AUSTRALIA
Shark kills swimmer
Several Sydney beaches, including the iconic Bondi and Bronte, were shut yesterday after a swimmer was killed in a shark attack, the first such fatality at the city’s beaches in nearly 60 years. Drum lines, which are used to bait sharks, have been set up near the attack site, while drones have been deployed as officials search for the shark. A video shared online showed a shark attacking a person on Wednesday afternoon off Little Bay beach, about 20km south of Australia’s largest city and near the entrance to Botany Bay.
HONG KONG
Xi expresses concerns
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) directed Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng (韓正) to express to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) the concerns that Chinese Communist Party leaders have about the territory’s COVID-19 situation, Wen Wei Po reported yesterday. Xi said that the local government’s “overriding task” was to control the situation. Hong Kong is facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, topping 2,000 new COVID-19 cases each day this week. The Caritas Medical Center on Wednesday was treating some patients in beds outside the building. “The reason why our society has become chaotic like this today is all because of this [“zero COVID-19”] policy. The organizational skill of the government has made Hong Kong people feel so hopeless,” said Daisy Ho, a 70-year-old homemaker.
INDIA
Thirteen die at wedding
Thirteen women and girls died while singing and dancing at a wedding as a concrete slab covering an abandoned village well collapsed under their weight, an official said yesterday. Ten other people were injured as they also fell into the well and were hospitalized in Kushinagar District in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Magistrate S. Rajalingam said. The well is more than 15m deep, said Muralidhar Singh, a rescuer.
CANADA
Bodies recovered from ship
Rescuers recovered bodies from a Spanish fishing ship that sank in rough seas off Newfoundland, raising the confirmed death toll to nine, but the search for 12 missing sailors was called off on Wednesday. Lieutenant Commander Brian Owens, spokesperson of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, said that all search and rescue craft were returning to base and civilian vessels had been released from their obligation to contribute to the effort. The Villa de Pitanxo fishing boat, which operated out of northwest Spain’s Galicia region, sank early on Tuesday, tossing its 24 crew members into icy seas.
UNITED STATES
Republicans doubt result
Only 13 of the 143 Texas Republican candidates for Congress say they believe US President Joe Biden’s election win was legitimate, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Hearst Newspapers sent questions about the election and searched campaign Web sites and social media pages of the Republicans running for Congress in Texas. Of 86 with discernible positions, at least 42 have outright said that Democrats stole the 2020 election, called the results illegitimate, or said they would have voted not to certify. Another 11 candidates have said there was enough fraud or irregularities to cast doubt on the results. “We’ve seen across the board, the Democrats have always cheated,” said Jonathan Hullihan, a candidate in the state’s 8th Congressional District.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
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