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, but goals are rare because of the size of the pitch, with last year’s match finishing 1-1. The centuries-old event gained its “royal” title when the future Edward VIII started a 1928 game by throwing up the ball, an act repeated by present heir to the throne Prince Charles in 2003.
UNITED STATES
Jackson backlash begins
Michael Jackson fans have bombarded Oprah Winfrey with hateful messages after the broadcast of a documentary about alleged child abuse by the late singer. Leaving Neverland, and her follow-up interview with the two men at the center of the film, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who said they were befriended by Jackson and were abused by him from the ages of seven and 10 in the early 1990s. The film has been met with a mixture of horror and disbelief after a two-part airing on HBO on Sunday and Monday. Winfrey, herself a sexual assault survivor, conducted the follow-up interview in a special in front of an audience of assault victims. Winfrey was aware of the attacks they might face. “All the anger — you guys are going to get it,” she said. “You’re going to get it. I’m going to get it. We’re all going to get it.” Robson said that he had already received death threats. Jackson’s family has called the documentary a “public lynching” and said he was “100 percent innocent.” Some radio stations in Canada and the Netherlands have stopped playing Jackson’s music
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
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