FRANCE
US scientists welcomed
The government has urged the country’s research institutions to consider how to welcome scientists abandoning the US in response to US President Donald Trump’s policies, the Agence France-Presse learned yesterday. Since Trump returned to the White House, his government has cut federal funding for life-saving research and moved to dismiss hundreds of federal workers working on health and climate. “Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States,” Higher Education and Research Minister Philippe Baptiste wrote in a letter to the country’s institutions. “We would naturally wish to welcome a certain number of them.” Aix-Marseille University this week announced it was setting up a program dedicated to welcoming US researchers, notably those working on climate change.
Photo: AFP
INDIA
Two arrested in gang rape
Police in the southern Karnataka state on Saturday said that they arrested two men in connection with allegations of gang rape of an Israeli and a local woman. The Israeli and her homestay operator were stargazing along with three male travelers, an American and two Indians, in Koppal on Thursday night, Koppal Police Superintendent Ram L. Arasiddi said. Three men on a motorbike approached them while asking for money. Following arguments, the three men pushed the male travelers into a nearby water canal and sexually assaulted the women, Arasiddi said. One of the Indian tourists drowned and his body was recovered on Saturday. The American and another Indian swam to safety.
Photo: AP
UNITED KINGDOM
Trump golf resort vandalized
Pro-Palestinian protesters on Saturday said they vandalized US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course and hotel in southwest Scotland in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The protesters painted “Gaza Is Not For Sale” in giant letters on the lawn and using red spray paint on the club house’s exterior wall. The group Palestine Action said it “rejects Donald Trump’s treatment of Gaza as though it were his property to dispose of as he likes.” “To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance,” it said in a statement. Police Scotland said it received a report of damage to the golf course in the early hours of Saturday, and that inquiries are ongoing.
Photo: AP
SWITZERLAND
Police rescue kidnapped dogs
Swiss police on Saturday said they solved a kidnapping involving two dogs and a demand for ransom of 1 million Swiss francs (US$1.14 million). Zurich police said that two Bolonka dogs were stolen from the home of a 59-year-old man in Schlieren near Zurich, while the dog owner was away. When the man returned, the dogs were gone and he found a letter demanding money to release the small dogs. Instead of paying the ransom, the man, who was not identified by name in line with Swiss privacy rules, called the police. In the course of the investigation, police on Thursday arrested a 30-year-old Norwegian man at Zurich Airport who police said was strongly suspected of being involved in the theft. Following further leads and cross-European cooperation, police in Poland then detained a 38-year-old suspect and discovered the kidnapped Bolonkas, which they returned safely to their owner on Friday. Swiss police said the Norwegian is in custody in Switzerland and authorities in Poland are further investigating the Polish suspect.
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
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
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
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