ECUADOR
Same-sex marriage backed
The Constitutional Court on Wednesday authorized same-sex marriage in a landmark case seeking to expand LGBT rights, by a 5-4 vote. Plaintiff Efrain Soria said that he would immediately begin planning a wedding with his partner, Xavier Benalcazar, with whom he has been in a civil union since 2012. Same-sex unions have been legal for a decade, but civil partners enjoy fewer rights than married couples when it comes to inheritance and estate laws. The Constitutional Court instructed Congress to pass legislation ensuring equal treatment for all under the nation’s marriage law. The ruling is “a joy for our entire community and Ecuador,” said Soria, who is president of the Ecuadorian Equality Foundation, an LGBT rights group.
UNITED KINGDOM
Assange extradition signed
Home Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday said he had certified the US’ request to extradite WikiLeaks front man Julian Assange on espionage grounds on Wednesday, a procedural move that opens the way for a court battle. The US Department of Justice on Tuesday said that it had submitted a formal extradition request. Washington has accused Assange of contravening the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010. The final decision on whether Assange, 47, can be extradited rests with the courts. The next hearing in the case is set for today. The Australian is now serving a 50-week sentence in top-security Belmarsh prison for skipping bail when he entered the Ecuadoran embassy in London in 2012. “I want to see justice done at all times and we’ve got a legitimate extradition request, so I’ve signed it, but the ... decision is now with the courts,” Javid said.
ARGENTINA
Former official sentenced
A court on Wednesday sentenced former public works secretary Jose Lopez to six years in prison after he was caught by police in 2016 trying to toss 160 suitcases and duffel bags stuffed with US$9 million in US dollars and euros as well as luxury watches over the wall into the garden of a Buenos Aires Catholic convent. Lopez’s wife, Maria Diaz, was given a two-year suspended sentence for complicity, while 80-year-old nun, Sister Celia Ines Aparicio, who was also charged with complicity, was acquitted. The court also barred Lopez from ever holding public office again.
CANADA
Frozen toes find new home
The amputated toes of a British endurance athlete are to be given new life, as the centerpiece of a notorious Canadian cocktail. As Nick Griffiths lay in a hospital bed last year after suffering frostbite while competiting in the Yukon Arctic ultra-marathon, his mind drifted to an advertisement he had seen earlier in a hotel in the territory. “It said: ‘Had frostbite? We want your toes,’” Griffiths told the Guardian. “I thought it was a bit of a joke, really.” It was not: For more than 40 years, visitors have flocked to the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City to try the Sourtoe Cocktail. The beverage is a whiskey shot with a mummified human toe floating in the glass. Patrons must let the digit — or its blackened nail — touch their lips in order to qualify for a certificate and admittance to the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. “We couldn’t be happier to receive a new toe. They are very hard to come by these days,” the hotel said in a statement. Terry Lee, the hotel’s “toe expert,” will now preserve the digits in rock salt for at least six weeks before they are served in whiskey.
AUSTRALIA
Pacific fund set for July
The government is to soon offer millions of dollars in funding for infrastructure projects in the Pacific, two sources familiar with the plan said, as part of its efforts to undercut Chinese influence. Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year said that the nation would create a fund to offer Pacific countries up to A$3 billion (US$2.07 billion) in cheap loans and grants. The fund is to be operational by July 31 and Australia plans to quickly approve several projects to demonstrate its commitment, the sources said. “We haven’t finalized which projects will be approved first, but the plan is to have them rubber-stamped quickly,” said a source familiar with plans, who declined to be identified. The investment would be channelled into telecommunications, energy, transport and water projects. The funding commitments are to come just before Morrison travels to Tuvalu for the annual Pacific Islands Forum in August. Tuvalu is one of six Pacific islands to recognize Taiwan.
INDIA
Cyclone to skirt coast
A cyclone that had been heading for the western coast has veered away, forecasters said yesterday, although coastal areas were still expected to be hit by winds gusting up to 160kph. Vayu, classified as a very severe cyclonic storm, moved north-northwestward overnight in the Arabian Sea and was about 110km from the coast of Gujarat State. It was “very likely” to keep moving in the same direction, but still skirt the coast with winds of 135kph to 145kph and gusts of 160kph, the India Meteorological Department said. Authorities in Gujarat evacuated more than 285,000 people as a precaution. Schools have been closed, with officials fearing major damage to houses, crops, power lines and communications. Five people have been killed by lightning in Gujarat, mostly farmers and people working in fields, authorities said.
SYRIA
Idlib ceasefire announced
Moscow has announced a ceasefire in Idlib Province after weeks of intensified rocket fire and airstrikes by regime and Russian forces. “At Russia’s initiative, with the mediation of Turkey and Russia, a ceasefire agreement was concluded in the Idlib de-escalation zone as of midnight on June 12,” the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said in a statement late on Wednesday. “As a result, a significant reduction has been observed in the number of bombardments by illegal groups.” Idlib, the last major area of Syria outside government control, has faced intense regime bombardment, despite a months-old buffer zone deal.
JAPAN
Jail for drunk drone driving
People operating drones under the influence of alcohol could face up to a year in prison under new laws passed yesterday. Drunkenly flying a drone weighing more than 200g could also result in a fine of up to ￥300,000 (US$2,767), after the lower house of parliament passed the legislation following a string of accidents. Performing dangerous stunts with drones such as sharp plunges would also be subject to fines of up to ￥500,000. “We believe operating drones after consuming alcohol is as serious as [drunk] driving,” a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism official said. The nation has also had to confront issues with tourists flying drones in congested tourist areas. Last month, it passed a set of laws to ban drones over Tokyo Olympic sites and US military facilities, after banning them over key facilities.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
INSTABILITY: If Hezbollah do not respond to Israel’s killing of their leader then it must be assumed that they simply can not, an Middle Eastern analyst said Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah leaves the group under huge pressure to deliver a resounding response to silence suspicions that the once seemingly invincible movement is a spent force, analysts said. Widely seen as the most powerful man in Lebanon before his death on Friday, Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah and Israel’s arch-nemesis for more than 30 years. His group had gained an aura of invincibility for its part in forcing Israel to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, waging a devastating 33-day-long war in 2006 against Israel and opening a “support front” in solidarity with Gaza since
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