EUROPE
Freezing weather hits
Freezing temperatures are spreading across Europe, with snow forecast from Germany to the UK. Berlin is set for a low of minus-4.5°C today and tomorrow, while Helsinki was not expected to get above minus-8°C yesterday, forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc said. Weather warnings were issued for some areas of Germany yesterday, where the nation’s meteorological agency forecast up to 20cm of snow. Parts of Scotland and northeast England would also experience snow on higher ground, with wintry showers spreading south over the week, the UK’s Met Office said. London would fall below zero by the weekend. Weather forecasts after the first week of December vary. Maxar said in its daily report that “a cold pattern remains the favored outcome” for most of Europe for the next two weeks, while some models point to a potential rebound in temperatures in the northwest from Wednesday next week.
Photo: AFP
UNITED STATES
Shooting suspect arrested
Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting of three young men of Palestinian descent, all age 20, who were attending a Thanksgiving holiday gathering near the University of Vermont campus on Saturday evening. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Jason J. Eaton, 48, while conducting a search of the shooting area in Burlington at 3:38pm on Sunday, the Burlington Police Department said in a statement. Authorities collected evidence during a search of Eaton’s apartment in a building in front of the shooting location. He was scheduled to be arraigned yesterday, police said. The attack that injured the three men at about 6:25pm on Saturday might have been a hate crime, authorities have said. Two of the men were in stable condition and the other suffered “much more serious injuries,” Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a statement on Sunday.
AUSTRALIA
Home affairs head fired
The government yesterday fired the head of the Department of Home Affairs known as an immigration hardliner following an investigation into WhatsApp messages he reportedly sent to sway senior politicians. Michael Pezzullo was sacked after a two-month independent probe found he had breached the public service’s code of conduct at least 14 times. Allegations against Pezzullo included failing to act apolitically, using his power to benefit himself, and engaging in “gossip and disrespectful critique” of ministers and colleagues, the public service commission said. In one WhatsApp message to a Liberal Party power broker, he reportedly called for a “right winger” to be installed as his minister responsible for immigration, adding: “People smugglers will be watching.”
INDIA
Rescuers digging by hand
Military engineers were yesterday preparing to dig by hand to reach 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 16 days. Soldiers plan to use a so-called “rat-hole mining” technique, digging by hand to clear the rocks and rubble over the remaining 9m, with temperatures plummeting in Uttarakhand state. Last week, engineers working to drive a metal pipe horizontally through 57m of rock and concrete ran into metal girders and construction vehicles buried in the earth, snapping a giant earth-boring drilling machine. The broken parts of the machine stuck inside the tunnel have been removed,” senior local civil servant Abhishek Ruhela said. “Preparations are being made to start manual drilling work.”
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed