AUSTRALIA
Nazi to be sentenced
A self-described Nazi is to become the first person in the nation sentenced to prison for performing an outlawed Nazi salute when a magistrate sets his term next month. Magistrate Brett Sonnet yesterday told Jacob Hersant that he would be sentenced to a “relatively modest term of imprisonment” at his next court appearance. The maximum potential sentence is 12 months in prison plus a A$24,000 (US$16,177) fine. Hersant gave the salute and praised Adolf Hitler in front of news media cameras outside the Victoria County Court on Oct. 27 last year, six days after the Victoria state government made the Nazi salute illegal.
KENYA
Impeachment begins
The Senate was meeting yesterday to begin hearing an impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, fast-tracking a process stemming from a fallout with President William Ruto. On Tuesday, the National Assembly voted to impeach the 59-year-old Gachagua. The motion accused him of corruption, insubordination, undermining the government and practicing ethnically divisive politics, among a host of other charges that he has denied. Senate Speaker Amason Jeffah Kingi said the upper house would hear the charges, telling lawmakers “we are expecting a heavy day.” The Senate has 10 days to wrap up the proceedings.
BRAZIL
Nun wins UN award
Nun Rosita Milesi yesterday won the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’s Nansen Award for decades of work championing the rights of migrants and refugees. Milesi, 79, has helped thousands of people to access legal documents, shelter, food, healthcare, language training and the labor market over 40 years, the agency said in a statement. “I decided to dedicate myself to migrants and refugees. I’m inspired by the growing need to help, to welcome, and to integrate refugees,” Milesi said in the statement. “I’m not afraid to act, even if we don’t achieve everything we want to. If I take something on, I will turn the world upside down to make it happen.”
COLOMBIA
Petro probe announced
The electoral authority on Tuesday said that it was investigating President Gustavo Petro for allegedly exceeding spending limits in his 2022 campaign by nearly US$1 million. National Electoral Council President Cesar Lorduy told reporters that Petro and some members of his campaign were suspected of overspending by US$880,000. He would face financial penalties if found to have breached campaign financing rules. “The coup has begun,” Petro wrote on X.
UNITED STATES
Election day plot thwarted
The FBI has arrested an Afghan man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State militant organization and was plotting an election day attack targeting large crowds, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City told investigators after his arrest on Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with the Nov. 5 election and that he and a co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, the charging documents said. The alleged co-conspirator was not identified by the department, which described him only as a juvenile, a fellow Afghan national and the brother of Tawhedi’s wife. Tawhedi was arrested after taking possession of two AK-47 rifles and ammunition he had ordered, officials said.
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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