AUSTRALIA
Granny sorry over drug treat
A great-grandmother said she is “extremely remorseful” after letting a teenager use her cannabis butter to cook a batch of muffins to share with friends at school. Pam Annette Bickerton, 73, on Wednesday last week faced a pre-sentencing hearing at Adelaide Magistrates Court last week, after admitting to a count of supplying or administering a controlled drug to a child, court documents showed. She had prepared the drug-laced butter to help deal with a sleeping disorder, the court hearing heard, according a report in the Adelaide Advertiser. The teenager, who has not been identified, woke up the great-grandmother to ask to use the cannabis butter for some muffins. “Still in a state of tiredness and unfortunately ... she said ‘go for it — just make sure that you clean up afterwards,’” her lawyer was quoted as saying. Bickerton is due back in court for sentencing on Thursday next week.
JORDAN
Israel arrests lawmaker
Israel has detained a Jordanian lawmaker on suspicion of smuggling arms and gold into the West Bank and Amman is working to secure his release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said on Sunday. Imad al Adwan had crossed a main border crossing along the Jordan River earlier on Sunday by car, was being held and interrogated by Israeli authorities, ministry spokesperson Sinan al Majali said in a statement to state media. A spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment. Prominent Jordanian lawmaker Khalil Atiya said the government would be held responsible if it failed to act quickly. “There should be no room left for the enemy to harm the dignity of Jordanians by detaining and jailing a member of the parliament,” Atiya said.
GERMANY
Activists stop traffic
Climate campaigners yesterday blocked dozens of streets in Berlin to protest the government’s climate policy, causing widespread transport disruption in the capital. “We no longer accept that the government has no plan to stop the destruction of the basis of our existence,” Carla Rochel, a spokeswoman for Last Generation, the leading group behind the protests, said in a statement. Campaigners halted traffic across the city by glueing themselves to the street surface, including on the busy motorway A100. “Some 33 points” were blocked at 9am, a spokeswoman for the Berlin police said. About 500 officers had been deployed to tackle the protests, which began at about 7:30am, she said. Last Generation has signaled its intention to continue with the blockades over the coming days.
UNITED STATES
Disney dragon catches fire
Spectators at Disneyland’s popular “Fantasmic!” show got a shock this weekend when the feature’s fire-breathing animatronic dragon suddenly burst into flames. No injuries were reported following the blaze on Saturday night at the southern California theme park, the Anaheim Fire Department said. Ryan Laux, a frequent Disneyland visitor, said he knew something was awry when flames did not come from where they usually do. “The head started going on fire instead of the fire projecting out,” said Laux, who captured the blaze on video. The show was stopped almost immediately “and then right after that, the dragon started catching fire and the whole body was up in flames,” he said. The extent of the damage was not immediately known.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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