ZIMBABWE
Elephants sent to China
The government has sent about 30 young elephants to China where they are to be held in zoos, Humane Society International has said. The elephants, estimated to be two to six years old, were separated from maternal herds and held at Hwange National Park for nearly a year before being flown out this week, it said. The society released a video and photographs that it said show the small elephants a week ago being held in a fenced area at the national park. Wildlife authorities did not comment on the statement. The country, seeks to be allowed to hunt and export more of them to ease pressure on the animals’ habitat and raise badly needed money for conservation.
PAKISTAN
Nawaz Sharif’s health wanes
The Lahore High Court on Friday ordered convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif released on bail so that he can seek medical treatment at home or abroad, his family and a defense lawyer said. The decision was announced by the court after hearing a petition from Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif, who heads the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League party, but it does not mean that the former national leader would automatically be freed, as he faces another appeal hearing for bail next week. On Monday last week, Nawaz Sharif was rushed from prison to the government hospital in Lahore, after his health condition was said to have deteriorated.
MEXICO
Wind-whipped fires kill three
Authorities say three people have died in wind-whipped wildfires in the northwestern state of Baja California. Fires near Tecate had forced 1,645 people to evacuate their homes, the National Civil Defense said on Friday. One of the fires closed the coastal highway for several hours. Another burned more than 14,200 hectares. Schools were ordered closed in Tijuana, Tecate and Rosarito due to smoke. Officials blamed strong Santa Ana winds, but they appeared to have died down by the evening.
UNITED STATES
Utility may have fueled fires
California’s biggest utility admitted that its electrical equipment might have ignited a ruinous wildfire spreading across the state’s wine country on Friday, despite blackouts imposed across the region to prevent blazes. The disclosure came as firefighters simultaneously battled a fire amid Sonoma County’s vineyards and a wind-whipped blaze that destroyed homes near Los Angeles. The fire in the wine country burned at least 49 buildings and 65km2, and prompted evacuation orders for about 2,000 people. It was driven by the strong winds that had prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to impose sweeping blackouts affecting a half-million people in the northern and central parts of the state.
UNITED STATES
Weinstein jeered in public
Harvey Weinstein was mocked from the stage and jeered by attendees at a New York City actors showcase this week — a rare public appearance for the disgraced movie mogul ahead of his January rape trial. A comedian at Wednesday’s “Actor’s Hour” referred to Weinstein during her set as “the elephant in the room,” likened him to horror villain Freddy Krueger and said that she “didn’t know we had to bring our own mace and rape whistles” to the event. An actor tried questioning Weinstein and another attendee shouted that he was a “monster.” Weinstein, 67, is free on US$1 million bail.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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