COLOMBIA
Ceasefire suspended
President Gustavo Petro on Sunday suspended a ceasefire with one of a handful of armed groups with which he hoped to negotiate peace accords, saying its fighters violated the truce by attacking an indigenous community. The government said that starting tomorrow, it would resume military operations against Estado Mayor Central, a group of fighters who broke away from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia when it signed a peace pact in 2016. Indigenous leaders in the war-torn western region of Cauca said an attack by the dissident group on Saturday wounded at least three people and a young student was taken away by force.
MALAYSIA
Google sorry over ringgit
Google Malaysia yesterday apologized for misquoting the ringgit’s exchange rate, after the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) called out its error, saying the tech giant had undervalued the currency against the US dollar. The ringgit, which fell to a 26-year low last month, has weakened about 2.44 percent. The central bank has said the currency is undervalued and does not reflect the nation’s positive economic fundamentals. “We immediately contacted the third party that provides USD-MYR exchange rate information to correct the error,” Google Malaysia said on X. BNM said in a statement on Saturday that Google published “inaccurate” information on Friday and had also done so on Feb. 6.
CHINA
More Chinese tie the knot
The number of new marriages jumped 12.4 percent last year from a year earlier, reversing a downtrend that has lasted for almost a decade as more young people tied the knot after delaying their nuptials due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of newlyweds rose to 7.68 million last year, Ministry of Civil Affairs data released last week showed. This was up 845,000 couples from 2022, but still far below the peak of 13.47 million couples in 2013. Premier Li Qiang (李強) earlier this month pledged that the government would work toward “a birth-friendly society and promote long-term, balanced population development,” as well as reducing the cost of childbirth, parenting and education. The nation’s population fell for a second consecutive year last year, as the record low birth rate and deaths due to COVID-19 accelerated a downturn that officials fear would have profound long-term effects on the economy.
NEW ZEALAND
Kiwis ‘take to the skies’
A flock of flightless kiwi birds yesterday briefly took to the skies, carried across the country in chartered planes on a special conservation mission. The ground-dwelling kiwi is one of the country’s beloved national icons, but it is also one of its most vulnerable native birds. Conservationists have embarked on an ambitious project to restore kiwi populations to the forested hills that surround the capital, Wellington. As part of the project, a flock of 15 kiwis were yesterday coaxed from a sanctuary in the north, then flown more than 500km in two light planes to their new home. Calling it a “milestone moment,” project leader Paul Ward said: “I never thought we would see kiwi fly.” The bird vanished from Wellington’s hills about 150 years ago, as predators were introduced and land was cleared for the growing city. The kiwi transfer was the first by air, but the project has been releasing adult birds around Wellington since 2022. Ward estimates about 75 kiwis now live around Wellington, a figure he hopes to double by May.
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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