NEW ZEALAND
Coalition to take ‘two weeks’
New Zealand First Party leader Winston Peters said that talks to form a new government can be concluded within two weeks. “I certainly think that we will have it resolved before the next two weeks, most definitely,” Peters told NBR, a business news firm, according to an audio recording posted on its Web site yesterday. Official election results released last week showed the National Party and its ally the ACT Party failed to secure a majority in parliament between them, and now need support from Peters.
ITALY
Sick child given citizenship
An eight-month-old British girl was granted Italian citizenship on Monday after a court in Britain upheld rulings authorizing the withdrawal of life support. Indi Gregory’s family hopes that Rome’s decision would help their fight to allow her to be transferred to Italy. A judge last week ruled that the child could not be moved to Italy. The Vatican’s pediatric hospital, Bambino Gesu, in Rome has offered to care for Gregory and the government said that it would pay for any treatment “that is deemed necessary.” The Cabinet met on Monday to grant the child citizenship. “They say there isn’t much hope for little Indi, but until the very end, I’ll do what I can to defend her life,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on Facebook. “And to defend the right of her mamma and papa to do all that they can for her.” Gregory has a metabolic disorder known as mitochondrial disease, which means her cells are not able to produce enough energy to operate properly.
UNITED STATES
Reporter’s citations dropped
Officials in a suburban Chicago community on Monday dropped municipal citations against a local news reporter for what they said were persistent contacts with city officials seeking comment on fall flooding. The reversal occurred days after officials in Calumet City mailed several citations to Hank Sanders, a Daily Southtown reporter, the Chicago Tribune reported. The tickets from the city of 35,000 had alleged “interference/hampering of city employees” by Sanders. The Southtown on Oct. 20 published a report by Sanders that said consultants had informed Calumet officials that the city’s stormwater facilities were in poor condition before heavy rain in September caused flooding. Tribune executive editor Mitch Pugh said that the newspaper is “glad that cooler heads prevailed and Calumet City officials understood the error of their ways and dismissed these charges.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Protesters target painting
Two climate change protesters were arrested on Monday after they smashed a protective glass panel covering a Diego Velazquez oil painting at London’s National Gallery, police said on Monday. The two members of the group Just Stop Oil targeted Velazquez’s The Toilet of Venus, also known as The Rokeby Venus, with small hammers. Photographs showed the protective glass panel punctured with several holes. Just Stop Oil said the action was to demand that the government immediately halt all licensing for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK. The group said that the two targeted Velazquez’s 17th-century oil painting because it was previously slashed as part of the suffragette movement calling for women’s rights in 1914. Just Stop Oil said the protesters hammered the glass panel, then told people at the gallery: “Women did not get the vote by voting. It is time for deeds, not words.”
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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