AUSTRALIA
Authorities find MDMA haul
Authorities have uncovered almost half a tonne of the illicit drug MDMA concealed inside an excavator imported from the UK, they said yesterday. An investigation launched in March unearthed 226 plastic bags of the drug, commonly known as ecstacy or molly, amounting to 448kg. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) estimated the street value of the find at up to A$79 million (US$59.75 million). “The group thought that hiding drugs in machinery and consigning it to a legitimate auction house would be an innocuous way to avoid detection into Australia and, indeed, they were very wrong in that assumption,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said.
UNITED STATES
Pornhub loses credit cards
Visa and Mastercard on Thursday said they would no longer process payments to Pornhub after US media reported the site hosts videos depicting child sex abuse and rape. The New York Times said the pornography Web site includes “many” videos depicting “child abuse and nonconsensual violence” among the 6.8 million new videos posted each year, and that because Pornhub users can download videos directly from the site, images of abuse could be reposted repeatedly. Pornhub called the decisions “exceptionally disappointing.” The company earlier this week announced it would only allow “properly identified users to upload content,” and banned downloads.
ETHIOPIA
Aid group staffer killed
A staff member of an international aid group has been killed in a conflict in the Tigray region, it said yesterday. The International Rescue Committee said that “communication with the area is extremely difficult and we are still working to gather and confirm the details surrounding the events that led to the death of our colleague” in the Hitsats refugee camp in Shire. Thousands of people, including civilians, are thought to have been killed in the fighting, which began on Nov. 4 and has threatened to destabilize the Horn of Africa.
RUSSIA
Deaths rise by 50,000
The number of deaths from all causes in October rose by nearly 50,000 from the previous year, the country’s statistics agency said on Thursday. Rosstat reported that 205,500 people died in Russia in October, a rise of 47,800 on October last year. It did not give any explanation for the excess mortality, but said that 22,761 people died who were either among confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, including 11,630 cases where the primary cause of death was COVID-19. From April to the end of October, excess mortality in Russia stands at almost 165,000 deaths compared to a year earlier. Since the start of the pandemic, only 45,280 deaths from COVID-19 have been officially recorded.
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
Czech intelligence chief Michal Koudelka has spent decades uncovering Russian spy networks, sabotage attempts and disinformation campaigns against Europe. Speaking in an interview from a high-security compound on the outskirts of Prague, he is now warning allies that pushing Kyiv to accept significant concessions to end the war in Ukraine would only embolden the Kremlin. “Russia would spend perhaps the next 10 to 15 years recovering from its huge human and economic losses and preparing for the next target, which is central and eastern Europe,” said Koudelka, a major general who heads the country’s Security Information Service. “If Ukraine loses, or is forced
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
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