AUSTRALIA
Hundreds converge on Uluru
Hundreds of tourists yesterday flocked to Uluru for one last chance to scale the sacred red monolith ahead of a climbing ban long sought by Aborigines. A permanent ban on scaling Uluru — also known as Ayers Rock — goes into effect today in line with the long-held wishes of the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, the Anangu. This has led to a surge of climbers in the past few months. Hundreds were left waiting for hours early yesterday due to safety concerns over heavy winds, before rangers allowed climbers to head up the rock at 10am. Parks Australia said it would reassess the weather conditions throughout the day to determine if climbers could continue to mount the rock. Tourists are still being encouraged to visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, where they can take in the monolith from its base, walk around its perimeter and learn about its indigenous heritage at the cultural center.
JAPAN
New trade minister resigns
The trade minister yesterday resigned a month into his job due to a scandal over condolence money allegedly being offered to election supporters. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he had accepted the resignation of Isshu Sugawara and apologized for appointing him. Abe named Hiroshi Kajiyama, formerly the minister in charge of regulatory reform, as his replacement. Sugawara tendered his resignation, because he did not want to hold up the important discussions in the National Diet over his scandal, Abe said. Sugawara has been grilled in the legislature after a magazine reported that he had paid condolence money to his election district supporters. Such payments are considered donations that are against the law.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Officials to get luxury cars
Prime Minister James Marape is to get a Bentley and lawmakers would receive a host of other luxury vehicles paid for by taxpayers for an APEC summit, officials have said. Marape, who has vowed to clean up the nation’s politics since taking office in May, is to receive one of the dozens of high-end cars bought to ferry delegates around Port Moresby for the summit last year. Secretary for Finance Ken Ngangan on Thursday told the Papua New Guinea Post Courier that all 111 members of parliament would get vehicles from the APEC fleet for their electoral duties. “Cabinet made a decision recently to have members of parliament presented with a vehicle each so that they can use here in the capital city, but for their electoral duties,” he said. One of three Bentleys purchased would be made available for the office of the prime minister, he added. An interim government report has estimated that hosting the summit cost the nation about US$135 million.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
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