PHILIPPINES
Kidnapping suspect arrested
A second suspect in the kidnapping of an American man, who police say was likely killed by his captors, has been arrested, police said yesterday. Elliot Eastman was snatched from his home on Mindanao island on Oct. 17 last year. Police said his kidnappers shot him dead that day when he tried to escape. Jakaria Jamani, a resident of Sibuco, was arrested at sea on Tuesday and was being held without bail while awaiting trial for the kidnapping, police said in a statement. The statement described him as the “mastermind/planner” of the abduction.
Photo: EPA-EFE
VIETNAM
Court critic’s trial begins
Tran Dinh Trien, former deputy head of the Hanoi Bar Association and a former lawyer, yesterday went on trial over Facebook posts in which he criticized court officials. Charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon state interests,” the 65-year-old faces up to seven years in jail if found guilty by the court in Hanoi. Prosecutors accused him of posting Facebook articles “without verified evidence ... undermining the prestige of the court,” Tuoi Tre newspaper said. The Facebook posts over which he is charged were uploaded in April and May last year. In them, he criticized the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who he said prevented defendants’ family members from attending trials, and journalists and lawyers from recording video during open trials, Human Rights Watch said.
Photo: AFP
INDIA
Six killed in stampede
At least six people were crushed to death on Wednesday at a Hindu religious gathering, with several more injured, officials said yesterday. A huge crowd had gathered to collect entrance tokens to visit the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh when the stampede broke out. “The unfortunate incident ... has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to god to give peace to the departed souls,” said Prem Kumar Jain, spokesman of the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party.
MEXICO
Sheinbaum mocks Trump
President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically on Wednesday to US president-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” Standing before a global map at a news conference, Sheinbaum proposed dryly that North America should be renamed “America Mexicana,” or “Mexican America,” because a document from 1814 that preceded the constitution referred to it that way. “That sounds nice, no?” she added with a sarcastic tone. She also said the Gulf of Mexico had been named that way since 1607.
UNITED STATES
Greenland’s value backed
Greenland is important for national security, Representative Mike Waltz told Fox News on Wednesday, following comments by president-elect Donald Trump suggesting that Washington should take control of the island. Waltz, who was tapped to be Trump’s national security adviser, was asked about Trump wanting control over the arctic island. “You have Russia that is trying to become king of the arctic, with 60-plus icebreakers, some of them nuclear powered,” he said. “We have two and one just caught on fire.” Waltz added: “This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources. This is about, as the polar ice caps pull back, the Chinese are now cranking out icebreakers and pushing up there as well. So it’s oil and gas. It’s our national security.”
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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