NEW ZEALAND
PM plans summer wedding
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern plans to get married this summer, but did not disclose the date, media reported yesterday. Ardern told Coast Radio that she and her partner, television host Clarke Gayford, have “finally got a date” for the wedding, the New Zealand Herald reported. “That doesn’t mean we’ve told anyone yet, so I feel like we should probably put some invites out,” she was quoted as saying. Ardern, 40, got engaged to Gayford, 44, in April 2019 and they have a two-year-old daughter.
AUSTRALIA
Giant wood moth spotted
A giant moth with a wingspan measuring up to 25cm has been found at a Queensland school next to a rainforest. Builders found the giant wood moth, the heaviest moth in the world, while constructing new classrooms at Mount Cotton State School. Giant wood moths are found along the Queensland and New South Wales coast, the Queensland Museum said. The female moths can weigh up to 30g and have a wingspan of up to 25cm, while the male moths are half that size. They have a short life cycle, with adults living only a matter of days. They die after mating and laying eggs.
MALI
Nonuplets surprise doctors
A woman on Tuesday gave birth to nine babies — two more than the doctors had detected inside her womb — joining a small pantheon of mothers of nonuplets. The pregnancy of Halima Cisse, 25, has fascinated the West African nation and attracted the attention of its leaders. When doctors in March said that Cisse needed specialist care, authorities flew her to Morocco, where she gave birth. “The newborns [five girls and four boys] and the mother are all doing well,” Minister of Health and Social Development Fanta Siby said in a statement.
UNITED KINGDOM
Prize winners welcomed
Starting yesterday, prize winners in the arts and sciences are to have their applications to live and work in the kingdom fast-tracked, the Home Office said, pressing its post-Brexit pledge to attract only the “best and brightest.” A new system for work visas has been introduced based on points that are on a scale depending on, among other things, the type of job offer, qualifications and the ability to speak English. Winners of awards such as the Nobel Prize, Oscars and Golden Globes can live and work more easily under the Global Talent visa route, the ministry said.
BELGIUM
Farmer enlarges border
The boundary between France and Belgium is believed to have been inadvertently redrawn by a French farmer who found the 200-year-old border stone marking the divide in an inconvenient location for his tractor. An amateur historian taking a walk in a forest near Erquelinnes discovered two weeks ago that the stone dating back to 1819 had been moved 2.29m. While amused by the enlargement of his town, Erquelinnes Mayor David Lavaux told TV channel TF1 that it would be best not to “create a diplomatic incident.” “I was happy, my town was bigger — but the mayor of Bousignies sur Roc [France] did not agree. If [the farmer] shows goodwill, he won’t have a problem. We will settle this issue amicably,” Lavaux added, smiling. “We should be able to avoid a new border war,” Bousignies sur Roc Mayor Aurelie Welonek told daily La Voix du Nord.
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
HAZARDOUS CONDITION: The typhoon’s sheer size, with winds extending 443km from its center, slowed down the ability of responders to help communities, an official said The US Coast Guard was searching for six people after losing contact with their disabled boat off the coast of Guam following Typhoon Sinlaku. The crew of the 44m dry cargo vessel, the US-registered Mariana, on Wednesday notified the coast guard that the boat had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, Petty Officer 3rd Class Avery Tibbets said yesterday. The coast guard set up a one-hour communication schedule with the vessel, but lost contact on Thursday. A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched to search for the six people on board, but it had to return to Guam because of
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