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.
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
‘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,”
‘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
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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