INDIA
Wolf killed after attacks
Residents in the Bahraich district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh have beaten to death a wolf believed to be the last of a six-member pack that killed nine people, eight of them children, wildlife officials said yesterday. The gray wolves were said to have attacked more than 40 people. Five of the animals were trapped, with drones and surveillance cameras suggesting that only one remained free. Government forest officer Ajit Singh said villagers had contacted his team yesterday after they killed a prowling wolf. “It seems it is part of the same pack of wolves,” Singh said. Wildlife officials say heavy flooding had swamped the wolves’ usual territory, driving them into areas of more populated farmland.
UNITED STATES
Florida braces for storm
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Saturday declared a state of emergency as forecasters warned that the state — still reeling from Hurricane Helene — could be slammed by another major storm this week. Tropical Storm Milton, currently churning in the western Gulf of Mexico, was “forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane as it moves toward Florida into midweek next week,” the National Weather Service wrote on social media. Milton could potentially bring fresh havoc to areas of Florida’s west coast still recovering from Helene, which killed at least 220 people.
DR CONGO
Mpox vaccinations start
Health officials on Saturday launched their first mpox vaccination campaign, a key step in efforts to contain an outbreak that has spread from its epicenter in the country to numerous other African nations this year. Officials held a ceremony to mark the start of vaccinations at a hospital in Goma, where health workers were first in line to receive the shots. The Ministry of Public Health on Friday said the campaign’s scope would be small due to limited resources. At the moment, 265,000 vaccine doses are available, although more are in the pipeline.
HUNGARY//
Thousands protest state news
Thousands of people on Saturday gathered outside the headquarters of the state broadcaster MTVA, protesting against what they described as the government’s “propaganda machine” and calling for an independent public service media. The protesters, from the opposition TISZA Party, said the state broadcaster is running biased propaganda, featuring only politicians from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party and government, and analysts repeating their narrative. “We have had enough of the malice, the lies, the propaganda, our patience has run out,” Tisza leader Peter Magyar told the crowd. “What we have as public service media in Hungary today is a global scandal, we have had enough.”
PERU
Child sacrifice site found
In a vacant lot outside Trujillo, archeologists have unearthed the remains of nearly four dozen children — all thought to have been ritually sacrificed more than 600 years ago. “Many of these remains have cuts on the sternum, some on their ribs,” archeologist Julio Asencio said from the excavation site. Each child was buried separately, he said. The remains of two adults and nine llamas — thought to be an offering representing their source of food, clothing and transportation — were also found nearby. They likely belonged to the local Chimu group, which dominated northern Peru from the 700s to the late 1400s, Asencio said.
‘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,”
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
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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