AUSTRALIA
Ancient site recognized
An Aboriginal settlement older than the pyramids that provides evidence that indigenous people developed sophisticated aquaculture thousands of years ago has been granted World Heritage status, the UN has announced. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was created by the Gunditjmara nation about 6,600 years ago and includes remnants of elaborate stone channels and pools built to harvest eels from a lake, and wetland swamp areas. The site also holds evidence of stone dwellings that counter the myth that Aboriginal peoples were simply nomadic hunter-gatherers with no established settlements or sophisticated means of food production.
IRAN
Tehran condemns ‘piracy’
The government said an oil tanker that was seized by British forces near Gibraltar was not destined for Syria. The ship “was navigating in international waters,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi told a news conference in Tehran. He said the tanker was not heading toward Syria, without saying where the vessel was going. “We consider this an act of piracy,” he said. Grace 1, a supertanker able to haul 2 million barrels of crude, was last week seized on suspicion that it was going to breach EU sanctions by delivering crude to Syria. The cargo came from Iran.
UNITED STATES
Vacant pizzeria explodes
A vacant pizza restaurant on Saturday exploded at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 21 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and vehicles were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause. The explosion demolished the building, leaving behind only part of its metal frame. The restaurant, called PizzaFire, had been out of business for several months.
NEPAL
Celebration canceled
The Tibetan community called off plans to mark the birthday of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama after their request for a public celebration was rejected over security concerns, a government official said yesterday. The Dalai Lama turned 84 on Saturday and his followers in the country had hoped to celebrate the occasion in the capital, Kathmandu, but the government rejected their request. Krishna Bahadur Katuwal, assistant district administrator of Kathmandu, said the government refused permission for Tibetans to mark the Dalai Lama’s birthday because “infiltrators” could create trouble.
FINLAND
‘Wife carrying’ race held
A Lithuanian man and his wife on Saturday won the world “wife carrying” title, leaping over timber and wading through waist-high water to beat dozens of other couples for a second year running. The prize was the wife’s weight in beer. Vytautas Kirkliauskas and his wife, Neringa Kirkliauskiene, cleared a grueling 253.5m obstacle course in 1 minute 6.72 seconds. That was just a 10th of a second ahead of former six-time world champion, Finland’s Taisto Miettinen and his new partner, Katja Kovanen. The rules stipulate that the woman must be over 17 years of age and weigh at least 49kg. Despite the event’s name, couples do not have to be married and organizers said male contestants could “steal a neighbor’s wife” if they do not have a female companion.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
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