PORT MORESBY (AFP) – Papua New Guinea’s police minister has condemned “horrific” claims of cannibalism swirling on social media, vowing “such barbarity” would not define the Pacific nation.
A group of machete-wielding men dangle what looks like a severed human foot in grisly photos published yesterday on the front page of Papua New Guinea’s largest newspaper.
Although the men are not filmed eating the body part, one of them appears to make a licking gesture while holding it up for the camera.
Police Minister Peter Tsiamalili said he was deeply troubled by images that appeared to depict “horrific acts of cannibalism”.
“A violent confrontation between two brothers escalated, leading to a heartbreaking outcome,” he told AFP.
“The conflict saw villagers taking sides, ultimately resulting in the gruesome killing of the elder brother by the younger sibling.”
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Exactly four years after Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the United States (US) Capitol, seeking to overturn his election loss, lawmakers met yesterday to certify his 2024 win, cementing the Republican’s comeback from political ignominy.
Heightening the drama around the January 6 joint session of Congress, a powerful storm was forecast to blanket Washington in snow overnight.
By almost any measure, 78-year-old Trump has navigated a remarkable return to power.
Four years ago, leaders in his own party appeared ready to turn their backs, but now they are rushing to embrace their twice-impeached, criminally convicted leader.
Having defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November, a vengeful Trump will take office in two weeks, with the entire Republican Party – down to the last lawmaker – under his sway.
The ceremony yesterday may prove discomfiting at best for Harris, who as vice president is mandated under the US Constitution to preside over the election certification.
The process then launches a two-week countdown towards Trump’s inauguration on January 20, when he will begin a second term in a ceremony on the same Capitol steps that four years ago his supporters fought up, intent on disrupting US democracy.
While yesterday’s certification was expected to go off smoothly, a sense of unease hangs over the country.
A mass killing on New Year’s Day in New Orleans by a self-professed, US-born extremist, and a separate suicide in a Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside a Trump property in Las Vegas made an alarming start to the year.
Meanwhile, six days of funeral ceremonies for late former president Jimmy Carter got underway this weekend and all US flags on government buildings will be at half-staff for a month – including during Trump’s inauguration.
Just in case of unrest, authorities erected a ring of security fencing around the Capitol.
For his part, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was more worried about the impending snowstorm, telling lawmakers not to leave Washington on the weekend, then find themselves stranded.
“Do not leave town,” he told Fox News on Sunday. “Whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we are going to be in that chamber making sure this is done.” Uber-loyal Trump Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene proclaimed she would “walk to the Capitol if I have to”.
File photo shows United States President Donald Trump speaking at a rally in Washington before the Capitol riot. PHOTO: AP
MEXICO CITY (AFP) – A shooting at a cafe in southeastern Mexico left seven people dead and five wounded, authorities said on Sunday, the latest in a series of similar attacks in the violence-plagued country.
A manhunt was launched for the perpetrators of the shooting on Saturday night in the city of Villahermosa, in Tabasco state, the secretariat of security and civilian protection said in a statement.
“Analysis of video surveillance cameras is being carried out and elements of the state and federal authorities have deployed coordinated patrols to locate and arrest those responsible,” it added.
The death toll initially stood at five, but the Tabasco public prosecutor’s office later said two more people had died in the attack on what it described as “a clandestine bar that operated irregularly”.
According to local media, unidentified gunmen burst into the bar La Casita Azul and opened fire at customers, leaving bloodied bodies strewn on the floor.
Tabasco, home to oil production facilities, has seen an increase in violent crime in recent months. In November, six people were killed and 10 wounded in another armed attack on a cafe in Villahermosa.
It came two weeks after an attack left 10 dead in the city of Queretaro, in a central region that until now had been spared from violence linked to organised crime.
File photo of the Federal police in Mexico. PHOTO: AFP
BERLIN (AFP) – The death toll from a car ramming attack on a market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg in December has risen to six, prosecutors said yesterday.
A 52-year-old woman has died in hospital as a result of injuries she sustained in the attack, the prosecutors in the nearby city of Naumburg said.
A black vehicle ploughed through the traditional market on December 20, running over and scattering bodies amid the festive stalls.
A total of 299 people were injured in the attack, according to the latest figures from the state interior ministry.
A doctor of psychiatry, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was arrested at the scene, but the suspected attacker’s motive remains unclear.
Abdulmohsen had in many online posts voiced strongly anti-Islam views, anger at German authorities and support for far-right conspiracy narratives on the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said there were signs the suspect was suffering from a psychiatric illness.
