UNITED STATES
Voter ID law upheld
A federal judge on Thursday upheld provisions of new Arizona laws that would require counties to verify the status of registered voters who have not provided proof of citizenship and cross-check voter registration information with government databases. District Judge Susan Bolton said that Arizona legislators did not discriminate when they adopted the laws and the state does have an interest in preventing voter fraud and limiting voting to those individuals eligible to vote. “Considering the evidence as a whole, the court concludes that Arizona’s interests in preventing non-citizens from voting and promoting public confidence in Arizona’s elections outweighs the limited burden voters might encounter when required to provide” documentary proof of citizenship, she wrote.
UNITED STATES
Moon lander goes to sleep
An uncrewed lander that became the first private spaceship on the moon sent its final image on Thursday before its power banks depleted, the company that built it said. Houston-based Intuitive Machines posted a picture that was captured by Odysseus on Thursday last week, the day it touched down near the moon’s south pole, but the image was only received on Thursday. The company shared earlier that a wonky landing had left the vessel’s antennas misaligned and unable to transmit at an optimal rate. The photograph “showcases the crescent Earth in the backdrop, a subtle reminder of humanity’s presence in the universe,” the firm said. “Goodnight, Odie. We hope to hear from you again,” the company added. The onset of the long lunar night means it will be two or three weeks before flight controllers can attempt to awaken the vessel.
UNITED STATES
Tourist drives off cliff
A tourist driving on Sunday in the early-morning dark on the southern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island accidentally drove his rented Jeep off a cliff, but swam to shore until firefighters pulled him up with a rope and helicopter. The man was treated for facial injuries and slight hypothermia after rescue, the Hawaii County Fire Department said in a news release. Police said the 27-year-old was visiting from Canada. Firefighters, police and the Coast Guard responded to the cliffs of South Point in Naalehu at about 3:45am on Sunday to a report of a swimmer in distress in the ocean, the release said. He swam about 100m to shore at the bottom of a cliff, which the fire department estimated to be 15m to 18m.
CANADA
Former PM Mulroney dies
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney, who forged close ties with two US presidents through a sweeping free-trade agreement, died on Thursday. He was 84. The country’s 18th prime minister died peacefully and surrounded by family, his daughter, Caroline Mulroney, wrote on X. The family said last summer that the former leader was improving after a heart procedure that followed treatment for prostate cancer earlier in the year. Leader of the Progressive Conservative party from 1983 to 1993, Mulroney served almost a decade as prime minister after he was first elected in 1984. His government was re-elected in 1988. “He had the courage to do big things,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “He shaped our past, but he shapes our present and he will impact our future as well. He was an extraordinary statesman and he will be deeply, deeply missed.” He is survived by his wife, Mila, and four children: Caroline, Ben, Mark and Nicolas.
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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