NORTH KOREA
Spy satellite ‘alive’: expert
Pyongyang’s first spy satellite is “alive,” a Netherlands-based space expert said on Tuesday, after detecting changes in its orbit that suggest it is successfully controlling the spacecraft — although its capabilities are still unknown. Pyongyang’s state media claimed the satellite, launched in November last year, has photographed sensitive military and political sites in South Korea, the US and elsewhere, but has not released any imagery. Independent radio trackers have not detected signals from the satellite, but from Monday to Saturday last week, the satellite conducted maneuvers to raise its perigee, or the lowest point in its orbit, Marco Langbroek, a satellite expert at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, wrote in a blog post, citing data from the US–led Combined Space Operations Center. “The maneuver proves that Malligyong-1 is not dead,” he said.
AUSTRALIA
Coral bleaching confirmed
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is preparing to carry out aerial surveys across the entire length of the park after helicopter flights confirmed extensive coral bleaching across the southern section of the world’s biggest coral reef. Bleaching had been reported in all regions of the reef from Lizard Island in the north to the Keppel islands in the south — a distance of more than 1,100km. Conservationists fear a seventh mass bleaching event could be unfolding on the reef. The authority yesterday said that helicopter flights had covered 27 inshore reefs and 21 offshore reefs in the southern region off the Queensland coast and found bleaching was “extensive and fairly uniform” at all surveyed spots.
CHINA
Ex-foreign minister resigns
Former minister of foreign affairs Qin Gang (秦剛), who was abruptly removed from office last year and has not been seen in public since, has resigned as a lawmaker, state media reported. Qin’s resignation as a representative for the port city of Tianjin to the 14th National People’s Congress was accepted on Tuesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. The former foreign minister was removed after just 207 days in the job in July last year without explanation. He was then removed from the State Council in October. Seven months on, Beijing has still not offered any explanation for Qin’s dismissal, nor why he has not been seen in public since then.
UNITED STATES
Two guilty in Run-DMC killing
The godson and a childhood friend of Jam Master Jay were on Tuesday found guilty by a jury for the 2002 murder of the Run-DMC rap pioneer, who was fatally shot at his New York recording studio in one of the most infamous killings in rap history. Ronald Washington, 59, and Karl Jordan Jr, 40, were convicted of federal charges of murder while engaged in drug trafficking in the shooting of Run-DMC founding member Jason Mizell, the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn wrote on X. The verdict came after a month-long trial at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where prosecutors called witnesses who were in the studio the night Mizell, 37, was shot dead. “It is no mystery why it took years to indict and arrest the defendants,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace told reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict. “The witnesses in the recording studio knew the killers, and they were terrified that they would be retaliated against if they cooperated with law enforcement and identified the ruthless executioners of Mr Mizell,” he said.
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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