NEW ZEALAND
Minister chided for remarks
The prime minister yesterday chided a senior colleague who shouted “send the Mexicans home” in a nod to US President Donald Trump during an immigration debate in parliament. Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones made the remark earlier this week and then refused to apologize after a Mexico-born opposition lawmaker said it was “outwardly racist and xenophobic.” “Send the Mexicans home,” Jones shouted, before later interjecting: “Call Mr Trump. Call Mr Trump.” He told news Web site Stuff that “if these foreign-born New Zealanders are not going to show respect to the culture of New Zealand, then I’m going to call them out,” in an apparent jab at Green Party lawmaker Ricardo Menendez March, who was born in Mexico. Prime Minister Chris Luxon yesterday said that “everybody just needs to watch their rhetoric.”
INDONESIA
More refugees arrive in Aceh
A rickety wooden boat carrying more than 100 Rohingya Muslims on Wednesday landed in Aceh, as the northernmost province continued to receive refugees fleeing persecution and political unrest in Myanmar. Indonesia’s government blames a surge in human trafficking for the increasing number of Rohingya Muslims who have arrived over the past few years. Local police chief Nova Suryandaru said the boat’s engine had broken down and the boat, carrying mostly women and children, ran aground near Pereulak in East Aceh district. He said authorities were collecting information about their identities. Suryandaru added that many suspect the boat was deliberately damaged by illegal traffickers so the refugees would not be returned to sea.
MALAYSIA
Rain forces thousands to flee
At least five people were killed and thousands forced to evacuate across two states on Borneo after days of heavy rain triggered floods and landslides. Government data showed that more than 700mm of rain fell on parts of Sabah and Sarawak. The Malaysian Meteorological Department said that the rains would continue until today. More than 5,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes as of yesterday morning, said local news reports, which called it the “worst floods in recent years.” Images and videos circulating on social media, showed entire neighborhoods submerged in muddy water and people swept away by currents or stranded on rooftops.
RWANDA
Kagame warns South Africa
President Paul Kagame yesterday said that South African troops had no place in the battlefield in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), adding that he was ready to “deal” with any confrontation from Pretoria. Thirteen South African soldiers have died in the past week in eastern DRC as Rwanda-backed M23 fighters seized more territory, including the key regional city of Goma. The South Africans were part of the UN Stabalization Mission in the DRC peacekeeping force, but also part of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC). Kagame wrote on X that the SAMIDRC “is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation.” He added that “it was authorized by SADC as a belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the DRC government fight against its own people, working alongside genocidal armed groups like FDLR [the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda], which target Rwanda.”
UNITED STATES
TB hits Kansas City area
An outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in the Kansas City area has grown into one of the largest-ever recorded in the nation, with dozens of active cases of the infectious disease reported, health officials said. As of Friday last week, 67 active cases of TB had been reported in Wyandotte and Johnson counties. The outbreak began last year, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said on its Web site, but did not specify a source of the outbreak. Four staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are on site providing assistance with contact tracing, testing and screening and working with community leaders on health education, an agency spokesperson said. The Kansas department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The nation recorded 8,649 cases of TB last year, and 9,606 in 2023, the CDC said. Tuberculosis replaced COVID-19 as the top cause for infectious disease-related deaths in 2023, a WHO report published in October said.
AUSTRALIA
US-headed refugees stuck
Dozens of refugees who arrived by boat a decade ago and expected to resettle in the US have been affected by US President Donald Trump’s freeze on refugee programs, a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said. Canberra is “awaiting further advice” from the US government on the ongoing operation of its refugee program, suspended by an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 20, the official said. “Less than 30 transitory individuals continue to pursue resettlement in the United States through the US resettlement arrangement — cases are at various stages of the process,” he said. Canberra does not allow asylum seekers who arrive by boat to settle in the country. Under a 2016 deal struck with then-US president Barack Obama’s administration, the US agreed to resettle up to 1,250 refugees from Australia’s offshore processing centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The department said in August that 1,106 refugees had been able to resettle in the US.
PAKISTAN
Dad kills teen over TikTok
A man who recently moved his family back to Quetta from the US shot and killed his teenage daughter in a so-called honor killing after she allegedly refused to stop sharing videos on TikTok that he believed were inappropriate, police said yesterday. The shooting happened on Tuesday in the capital of Balochistan Province, local police chief Babar Baloch said. He said the father of the 15-year-old girl initially suggested that an unidentified gunman had killed his daughter, but after he was taken into custody for questioning he confessed to the crime, Baloch said. Officers are continuing to investigate. The man’s brother-in-law was also arrested in connection with the murder, Baloch said, adding that both men had apparently objected to her sharing of “objectionable” content on TikTok.
POLAND
Fire-spitting dragon stopped
An iconic metal sculpture of a dragon that spits real fire in Krakow is to hold its breath for a month to check why it has been devouring so much fuel lately, authorities said on Wednesday. Starting this week, experts are to check the gas feeds for the 6m sculpture to find ways of reducing the dragon’s energy bills, said Krzysztof Wojdowski, spokesman for Krakow’s road infrastructure office. The dragon figure at the foot of the Wawel Castle is a major tourist attraction. Millions of visitors come each year to watch flames jutting from its snout every three minutes. The sculpture should regain its fire-breathing abilities in March.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
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