The attack came two months ahead of a general election in Germany.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which is currently polling in second place, held what it called a memorial rally for the victims and demanded that Germany “must close the borders”.
Emergency workers are seen at a closed market where a car crashed into a crowd in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. PHOTO: AFP
BRUSSELS (AFP) – A knife-wielding man was arrested outside the Belgian prime minister’s offices in Brussels yesterday following a confrontation with security guards, authorities said.
No-one was injured in the incident, which happened at around 10am (0900 GMT), police said, adding that they had launched an investigation.
“I would like to warmly thank the military police officers for their efficiency,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who was not at the premises at the time, wrote on social media X. “I am relieved that no-one was injured in the incident. Together with the police, we are closely monitoring the situation”.
Local media reported that the suspect, who has not been named, attempted to break into the prime minister’s offices, located at number 16 on the central Rue de la Loi.
Authorities said the man “made threats against the military personnel” guarding the premises, who managed to subdue him before the police arrived.
His motives were not yet clear, the police said.
De Croo – the leader of a centrist Flemish party who took office in 2020 and is to step down once lengthy post-election negotiations to form a new government come to fruition – was “very shocked” by the incident, his spokesman, Barend Leyts, told AFP.
Rue de la Loi is a major thoroughfare connecting the seat of many European institutions to the Brussels city centre.
The prime minister’s policy unit and administrative departments are housed in one of many official buildings in the area, which is dotted with embassies, ministries and government agencies.
File photo of Belgian police in Brussels, Belgium. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS (AFP) – Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, convicted twice in separate cases since leaving office, went on trial yesterday charged with accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Sarkozy’s career has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election but he is an influential figure and also known to regularly meet President Emmanuel Macron.
The fiercely ambitious and energetic 69-year-old, who while in power from 2007-2012 liked to be known as the “hyper-president”, has been convicted in two cases, charged in another and is being investigated in connection with two more.
The new trial is starting barely half a month after France’s top appeals court on December 18 rejected his appeal against a one-year prison sentence for influence peddling, which he is to serve by wearing an electronic tag rather than in jail.
Twelve suspects are standing trial, including former close aides, accused of devising a pact with Kadhafi to illegally fund Sarkozy’s victorious 2007 election bid. They deny the charges.
If convicted, Sarkozy faces up to 10 years in prison under the charges of concealing embezzlement of public funds and illegal campaign financing.
The trial is due to last until April 10. Sarkozy “is awaiting these four months of hearings with determination.
He will fight the artificial construction dreamed up by the prosecution. There was no Libyan financing,” said his lawyer Christophe Ingrain.
Sarkozy is still not wearing the electronic tag – a process which could take several weeks – and spent the holidays in the Seychelles with his wife, model and singer Carla Bruni, and their daughter.
In the current case against Sarkozy, the result of a decade of investigations, it is alleged that he and senior figures pledged to help Kadhafi rehabilitate his international image in return for campaign financing.
Tripoli had been blamed by the West for bombing attacks on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie in Scotland and UTA Flight 772 over Niger in 1989 that killed hundreds of passengers.
Another alleged beneficiary was Kadhafi’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi who was jailed for life in absentia by France for the attack on UTA Flight 772 and has long been wanted for questioning over the Lockerbie bombing.
Sarkozy has denounced the accusations as part of a conspiracy, insisting he never received any financing from Kadhafi and that there is no evidence of any such transfer.
NEW YORK (AP) – We all know the stressors: Social obligations. Family discord. Political rifts. Financial stress. And the desire to stay cheery and big-hearted throughout.
So here’s a reminder about how to banish your inner perfectionist and truly enjoy the holiday season.
“It really helps to let go of some of the ‘shoulds’,” said head of practice for the American Psychological Association Lynn F Bufka. “Decide on the one thing that matters most, and the things that bring you the most joy, and let go of other things.”
Traditions can shift and change, and the more flexible things are the easier it is for everybody, Bufka said.
“Focus your energy on creating a warm space for the people you love to gather and relax, catch up and celebrate one another. That’s literally all that matters,” said editor in chief of Real Simple Lauren Iannotti.
SOME TIPS:
Throw yourself into the parts of the holiday that make you happy
You could decide that conversation is your main goal, and not worry at all about the decor, said Bufka. Or if table decoration is what you love, spend your energy there and don’t worry as much about other aspects.
“Ideally, it should be about focusing on love, and that doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone,” said Bufka.
PHOTO: ENVATOPHOTO: ENVATO
Don’t hesitate to outsource some of that other stuff.
