UNITED STATES
C-3PO heads to auction
The harpoon gun used in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Jaws and a light-up C-3PO head from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back are among more than 1,550 items of film and television memorabilia that could raise about US$9 million at auction. The Propstore Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction runs from March 25 to 27 in Los Angeles and also includes items from classics such as The Terminator and Gladiator. The head from the C-3PO humanoid is one of the leading items, with an estimate of US$350,000 to US$700,000. The harpoon gun used by characters Quint and Matt Hooper in shark thriller Jaws, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, has a price estimate of US$250,000 to US$500,000.
Photo: EPA
AUSTRALIA
Two arrested for murder
Detectives yesterday arrested two men over the alleged kidnapping and murder of an elderly grandfather in a suspected case of mistaken identity. Chris Baghsarian, 85, was taken from his home in Sydney’s North Ryde suburb on Feb. 13, but police say neither he nor his family had any underworld connections. After a long search, police found Baghsarian’s remains on Tuesday near a golf club in Sydney’s northwestern fringes. Robbery and crime squad detectives arrested a 24-year-old man and a 29-year-old man in two dawn raids yesterday in the city’s northwestern suburbs, police said in a statement. “It’s somebody’s worst nightmare, right? The fact that an innocent man was taken from his home is not acceptable,” New South Wales Robbery and Serious Crime Squad Commander Andrew Marks told reporters. “These people need to be held to account for that.”
JAPAN
Journalist arrested in Iran
Iran has arrested the Tehran bureau chief of Japanese public broadcaster NHK, media reports said. The reports named him as Shinnosuke Kawashima and said he had been transferred to the notorious Evin Prison. “We at NHK always act with the safety of our staff as our top priority. At this time, we are unable to comment further,” an NHK spokesman said yesterday. Government spokesman and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki told reporters that a Japanese citizen had been detained on Jan. 20, but declined to give more details. “Since this detention case came to light, the government has been strongly urging the Iranian side to secure the early release of the individual concerned,” Ozaki said.
NEW ZEALAND
Mayor swims to allay fears
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little yesterday took an afternoon dip hoping to assuage public fears after a breakdown at a local wastewater treatment plant pumped raw sewage into the ocean and sprayed fecal matter on coastal homes. Millions of liters of raw sewage have flown into the waters off Wellington’s picturesque south coast beaches since the breakdown of the Moa Point facility on Feb. 4. Sporting swimming trunks and a rash guard shirt, Little dived face first into the surf as he sought to reassure angry residents that the water was safe. The situation escalated last week when a storm hit the city, fueling swells of up to 7m that sent contaminated sea spray flying onto homes. “When you run your finger along it, you get these brown marks of this residue that’s on there and that’s certainly not from salt,” Island Bay resident Chris told national broadcaster RNZ. “It’s residue from all that sewage that’s floating up and down the coast.”
FEROCIOUS FISH-EATER Scientists have found a new species of dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, a ‘hell heron’ that stalked the rivers, deep in the Saharan desert At a remote Sahara desert site in Niger, scientists have unearthed fossils of a new species of Spinosaurus, among the biggest of the meat-eating dinosaurs, notable for its large blade-shaped head crest and jaws bearing interlocking teeth for snaring fish. It prowled a forested inland environment and strode into rivers to catch sizable fish like a modern-day wading bird — a “hell heron,” as one of the researchers put it, considering it was about 12 meters long and weighed 5-7 tons. The dinosaur presented a striking profile on the Cretaceous Period landscape of Africa some 95 million years ago as it hunted
THE TRAGEDY OF PUNCH: Footage of the seven-month-old Japanese macaque has gone viral online after he was rejected by his mother and formed a bond with a soft toy A baby monkey in Japan has captured hearts around the world after videos of him being bullied by other monkeys and rejected by his mother went viral last week. Punch, a Japanese macaque, was born in July last year at Ichikawa City Zoo. He has drawn international attention after zookeepers gave him a stuffed orangutan toy after he was abandoned by his mother. Without maternal guidance to help him integrate, Punch has turned to the toy for comfort. He has been filmed multiple times being dragged and chased by older Japanese macaques inside the enclosure. Early clips showed him wandering alone with
DRUG WAR: The former president said there was no campaign to kill addicts, but his speeches called for violence and told police to use lethal force if necessary Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte earned global infamy for the deadly drug crackdown that led to his arrest over crimes against humanity charges, despite his huge popularity at home. A profane-lipped populist and self-professed killer, Duterte’s anti-crime campaign resulted in the deaths of thousands of alleged dealers and addicts. Rights groups said many of those killed were poor men, often without any proof they were linked to drugs. Yet, while drawing condemnation abroad, tens of millions of Filipinos backed his swift brand of justice — even as he joked about rape in his rambling speeches, locked up his critics and failed to
GAME CHANGER The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the utility of small drones for recon, for supporting logistics and for killing across the modern battlefield Five European nations have announced a new program to produce low-cost air defense systems and autonomous drones using Ukrainian expertise, hard-won over the past four years fighting against Russia. Friday’s initiative of the five nations — France, Poland, Germany, the UK and Italy — comes as one of many European efforts to bolster defense along their borders, like a “drone wall ” with Russia and Ukraine to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe’s airspace. Both Moscow and Kyiv have cutting-edge drone warfare capabilities forged in the grim laboratory of war where battlefield innovations have rewritten modern battle tactics. Poland is
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