ITALY
Venice’s waters turn green
The waters in Venice’s main canal on Sunday turned fluorescent green in the area near the Rialto bridge and authorities are seeking to trace the cause, the fire department said. The regional environmental protection agency has received samples of the altered waters and is working to identify the substance that changed their color, the department said on Twitter. The Venice prefect has called an emergency meeting of police forces to understand what happened and study possible countermeasures, ANSA news agency reported. The incident echoes recent episodes in the nation where environmental groups have been coloring monuments, including using vegetable charcoal to turn the waters of Rome’s Trevi Fountain black in a protest against fossil fuels. However, no activist group has come forward to claim responsibility for what happened in Venice.
LIBYA
Drone strikes kill two
A lawmaker said drone strikes killed at least two people and wounded others, including his nephew, days after he accused the Tripoli-based government of targeting his home. The strikes near the city of Zawiya were part of an operation that the authorities said was targeting smuggling networks, but lawmakers in the nation’s eastern-based parliament accused the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) of hitting the home of Zawiya MP Ali Bouzribah. Al-Ahrar channel on Sunday broadcast a video of a boat on fire at the port with a thick column of black smoke rising from it. Bouzribah said on Facebook that his nephew had been injured and two other men killed in the strikes. Images and video circulated on social media of both those killed and the lawmaker’s injured nephew in a hospital bed.
MALAYSIA
Salvage ship detained
The Maritime Enforcement Agency (MEA) yesterday said cannon shells believed to be from World War II have been found on a China-registered bulk carrier ship detained at the weekend for anchoring in its waters without permission. The discovery comes amid reports this month that scavengers have targeted two UK World War II wrecks off the coast of Malaysia — the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse — which were sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1941. The British National Museum of the Royal Navy last week said it was “distressed and concerned at the apparent vandalism for personal profit” of the two wrecks. A ship registered in Fuzhou, China, carrying 32 crew failed to present anchoring permits during a routine inspection in waters off Johor state on Sunday, the MEA said, adding that it was working with the National Heritage Department and other agencies to identify the ammunition found.
ITALY
Four die in Lake Maggiore
Four people died when a boat carrying tourists overturned on Lake Maggiore in strong winds, the fire brigade said yesterday. The boat tipped over on Sunday off Lisanza, at the southern end of the lake after the weather suddenly turned stormy. “The bodies of four people have been recovered,” fire brigade spokesman Luca Cari said. Lombardy President Attilio Fontana, said a “whirlwind” had caused the 16m-long boat to overturn. About 20 survivors were rescued by passing boats or swam to shore, local media said. The boat had been carrying local and foreign tourist, and it sank quickly, taking one of the victims with it, reports said. A firefighters’ video showed a search-and-rescue helicopter flying over choppy waters, where chairs and other debris could be seen floating.
FRANCE
Migrants rescued from sea
The country rescued 63 migrants from the Channel over the weekend as they tried to reach Britain in makeshift boats, maritime authorities said on Sunday. The country’s Channel rescue center coordinated two rescue operations in the waters of the Pas-de-Calais region from Saturday night. A boat “having lost its engine in the water” was rescued off the Pas-de-Calais region by a vessel belonging to the National Society for Sea Rescue, which brought 46 people ashore, the maritime authorities said in a statement. Meanwhile, a support ship chartered by the state last month to reinforce search-and-rescue operations picked up 17 shipwrecked on board a second boat off Oye-Plage in the north.
CANADA
Halifax declares emergency
The eastern city of Halifax declared a state of local emergency late on Sunday after a wildfire caused evacuations and power outages. “Emergency responders are working around the clock to keep people safe and reduce the threats posed by the fires,” the municipal authority in the capital of Nova Scotia province said in a news release. The fire sent a huge pall of smoke over the port city. The state of emergency would be in effect for seven days, unless lifted or extended, the municipality said. Nova Scotia Power had temporarily disconnected power in the affected area, it said on Twitter.
UNITED STATES
Shooting suspect arrested
A suspect has been arrested in connection with five separate shootings in the Phoenix metro area that left four people dead and a woman wounded, authorities said on Sunday. Mesa police said 20-year-old Iren Byers was taken into custody on suspicion of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. A motive for the shootings was not immediately clear, but police said Byers took responsibility for the shootings, and told officers where they could find the clothes and gun used in the crimes. Police said video surveillance footage showed the suspect wearing the clothing reported by witnesses at multiple shooting scenes. Police said officers were dispatched at about 10:30pm on Friday to a Mesa park and found a 41-year-old man dead at the scene. While still at the park, police reported hearing shots being fired nearby and searched the area and later found a 36-year-old woman with serious injuries. She remains in stable condition at a hospital.
UNITED STATES
Texas bill prompts concerns
Texas would expand what is considered an illegal public performance of sexual conduct, under a bill approved late on Sunday by state lawmakers that drag artists fear would be used to criminalize their shows. The bill approved by the Republican-controlled state legislature is part of a broader effort in Texas and other conservative states to crack down on drag shows and limit LGBTQ rights. Texas earlier this month became the largest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors, and state lawmakers also approved another measure that would restrict transgender athletes in college sports. The Texas bill on sexual content in performances was initially meant to bar children from attending drag shows. It was changed to remove specific references to drag shows, but it also broadened the scope of what would be illegal. The bill would ban real or simulated groping, real or simulated arousal and display of a sex toy, if done in a “prurient” manner in front of a minor or on public property.
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
RSS