AUSTRALIA
Croc goes in pot
A saltwater crocodile that had terrorized a remote community by snapping up dogs and lunging at children met its end in a feast cooked up by locals. The 3.6m reptile “had been stalking and lunging out of the water at children and adults,” Northern Territory police said in a statement. “The crocodile had also reportedly taken multiple community dogs,” it added. After talking to elders and landowners in the Bulla community, police shot and killed the scaly predator on Tuesday, police said. “The community prepared it for a feast in the traditional manner,” they said. The animal ended up as the main ingredient in various meals, Sergeant Andrew McBride told Australian public broadcaster ABC. “I believe he was cooked up into crocodile tail soup, it was on the barbecue, a few pieces were wrapped up in banana leaves and cooked underground,” McBride said.
Photo: AP
PEURTO RICO
Power outage hits
A widespread power outage hit the US territory on Wednesday night, leaving more than 340,000 customers without electricity after two power plants shut down. The capital of San Juan was left without power, as well as neighboring municipalities, including Bayamon, Caguas and Carolina. Luma Energy, which operates transmission and distribution for the power authority, wrote on X that the outage was tied to an issue with the power plants’ transmission lines.
UNITED STATES
NASA errs with broadcast
NASA on Wednesday accidentally broadcast a simulation of astronauts being treated for decompression sickness on the International Space Station (ISS). At about 5:28pm, NASA’s live YouTube channel broadcast audio that indicated a crew member was experiencing the effects of decompression sickness, NASA said on X. A female voice asks crew members to “get commander back in his suit,” check his pulse and provide him with oxygen, later saying his prognosis was “tenuous,” according to copies of the audio posted on social media. NASA did not verify the recordings or republish the audio. Several space enthusiasts posted a link to the audio on X with warnings that there was a serious emergency on the ISS. “This audio was inadvertently misrouted from an ongoing simulation where crew members and ground teams train for various scenarios in space and is not related to a real emergency,” NASA wrote. “There is no emergency situation going on aboard the International Space Station,” it added.
UNITED STATES
Bear filmed in hammock
Noah and Kristen Dweck have seen several black bears around their home in Vermont, but this was a first: a bear relaxing on their hammock. Noah Dweck filmed two young bears in their yard in Waitsfield on Tuesday, with one sitting on the swinging hammock before he shooed them away. “It was adorable. It was a funny sight,” he said. Noah Dweck said that he was sitting at a desk with the screen doors open in their home near the Sugarbush ski resort when he heard the jingling of the hammock. He then realized there was no wind. “So immediately I knew it was the bears,” he said. He ran upstairs and looked out the window and saw one bear looking curiously at the other bear who was hanging around on the hammock, he said. He took some video and then scared the bears away. “We live in a very active bear basin. The bears are very used to human contact, so I’m assuming they have found other people’s hammocks before,” he said.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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