AUSTRALIA
Manhunt in bush continues
Police yesterday said they would not rest until they catch a 56-year-old gunman who fled into the bush two days earlier after allegedly killing two officers. Detectives said they were speaking to the man’s partner and searching rugged, forested terrain near the small town of Porepunkah, in Victoria’s northeast. The suspect, identified by police as Dezi Freeman, escaped on foot after opening fire when a team of 10 police arrived at his property on Tuesday, allegedly killing two policemen and wounding a third. Police said the man — described by local media as a radicalized conspiracy theorist — is heavily armed, has bush survival skills and knows the area well.
Photo: AFP
MEXICO
Senators come to blows
Senators on Wednesday came to blows after a heated debate over alleged opposition calls for the US to intervene militarily against drug cartels. Senator Alejandro Moreno, leader of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), went to the podium as Wednesday’s session ended and angrily confronted Senate President Gerardo Fernandez Norona, of the ruling Morena party, for not being given the floor. Moreno can be seen in a video posted on social media by the Senate pushing Fernandez Norona several times, slapping him on the neck and pushing another man to the ground when he tried to intervene. The brawl followed a heated debate during which the opposition PRI and National Action Party were accused of calling for US military intervention, a claim the parties deny. Fernandez Norona later said he would file a complaint against Moreno for bodily harm and request that his legislative immunity be revoked. “The debate could be very harsh, very bitter, very strong ... today when [opposition legislators] are exposed for their treason; they lose their minds because they were exposed,” he said.
AUSTRALIA
Lawmaker threatens reporter
Veteran lawmaker Bob Katter yesterday threatened a television journalist at a news conference, shaking his fist and saying he had previously punched people for mentioning his Lebanese heritage. Katter called the news conference to discuss his proposed attendance of the March For Australia, an anti-immigration rally due to be held in several cities on Sunday. “You’ve got Lebanese heritage yourself,” a journalist said at the event in Brisbane, before Katter interrupted him. “Don’t say that. Because that irritates me, and I’ve punched blokes in the mouth for saying that,” Katter shouted, pointing his finger at Josh Bavas, a reporter from Channel Nine. “My family has been here for 140 years.” Katter said he was “restraining myself today” by not punching Bavas. “In my near 20 years in journalism, I’ve never experienced that kind of reaction from an elected representative,” Bavas said in a statement following the incident.
JAPAN
App shows nearest restroom
Toilet giant Toto has launched a service allowing those caught short in public to locate the nearest washrooms and see how busy they are in real-time with a cellphone and QR code. The system launched this month by Toto — famous for its water-spraying, musical toilets — links consumers up with existing Internet-connected facility management systems. It was developed to automatically notify facility staff if a particular cubicle is dirty or occupied for an unusually long time. Now users can scan a QR code with their phones to access a Web site showing restroom locations and live congestion levels.
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
A Japanese city would urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties. The limit — which would be recommended for all residents in Toyoake City — would not be binding and there would be no penalties incurred for higher usage, the draft ordinance showed. The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues... including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said yesterday. The draft urges elementary-school students to avoid smartphones after 9pm, and junior-high students and older are advised not
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
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