INDIA
Bureaucrat couple split
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday ordered the transfer of a bureaucrat couple to opposite ends of the country, following public outcry over a media report alleging they forced a sports stadium in Delhi to shut early to walk their dog. The ministry transferred Indian Administrative Service officers Sanjeev Khirwar to Arunachal Pradesh state in the distant northeast and Rinku Dugga, his wife, to Ladakh in the far north, an official order said. At the eastern and western ends of the Himalayan mountain range, their new postings are about 3,200km apart. A report by the Indian Express, published with a photograph of Khirwar and Dugga walking their dog on the stadium track, said athletes had alleged that they had been forced to wrap up training early to make way for the couple’s evening stroll.
INDONESIA
Elephant death investigated
A pregnant Sumatran elephant was found dead of suspected poisoning near a palm plantation in Riau province on Sumatra, officials said yesterday. Sumatran elephants are a critically endangered species and fewer than 700 remain on the island. Local authorities are investigating the cause of death of the elephant, which was discovered in a joint patrol by local conservation groups on Wednesday, but they strongly suspect it was poisoned. “From the sign of changes in the shape of its internal organs, such as the lung, it looks like it is burning, black and oozing from the blood,” said Zulhusni Syukri, program director of Rimba Satwa Foundation, one of the groups that found the elephant. The authorities also found pineapple in the elephant’s stomach, even though the fruit is not grown in that area, further leading them to suspect poisoning, Syukri said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Depeche Mode member dies
Andrew Fletcher, a founding member of the British electronic band Depeche Mode, has died aged 60, the band announced on Thursday. “We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member, and bandmate Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher,” they wrote on Twitter. “Fletch had a true heart of gold and was always there when you needed support, a lively conversation, a good laugh, or a cold pint.” Born in 1961 in Nottingham, Fletcher was a keyboardist and one of the founders of electronic pioneers Depeche Mode. The band have sold more than 100 million albums since they started in 1980, winning over a global audience with hits like Personal Jesus or Just Can’t Get Enough.
IRAQ
Israeli ties criminalized
Lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill criminalizing normalization of ties and any relations, including business ties, with Israel. The legislation says that contravention of the law is punishable with the death sentence or life imprisonment. The law was approved with 275 lawmakers voting in favor of it in the 329-seat assembly. A parliament statement said the legislation is “a true reflection of the will of the people.” Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose party won the largest number of seats in Iraq’s parliamentary elections last year, called for Iraqis to take to the streets to celebrate this “”great achievement.” Hundreds later gathered in central Baghdad, chanting anti-Israel slogans. It was unclear how the law will be implemented, as Iraq has not recognized Israel since the country’s formation in 1948; the two nations have no diplomatic relations.
A long trek across the desert of northeastern Niger brings visitors to one of the most astonishing and rewarding sights in the Sahel: fortified villages of salt and clay perched on rocks with the Saharan sands laying siege below. Generations of travelers have stood before the “ksars” of Djado, wondering at their crenelated walls, watchtowers, secretive passages and wells, all of them testifying to a skilled, but unknown hand. Who chose to build this outpost in a scorched and desolate region — and why they built it — are questions that have never been fully answered. Just as beguiling is why it
‘NATURAL CAUSES’: New evidence indicated Kathleen Folbigg’s two daughters died of myocarditis caused by genetics, while a son died of a neurogenetic disorder An Australian woman who spent 20 years in prison was pardoned and released yesterday based on new scientific evidence that her four children died by natural causes as she had insisted. The pardon was seen as the quickest way of getting Kathleen Folbigg out of prison and a final report from the second inquiry into her guilt could recommend that the state Court of Appeals quash her convictions. Folbigg, now 55, was released from a prison in Grafton, New South Wales, following an unconditional pardon by state Governor Margaret Beazley. Australian state governors are figureheads who act on instructions of governments. New South
RE-ENGAGEMENT: Both sides described the talks as ‘candid’ and ‘productive,’ with the US State Department saying that it wants to restore ‘high-level diplomacy’ Senior US and Chinese officials yesterday held “candid” talks in Beijing, days after the two countries’ defense chiefs squared off at a security forum. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink met with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭), becoming the most senior US official to publicly travel to Beijing since an alleged Chinese spy balloon was downed in the US. Both sides described the talks as “candid” and “productive” in their readouts, with the US Department of State saying that the exchange was part of ongoing efforts to restore “high-level diplomacy.” The Chinese
OPERATION BLACKSTONE: Belgian diplomats implied that it is worth releasing Iranians detained on terrorism charges to allow for innocent people to return home Three Europeans released from detention by Iran arrived in Belgium early yesterday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps. One Dane and two Austrian-Iranian citizens landed shortly before 2:45am at Melsbroek Air Base just outside Brussels. They had flown from Muscat, the capital of Oman, which helped broker their release. Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib welcomed them at the airport, along with Danish and Austrian diplomats. The trio’s release, as well as that of a Belgian aid worker a week earlier, were part of a prisoner swap in which Tehran got back an Iranian diplomat convicted and incarcerated in Belgium
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