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.
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,
SPIRITUAL COUPLE: Martha Louise has said she can talk with angels, while her husband, Durek Verrett, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities. The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views. Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests
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
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
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