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.
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
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
‘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,”
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