FRANCE
Mayotte braces for storm
Residents of Mayotte yesterday braced for a storm expected to bring strong winds and flash floods less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by a deadly cyclone. The territory was placed on red alert on Saturday in anticipation of the passage of Dikeledi, a storm forecast to skirt about 100km south of Mayotte. It hit the northern coast of Madagascar as a cyclone on Saturday evening and weakened into a severe tropical storm, but is expected to regain intensity as it moves toward Mayotte. It could be reclassified as a cyclone by this morning, Meteo-France said.
THAILAND
Killed for gratitude: suspect
A man accused of killing a former Cambodian opposition lawmaker in Bangkok said he committed the crime to repay someone who helped him during a tough period in his life, police said yesterday. Ekkalak Paenoi on Saturday confessed to the crime in a livestream video after being charged with premeditated murder and unauthorized gun ownership. Lim Kimya, a former lawmaker for the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, was gunned down on Tuesday last week by a motorcyclist as he arrived in Bangkok by bus from Cambodia with his French wife. Ekkalak — who Thai media have said was a former marine — was arrested in Cambodia on Wednesday, before being extradited to Thailand on Saturday. “The shooter said he took this job to pay a debt of gratitude to someone who had helped him during a tough period after he was sacked from the navy,” said Attaporn Wongsiripreeda, a senior police official in Bangkok. Some Thai media reports said he was paid 60,000 baht (US$1,727), but Attaporn told a local broadcaster that Ekkalak claimed he did not receive payment.
FRANCE
Dozens injured in tram crash
Two trams on Saturday collided in a tunnel in a rare accident in the eastern city of Strasbourg, injuring dozens of people, authorities said. The collision occurred near Strasbourg’s main train station, one of the busiest in France outside Paris. Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot said that “probably around 36” people were injured in the accident, while authorities later put that figure at 68. A video posted by a witness on social media showed a chaotic scene with the two trams significantly damaged in a tunnel near the station. One of the trams appeared to have derailed as a result of the impact, the cause of which has yet to be established.
SCOTLAND
Captured lynx dies
One of four lynx thought to have been released illegally in the Highlands died within hours after it was captured, wildlife authorities said on Saturday. The medium-sized wildcats extinct in Scotland for hundreds of years were spotted in the snowy Cairngorms National Park last week, raising concerns that a private breeder had illegally released the predators into the wild. The lynx that died was one of a pair captured on Friday. “This unfortunate development just serves to further demonstrate the folly of abandoning these amazing animals in the wild, with no preparation or real concern for their welfare,” Royal Zoological Society of Scotland head of conservation and science programs Helen Senn said. Wildlife experts have speculated that the cats were released by someone who took matters into their own hands because they were frustrated by the slow process of securing government approval or an opponent who wanted to create problems that would block the reintroduction effort.
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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