“People want to help – let them!” said Iannotti. “If you don’t love cooking all those sides, or are strapped for time, there is zero shame in accepting your sister’s offer to do the stuffing. Or enlist help from the pros – support a local restaurant by ordering some catering platters.”
A potluck can be your friend.
“Have everyone bring one signature dish,” said Ianotti. “You’ll save time and money on prep and cooking and your guests can show off their skills.”
Give yourself permission to cut corners
“It’s okay if the house is a little messy or dinner is on the table a few minutes late,” said Iannotti. “If the people you’ve invited are more interested in grading your performance than having a good time, they can take that up with their therapist to sort through.”
(They’re not, by the way – “something to maybe take up with your therapist”, she added.)
And don’t hesitate to let people help themselves, when possible.
It’s okay to step away for alone time
Things will run well enough if you’re not overseeing it all, so take care of yourself. Take breathers or walks if that helps you stay centred.
“Although mindfulness is becoming an overused term in society today, there is something of value we can take from this and apply to the holiday season,” said concierge sports and performance psychiatrist and founder of Choulet Performance Psychiatry Brook Choulet.
She recommended “scheduling intentional micro-breaks” to do something you enjoy.
“For example, you may schedule a phone call with a friend out of state, take a 15-minute walk outside, or even set the timer and take a 15-minute bath uninterrupted,” she said. Expect some discord, and don’t get freaked about it
“If you’re worried about the polarisation and getting into uncomfortable conversations, try to think about ways you can end a conversation, or shift it in another direction,” Bufka said.
She recommended preparing a few lines in advance to help end the conversation or shift it in another direction. So, aiming for a less-than-perfect holiday season may just be the sweet spot.
GAZA STRIP (AFP) – A Hamas official said on Sunday the group was ready to free 34 hostages in the “first phase” of a potential deal with Israel, after Israel said indirect talks on a truce and hostage release agreement had resumed in Qatar.
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States (US) have tried for months to strike a deal to end the war. The latest effort comes just days before Donald Trump takes office as president of the US on January 20.
The talks took place as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people according to rescuers, nearly 15 months into the war.
During that time there has been only one truce, a one-week pause in November 2023 that saw 80 Israeli hostages freed along with 240 Palestinians from Israeli jails.
Now, “Hamas has agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal,” said an official of the Palestinian group.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had yet to provide a list of hostages for potential release under an agreement.
The Hamas official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the ongoing negotiations with the media, said the initial swap would include all the women, children, elderly people and sick captives still held in Gaza.
But Hamas needed time to determine their condition, he added.
Smoke rises above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip during an Israeli army bombardment. PHOTO: AFP
“Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead,” the official said.
“However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead.”
During their attack on October 7, 2023 which began the Gaza war, militants seized 251 hostages, of whom 96 remain in Gaza. The Israeli military said 34 of those are dead.
Until the Hamas official’s comment there had been no update on the talks, which both warring sides were to resume in Qatar over the weekend. “Efforts are under way to free the hostages, notably the Israeli delegation which left on Friday for negotiations in Qatar,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told relatives of a hostage on Saturday, according to his office.
In December, Qatar expressed optimism that “momentum” was returning to the talks following Trump’s election victory.
But Hamas and Israel then traded accusations of imposing new conditions and obstacles.
In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Civil Defence agency said an air strike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan area had killed at least 11 people.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the victims included women and children, and rescuers were using their “bare hands” to search for five people still trapped under rubble.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had struck more than 100 “terror targets” in Gaza over the past two days, marking an apparent escalation in its assault.
The Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry said a total of 88 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours.
In one strike, five people died when the house of the Abu Jarbou family was struck in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, rescuers said.
AFP footage from another strike, on Bureij camp near Nuseirat, showed rescuers transporting bodies and injured people to a hospital.
It showed a medic attempting to resuscitate a wounded man inside an ambulance, while another carried an injured child to the hospital.
Relatives cried over the bodies of two men wrapped in white shrouds, the images showed.
Several of the strikes targeted sites from which Hamas had been firing projectiles into Israel in recent days, the military said.
The military also announced that its forces had killed a militant commander in close combat in northern Gaza last week.
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Gunmen opened fire on vehicles, including a bus, yesterday near a village in the occupied West Bank, killing three people and wounding seven, the Israeli military and emergency services said.
“Paramedics have confirmed the deaths of three victims, including two women and a man,” emergency service provider Magen David Adom (MDA) said, while the military reported that troops were “pursuing the terrorists” who carried out the attack near the village of Al-Funduq.
MDA said its paramedics were providing medical treatment to seven people who were on the bus, including the driver who was in serious condition.
