AUSTRALIA
Kiwi citizenship path eased
The government yesterday announced that it would make it easier for hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders to become citizens, removing a long-festering thorn in ties between the traditionally friendly rivals. Under the new rules starting on July 1, New Zealanders can apply directly for citizenship if they arrived after 2001 and have lived there for at least four years — affecting about 380,000 people, local media said. “We know many New Zealanders are here on a special category visa while raising families, working and building their lives in Australia. So I am proud to offer the benefits that citizenship provides,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
THAILAND
Extreme heat notices issued
Authorities yesterday warned residents across large swathes of the country, including the capital, Bangkok, to avoid going outdoors due to extreme heat. In Bangkok, temperatures reached a record high of 54°C in Bang Na District yesterday, the Meteorological Department said. “Sometimes, I take refuge in the 7-Eleven convenience store ... to escape the heat,” said Amporn Supasert, 67, a grilled chicken vendor in Bangkok. Temperatures yesterday were to exceed 40°C in at least 28 provinces, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said.
SPAIN
Flambe fire kills two
Two people died and 10 were injured in a fire sparked when a waiter at a Madrid restaurant on Friday flambeed a dish, accidentally setting decorations ablaze, authorities and local media reported yesterday. Madrid’s SAMUR emergency services “treated 12 people in this disaster,” two of whom died, Montse Marcos, a manager at the organization, told journalists. Witnesses told El Pais daily that the waiter at the Italian restaurant poured alcohol over the dish and set it alight. The waiter “had the plate in flames in one hand, and the blowtorch in the other. He passed by a column of plants and in a matter of seconds it burned everything,” said a diner, who gave her name only as Ruth.
COLOMBIA
Mine blast death toll rises
The death toll from an explosion in a coal mine rose to seven Friday with the discovery of four more bodies, Cundinamarca Fire Department head Alvaro Farfan said. The blast ripped through the mine overnight on Wednesday into Thursday in Cucunuba, about 90km north of the capital, Bogota. Authorities said they suspect pockets of gas trapped in the mine detonated. Rescue teams initially found three bodies and four workers were missing. These bodies were finally spotted on Friday.
SWITZERLAND
Prisoners rapidly aging: ICRC
Inmates who have been held for years in the US’ Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba are showing signs of “accelerated aging,” a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday. “We’re calling on the US administration and Congress to work together to find adequate and sustainable solutions to address these issues,” said Patrick Hamilton, the ICRC’s head of delegation for the US and Canada. “Action should be taken as a matter of priority.” His comments follow a visit to the facility last month, after a 20-year hiatus. He said he was “struck by how those who are still detained today are experiencing the symptoms of accelerated aging, worsened by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘ANCIENT AND MODERN’: The project, which took 22 years to complete, unearthed more than 300,000 treasures now on display across the network It caused untold commotion, decades of disruption and — among historians and archeologists — controversy and despair, but at midday on Saturday, the antiquities-rich subterranean world of Thessaloniki opened to a world of driverless trains and high-tech automation with the inauguration of its long-awaited subway. The excitement on the streets of the northern Greek port city is almost palpable. “Archaeologically, it has been an extremely complex and difficult endeavor,” said Greek Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs Lina Mendoni of the more than 300,000 finds made since construction began 22 years ago. “To get here required a battle on many
‘AMERICA FIRST’: Patel, 44, previously called for stripping the FBI of its intelligence-gathering role and purging its ranks of anyone who refuses to support Trump’s agenda US president-elect Donald Trump has tapped Kash Patel to be FBI director, nominating a loyalist to lead the chief US law enforcement agency — which Trump has long derided as corrupt. Patel rose to prominence expressing outrage over the agency’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. With the nomination of Patel, Trump is signaling that he is preparing to carry out his threat to oust FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Republican first appointed by Trump during his first term as president, whose 10-year term at the FBI does not expire until 2027. FBI
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