UNITED KINGDOM
Prince shows up at event
Britain’s Prince William returned to public duty on Wednesday following his wife Kate’s surgery and the revelation King Charles had cancer, with the heir to the throne set to take on a more prominent role in his father’s absence. William postponed all his planned engagements to look after his three children after Kate, 42, underwent planned abdominal surgery on Jan. 16. Since then, his father has undergone treatment at the same hospital as Kate for an enlarged prostate, before Buckingham Palace announced on Monday that subsequent tests on the 75-year-old monarch had revealed he had a form of cancer. On Wednesday, William, 41, made his first official public appearance since the series of health blows to the royals when he carried out an investiture — a ceremony to hand out state honors — at Windsor Castle.
UNITED STATES
AI institute head appointed
The Biden administration on Wednesday named a top White House aide as the director of the newly established safety institute for artificial intelligence (AI). Elizabeth Kelly is to lead the AI Safety Institute at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which is part of the Department of Commerce. Currently an economic policy adviser for President Joe Biden, Kelly played an integral role in drafting the executive order signed at the end of October last year that established the institute, the Department of Commerce said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Crew missing after crash
A missing military helicopter was found on Wednesday in California but the search for the five service members who were aboard it is still ongoing, the US Marine Corps said. The five Marines were flying on a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in southern California when “the aircraft was reported overdue” on Tuesday, the service said in a statement on Facebook. “The aircraft was located by civil authorities in Pine Valley, California” the following day, the statement said. “The 3rd Marine Aircraft wing is managing the search and rescue efforts” and is “using ground and aviation assets to locate the aircrew in coordination with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and multiple federal, state and local agencies,” it said. The Marine Corps made no mention of remains being found with the helicopter, indicating that those aboard may have survived.
ITALY
Man arrested for ‘sextortion’
An Italian man suspected of obtaining sexual photos of dozens of underage girls after threatening them online has been arrested in Iceland, Italian police said on Wednesday. Over a period of three years, the 48-year-old suspect contacted female minors on social networks and messaging platforms “to obtain sexually explicit images through threats and blackmail,” Italy’s police division charged with fighting cybercrime said. The FBI said last month of the growing threat of so-called “sextortion,” which involves “an offender coercing a minor to create and send sexually explicit images or videos.” The offender then “threatens to release that compromising material unless the victim produces more,” the FBI said. Europol recommends that the phenomenon be called the “online sexual coercion and extortion of children.” Tracking the Italian living in Iceland was difficult because he used numerous nicknames and foreign telephone numbers, Italian police said.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
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