The two women who died in the shooting were in their 60s, while the third victim, a man, was around 40, MDA reported.
“This was a severe attack that spread across multiple scenes where vehicles and a bus were hit by gunfire,” paramedic Avichai Ben Zruya said in a statement.
“During our initial searches for casualties, we found two women around 60 years old in a vehicle, unconscious without pulse or breathing, with gunshot wounds,” he said.
“After medical assessments, unfortunately, their injuries were severe and we had to pronounce them deceased.”
The military said that troops had set up roadblocks and were encircling several nearby towns to apprehend the attackers.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023, after Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 818 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based Health Ministry.
AP – To get a sense of Margaret Eby’s new book, You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible, flip to the section called ‘Anything’s a sandwich if you’re not a coward’.
The only requirement, she writes, is “some kind of bread or bread-like substance in order to keep the filling bounty under control. But basically, that’s where it ends”.
What follows is a series of comical treatises on combinations ranging from straightforward, such as avocado and tomato paste, to what she admits sounds weird, like canned pineapple and mayo.
Throughout the book, pantry puns are mixed in with helpful tips on how to get dinner on the table when you’re overwhelmed with work or the holidays, or simply depressed.
“It’s meant to kind of be like a kitchen pep talk, as well as something that gives you ideas for when you’re in that moment and you’re like, ‘Oh, I have to make dinner again,'” said Reby, who went to culinary school and spent years behind the scenes at glossy food publications.
FOR WHEN THE AVERAGE RECIPE FEELS TOO COMPLICATED
A few years ago, during a dark period of pandemic malaise, she realised she and her coworkers almost never cooked the kind of multistep recipes they were selling. In the test kitchen at work, slick video and images of high-minded dishes were often the goal. For lunch, they might eat a microwave burrito.
At home, she often opened a package of ramen and dressed it up with whatever happened to be in the fridge, if that.
Khao soi Thai soup. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP‘You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible’ by Margaret Eby. PHOTO: AP
The realisation led to this illustrated book, which is more of a guide to better ways of raiding the cupboard than a traditional cookbook. Besides recipes, there are also ‘roll your own’ sections intended to let dice make decisions about what ingredients to include in bean salads, canapés, smoothies and casseroles.
“Dice do not carry the force of law,” she said.
She also makes the most of the freezer aisle. Crispy gnocchi or fried dumplings can be basic or borderline elaborate. Bagged vegetables turn college-age comfort food into a relatively balanced meal for working adults.
Leftover greens and herbs become savoury sauces to make a utilitarian meal feel like an indulgence. A two-ingredient “emergency cake” involves self-rising flour, ice cream and a microwave.
NO SHOWSTOPPERS REQUIRED
For ‘curry in a hurry’ Eby draws inspiration from khao soi, a Northern Thai recipe for a spicy curried noodle soup. It’s a good example of her flexible recipe templates, which offer a direction without any pressure to produce a showstopper.
“Omit the noodles and serve it over rice, substitute meat for the chickpeas, use fresh vegetables if you have them, simmer some garlic and ginger with the curry powder,” she wrote. “Throw cilantro on top at the end. Whatever you want to do.”
Whatever that is, it’s still dinner, and it will still be tasty.
“What I’m pushing back on with the book is this idea that every meal has to be this gorgeous, Instagram-perfect event,” she said. “There’s not a correct way for you to cook.”
Sort-of Khao Soi from You Gotta Eat, by Margaret Reby
KHAO SOI THAI SOUP INGREDIENTS
One tablespoon neutral oil, like canola
Two tablespoons curry powder or curry paste (Thai red or massaman curry paste works great)
One can chickpeas, drained
One bag frozen vegetables
One can coconut milk
Two packets instant ramen noodles
Salt and pepper
Half a teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a medium or large pot over medium heat, add the oil. Wait about a minute for it to get hot, and then add curry powder or paste and pepper flakes, if you’re using them. Stir the powder or paste into the oil and cook it until it starts smelling like curry, about 30 seconds to a minute. Stir the chickpeas and vegetables into the curry oil to distribute it a little bit.
Add the coconut milk, fill the can with water, and dump that in too. It’s fine if the vegetables aren’t totally submerged – they’ll still defrost and cook. Raise the heat to high until the mixture boils, then turn it down until it’s simmering. Add one and a half bricks of ramen noodles, and bring it back up to a simmer. Cook for two minutes – take a vegetable out of the pot and carefully take a bite to make sure it’s cooked all the way through. Salt and pepper to taste. Scoop the curry into bowls. If you have it, add fresh cilantro. – Albert Stumm
