UNITED STATES
Man wins double jackpot
In what most people would consider a lucrative mistake, a Detroit-area man who accidentally bought an extra lottery ticket has won two US$1 million jackpots. Samir Mazahem, 56, of Dearborn Heights, said he was saving numbers on a lottery app after buying a US$2 ticket for the June 9 Mega Millions game. He then realized that he had purchased a second ticket with the same numbers. “I was a little bummed, but didn’t think much about it,” Mazahem said. Until he recently logged onto the app and found that he had two US$1 million winners. “I couldn’t believe it was real,” Mazahem said. “It took several days for the reality to set in that my mistake had paid off to the tune of US$2 million.” He has claimed his prize, and plans to buy a new house and save the rest.
ECUADOR
Bird populations surge
The population of Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants, two species endemic to the islands, has seen a record increase, study results released on Friday showed. The Galapagos penguin is one of the smallest species of penguins in the world, measuring up to 35cm, and the cormorants on the islands are the only type to have lost their ability to fly — but they have developed diving skills. The population of Galapagos penguins, the only ones living on the equator, increased from 1,451 last year to 1,940 this year, the Galapagos National Park said. Flightless cormorant numbers increased from 1,914 to 2,220 over the period, it added.
BULGARIA
Sofia joins ‘clean networks’
The country and the US on Friday signed a declaration on security of next-generation 5G mobile networks, which should ensure protected and clean communications, officials said. Sofia has joined the US Department of State’s Clean Network initiative, which the department says seeks to eliminate “long-term threats to data privacy, security and human rights posed to the free world from authoritarian malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party.”
EGYPT
Parliamentary vote begins
Polling stations yesterday opened for parliamentary elections, in which there was little doubt of a sweeping victory for supporters of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. About 63 million voters out of the country’s more than 100 million people are eligible to elect 568 of the 596 lawmakers in the lower house, widely seen as a rubber-stamp body for executive policies. The remaining deputies would be appointed by former army-general-turned-president al-Sisi. The elections are to be held in two phases, with the first covering 14 provinces yesterday and today. The second, on Nov. 7 and 8, would cover 13 provinces including the capital, Cairo.
JAPAN
‘Ursine terror’ prompts calls
A spate of bear attacks has prompted calls to improve their natural habitat as experts warned of more potentially dangerous encounters with the animals, as they venture into populated areas in search of food. Local media have reported several incidents of “ursine terror” in Ishikawa Prefecture, where 11 people have been injured by bears since the start of the year — the highest number since local records began in 2005. The attacks are being attributed to a shortage of acorns in the bears’ natural habitat, forcing them to wander into populated areas in search of food.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in