AUSTRALIA
Melbourne acts to curb virus
Police yesterday set up suburban checkpoints in new COVID-19 hotspots in Melbourne as authorities struggled to contain new outbreaks in the nation’s second-largest city, even as travel restrictions eased elsewhere. Victoria state reported 77 new cases yesterday, up slightly from the previous day and in line with two weeks of double-digit daily increases, while new infections in most other states stayed at zero or low single digits.
UNITED KINGDOM
Music stars call for support
The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Ed Sheeran were among about 1,500 musicians and producers who yesterday urged the government to help the live music business survive the COVID-19 pandemic. In an open letter to Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden, the musicians called for a clear time line on when music venues could reopen, as well as support for businesses and jobs.
BRAZIL
Soldiers hand out masks
Soldiers on Wednesday handed out masks to barefooted Yanomami people, including body-painted warriors carrying spears and bows and arrows, on the second day of a military operation to protect isolated tribes from COVID-19. The Yanomami are the last major isolated people in the Amazon rainforest where dozens of indigenous communities have been infected with the latest disease to come from the outside to threaten their existence. Indigenous leaders on Wednesday appealed to the Supreme Court to order the federal government to protect isolated tribes by barring outsiders from reservation lands, and expelling poachers, illegal loggers and wildcat miners said to bring fatal diseases.
IRAN
Incident at nuclear site
An “incident” yesterday damaged a building under construction near the underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, though it did not affect its centrifuge operations or cause any release of radiation, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying there was “no need for concern” over the incident. However, there was no previously announced construction work at Natanz, a uranium enrichment center about 250km south of Tehran.
JAPAN
Plastic bag charge imposed
Retailers on Wednesday began charging for plastic bags as part of the government’s efforts to end consumers’ love for packaging. Shops can decide how much to charge customers for the bags, with a common price being ￥3 (about US$0.03). Introducing a nationwide fee “is aimed at prompting people to think twice if a bag is really necessary and helping people to review their lifestyles,” the government said.
IVORY COAST
Bank probe panel named
Former Irish president Mary Robinson is to head a panel investigating African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina, accused by whistle-blowers of corruption, the bank said. Adesina, 60, is the first Nigerian to helm the bank, but a 15-page report earlier this year claimed that under his watch the bank had been tarred by poor governance, impunity, personal enrichment and favoritism. He was cleared by the bank’s ethics committee, but international pressure has mounted for an independent investigation. Robinson is to serve alongside Gambian Chief Justice Hassan Jallow and the World Bank’s integrity vice president.
INDIA
Modi deletes Weibo account
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has deleted his account on Sina Weibo as tensions with Beijing continue to simmer over a Himalayan border skirmish that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. Sina Weibo announced the closure of the account late on Wednesday, and the removal comes a few days after New Delhi banned dozens of Chinese apps, including Sina Weibo. “For VIP accounts, Weibo has a more complex procedure to quit, which is why the official process was initiated. For reasons best known to the Chinese, there was great delay in granting this basic permission,” an Indian government source said yesterday. All of Modi’s posts had been deleted except for two showing pictures of him with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “On Weibo, it is difficult to remove posts with the photo of their president,” the source said.
SOUTH KOREA
Pop star’s ex sent to jail
The ex-boyfriend of K-pop star Goo Hara yesterday was jailed by an appeal court for blackmailing her over sex videos that played a part in her apparent suicide. In 2018, Goo told media that her ex had threatened “to end her entertainment career” by leaking their sex videos. Goo was found dead at her home on Nov. 24 last year, and is believed to have taken her own life after being targeted by abusive online comments following the reports about the videos. Hair stylist Choi Jong-bum was last year convicted of multiple crimes, including blackmail and inflicting injuries, and was given a suspended jail term. He and the prosecution appealed, and the Seoul Central District Court yesterday ordered a heavier sentence, jailing him for a year.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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