NEW ZEALAND
‘Bird of Year’ attacks walkers
People are being warned to steer clear of the nation’s “Bird of the Year” — the karearea — after reports the fast-flying falcon is dive-bombing pedestrians who veer too close to their nests. During nesting season, the birds become incredibly territorial and protective, which some people have discovered the hard way. A photographer in Hanmer Springs reported online being swooped upon last month, while the Hutt City Council last week warned people to avoid a trail where a karearea was spotted. Wellingtonian Dianna Thomson told broadcaster RNZ she was on a bush walk with her son when they encountered a karearea. “This karearea swooped over my head, like really close,” she said, adding that it gave her a new respect for the bird. “It was pretty cool really... It’s good to know our place in the world, isn’t it?”
Photo: Craig McKenzie via AP
EUROPEAN UNION
Last-ditch climate deal struck
The EU’s 27 member states yesterday struck a deal on the bloc’s next big emissions-cutting targets, after making overnight concessions to win over reluctant capitals in time for the UN’s COP30 summit in Brazil next week. In marathon negotiations that ran most of the night, the bloc finally agreed to target a 90 percent cut in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2040, compared with 1990 levels, but countries would be allowed to count international carbon credits toward up to 10 percent of that goal.
UGANDA
Security forces kill ‘herbalist’
Authorities late on Tuesday said that security forces had killed a “traditional herbalist” who reportedly led a coordinated attack on police and military bases over the weekend. The attack, which killed at least one civilian and a soldier, began on Saturday and targeted three districts in Uganda’s remote western regions along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the army said. The attack was led by a man named Christian Asuman Muganzi, a “traditional herbalist,” said Albert Kaliruga, deputy head of security for the region. “He was using his shrine at Kakuka to indoctrinate and recruit people to join his criminal group,” he said, adding that authorities “recovered traditional herbs, fetishes and other items he has been using to indoctrinate his recruits and apparently to protect them during battles.”
UNITED STATES
Court upholds Florida law
A US appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for Florida to enforce a law restricting real estate and land purchases by Chinese citizens, rejecting claims it violates federal law and discriminates against Asians. The 2-1 ruling by the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals could encourage other states to adopt so-called alien land laws, which were once common, but fell out of favor a century ago. Lawmakers in more than 30 states have passed or introduced bills restricting foreign property ownership. The 11th Circuit said that four Chinese citizens represented by the American Civil Liberties Union lacked legal standing to sue over Florida’s 2023 law because it only applies to people “domiciled” in China, and they have lived in Florida for years. The law prohibits individuals who are “domiciled” in China and are not US citizens or green card holders from purchasing real estate or land in Florida. It allows non-tourist visa holders and asylum recipients to purchase a single residential property as big as 0.8 hectares that is at least 8km from any military installation.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
UNCERTAIN TOLLS: Images on social media showed small protests that escalated, with reports of police shooting live rounds as polling stations were targeted Tanzania yesterday was on lockdown with a communications blackout, a day after elections turned into violent chaos with unconfirmed reports of many dead. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had sought to solidify her position and silence criticism within her party in the virtually uncontested polls, with the main challengers either jailed or disqualified. In the run-up, rights groups condemned a “wave of terror” in the east African nation, which has seen a string of high-profile abductions that ramped up in the final days. A heavy security presence on Wednesday failed to deter hundreds protesting in economic hub Dar es Salaam and elsewhere, some
Flooding in Vietnam has killed at least 10 people this week as the water level of a major river near tourist landmarks reached a 60-year high, authorities said yesterday. Vietnam’s coastal provinces, home to UNESCO world heritage site Hoi An ancient town, have been pummeled by heavy rain since the weekend, with a record of up to 1.7m falling over 24 hours. At least 10 people have been killed, while eight others are missing, the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said. More than 128,000 houses in five central provinces have been inundated, with water 3m deep in some areas. People waded through
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