NEW ZEALAND
Gas pumps hit by bug
Some pumps at gas stations yesterday stopped working due to a “leap year glitch” in payment software, fuel stations and the payment service provider said. Allied Fuel, Gull, Z Energy and BP all confirmed some self-service fuel pumps they operate across the nation were not working due to issues with the payment system used. John Scott, chief executive officer of Invenco Group, which provides the payment software solution, said the system had stopped working due to a “leap-year glitch.” This was now fixed and just needed to be rolled out to affected fuel pumps, Scott said. It was only an issue in New Zealand code and while Invenco was unsure how it had happened, it would investigate the glitch over the coming days, he said.
HAITI
Election timeline set
Caribbean leaders on Wednesday said that Haitian Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to hold general elections by the middle of next year as the international community pushes to raise money for a foreign armed force to fight gang violence there. Members of the Caricom regional trade bloc issued a statement at the end of a four-day summit in Guyana saying that Henry agreed there is a need to hold elections and work with the opposition and civil society groups to achieve that goal.
UNITED STATES
Funding deal advances
Congressional leaders on Wednesday said that they had reached a tentative agreement to prevent a government shutdown for now, days before the deadline. Under the new plan, Congress would temporarily fund one set of federal agencies through March 8 and another set through March 22. In the meantime, Congress would try to draft and pass packages of legislation to fund the government for the remainder of the budget year.
UNITED STATES
McConnell to step down
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell on Wednesday said that he would step down this year from his leadership role, ending a record-setting tenure. McConnell has represented Kentucky in the Senate since 1985 and has been his party’s leader since 2007. “I turned 82 last week. The end of my contributions are closer than I prefer,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “Father Time remains undefeated. I’m no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues remember my name. It’s time for the next generation of leadership.” His tenure of nearly 17 years as a Senate party leader is the longest on record.
UNITED STATES
Illinois removes Trump
A judge in Illinois on Wednesday ordered former president Donald Trump stricken off the state’s primary ballot over his role in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The decision by Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter comes as similar measures have cropped up in several states, including a Colorado ruling now before the Supreme Court. The question before the nine justices is whether Trump, the presumed Republican presidential candidate, is ineligible to appear on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Colorado because he engaged in an insurrection. Trump said that the Illinois decision was politically motivated and unjust. “Democrat front-groups continue to attempt to interfere in the election and deny President Trump his rightful place on the ballot,” Trump’s campaign said, vowing to appeal the decision. Porter put her decision on pause until today to allow an appeal.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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