CHINA
New missile type tested
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it had carried out a ground-based mid-course missile interception test in an apparent sign of progress in its ability to bring down weapons incoming from space. The test was carried out late Friday night within Chinese territory and achieved “the desired test objective,” it said, adding that the test was “defensive in nature and not targeted against any country.” Such systems, which consist of ground-based interceptor missiles and a huge array of radars and control systems, aim to bring down missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, while they are flying far from their target.
NEPAL
Everest deaths confirmed
Rescuers have called off the search for three local climbers missing on Mount Everest, officials said yesterday, acknowledging the first fatalities on the world’s highest mountain this climbing season. The trio were crossing the Khumbu Icefall on Wednesday as part of a supply mission when a block of ice fell and swept them into a crevasse. “After several search-and-rescue attempts, the operation has been called off. They are buried too deep and it does not seem possible to retrieve the bodies,” Department of Tourism spokesman Bigyan Koirala said. The Khumbu Icefall is an ever-shifting expanse of glacial ice that requires climbers to navigate crevasses over rickety ladders on the route to Everest’s 8,849m peak.
GERMANY
Last nuclear plants go offline
Authorities were yesterday to switch off the last three nuclear reactors, as the country is exiting atomic power even as it seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels. While many Western countries are upping their investments in atomic energy to reduce their emissions, Europe’s largest economy has been looking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, but the phase-out was accelerated by former chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
FRANCE
Pension bill becomes law
President Emmanuel Macron yesterday signed a controversial pension reform into law, defying three months of protests and pleas from unions not to implement it. The bill became law after the text was published overnight in the government’s official journal. This followed Friday’s approval by the Constitutional Council of the essence of the legislation, including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Unions said they were calling for mass Labor Day protests on May 1, and sometimes violent demonstrations erupted in several cities overnight. Macron has faced widespread popular opposition to the changes, as well as sliding personal popularity.
NICARAGUA
Chinese official arrives
Chinese International Development Cooperation Agency Director Luo Zhaohui (羅照輝) arrived in Managua on Friday to launch a subsidized housing project, Vice President Rosario Murillo said. Murillo did not give details of what would be built, but China in April last year committed US$60 million to finance subsidized housing. “Comrade Luo Zhaohui ... is visiting us and will be here to inaugurate on Sunday ... the National Program of New Victories Housing, which we are implementing with the support of the [Chinese] government and people,” said Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega. Managua and Beijing established diplomatic ties in 2021 after the Ortega administration severed ties with Taiwan.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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