JAPAN
Tighter rules ordered
The government yesterday ordered stricter immigration procedures in response to the escape of former Nissan Motor Co chief executive Carlos Ghosn, the first official response to an episode that has rocked the nation’s legal system. “I have instructed the Immigration Services Agency to coordinate with related agencies to further tighten departure procedures,” Minister of Justice Masako Mori said in a statement. Ghosn’s “apparently illegal” departure was regrettable, she said, promising a thorough investigation to uncover truth and adding that there was no record of his leaving the country. Ghosn’s skipping bail cannot be justified and the court has revoked his bail, Mori said.
UNITED STATES
Rod Stewart faces charges
Rock icon Rod Stewart and his son are facing simple battery charges after an altercation with a security guard during a private event in a children’s area at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach on New Year’s Eve, according to court records. Security guard Jessie Dixon told Palm Beach police officers that Stewart’s group was at the check-in table for a private party that they were not authorized to attend, a police report said. Dixon said the group became loud and began causing a scene. Dixon, 33, told investigators that he put his hand on the younger Stewart’s chest and told him to back up and make space, the report said. That is when Sean Stewart, the rock star’s 39-year-old son, got “nose to nose” with Dixon. Sean Stewart then shoved Dixon backward. Rod Stewart, 74, punched Dixon in his “left rib cage area” with a closed fist, the report said.
LIBYA
Airstrike kills at least 30
At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured on Saturday in an airstrike on a military school in Tripoli, said Amin al-Hashemi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health of the Government of National Accord. The cadets were gathered on a parade ground before going to their dormitories when the strike happened, he added. The military school is in a residential sector of the capital. The ministry called for blood donors to go to hospitals and blood banks to help those injured.
AUSTRALIA
Man killed in shark attack
A man has been mauled to death by a suspected great white shark at a popular diving spot off the southwestern coast, officials said yesterday. The man was attacked at Cull Island near the town of Esperance in Western Australia, the Department of Primary Industries said in a statement. “A man received fatal injuries after being bitten by a reported white shark,” the department said. Surf Life Saving Western Australia said he was believed to be a diver. The fatal attack, the first in the country this year, is the second in the area in less than three years.
CAMBODIA
Collapse toll reaches 36
The death toll from the collapse of a building under construction yesterday surged to 36, even as an additional survivor was pulled from rubble, officials said. At least a dozen bodies were found in overnight operations at the site in the coastal province of Kep, where the building toppled on Friday. Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the end of the rescue operation. Twenty-three people were found alive, according to a statement from Kep provincial authorities. It said that at least 13 women and six children were among the dead.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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