Opinion Research Centre
A MEXICAN conservationist known for championing the protection of monarch butterflies was found dead two weeks after his disappearance, authorities said.
Homero Gomez, 50, who ran a sanctuary for the iconic orange and black insects, had been missing since January 14. His body was found at the bottom of a well in the western state of Michoacan, where monarch butterflies often spend the winter.
China has reported nearly 10,000 cases and 213 deaths, but the virus has spread to 18 countries often by plane passengers.
BERLIN: Bayern Munich-bound goalkeeper Alexander Nuebel will return for Schalke at Hertha Berlin on Friday for his first appearance since being suspended for a kung fu-style kick last December during a Bundesliga match.
The 23-year-old keeper returns after serving a four-match ban for kicking Frankfurt midfielder Mijat Gacinovic during Schalke’s 1-0 win late last year.
Nuebel, one of Germany’s best young goalkeepers, was then stripped of the Schalke captaincy after it emerged he had turned down a contract extension before announcing in early January he will join Bayern next season.
In Munich, Nuebel is expected to be groomed as successor in the Bayern goal to Germany skipper and club captain Manuel Neuer, who joined from Schalke back in 2011.
While serving his suspension, Nuebel was replaced in the Schalke goal by Markus Schubert.
However, the 21-year-old Schubert has a knee injury allowing Nuebel to return as the Royal Blues chase a win at Jurgen Klinsmann’s Hertha to bounce back from last weekend’s 5-0 thumping at Bayern.
With Schalke sixth in the table, seven points behind leaders RB Leipzig, coach David Wagner says Nuebel will remain first-choice “until further notice. For the time being, this is a good alternative”.
Wagner revealed that Schubert had been struggling with the injury which meant he could only been able to take a limited part in training recently.
“It was necessary to take him out of training, which wasn’t possible in the past few weeks,” added Wagner.
LONDON: A man was convicted Friday of attempting to steal a priceless 1215 original version of the Magna Carta, smashing its case with a hammer.
Mark Royden, 47, attacked the protective glass surrounding the historic manuscript at Salisbury Cathedral but was chased off by tourists and eventually cornered by stonemasons.
Royden was found guilty by a jury at Salisbury Crown Court in southwest England of attempted theft and criminal damage to the security case costing £14,466 to fix.
Royden apparently believed the Salisbury Magna Carta was a fake.
Four original copies from 1215 remain in existence: two in the British Library in London, one at Salisbury Cathedral, and one at Lincoln Cathedral, in eastern England.
The charter has defined rights and liberties around the world.
“There is an irony that the charter of the Magna Carta that this defendant is charged with attempting to steal states that no free man may be imprisoned other than by the lawful judgement of his peers,” judge Richard Parkes told the jury.
“It still holds good and is in the process of the court right now.”
In June 1215, the despotic king John accepted the demands of rebellious barons to curb his powers and agreed the charter at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames west of London.
Copies were written out and sent around the country.
Prosecutor Rob Welling told jurors that Royden said he “could have done more damage if he had a samurai sword” and “made some other comments about Muslims, tasers and having some object strapped to his back”.
The court heard that Royden had 23 previous convictions covering 51 offences, including theft and criminal damage.
The defendant, who suffered brain damage in a car accident in 1991, is aided by a carer.
Royden was remanded in custody until sentencing on Feb 25.
“It’s overwhelmingly likely that Mr Royden is going to an immediate sentence of custody,” said Parkes.
Considered the cornerstone of freedom, modern democracy, justice and the rule of law, the Magna Carta forms the basis for legal systems across the globe, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the US constitution.
The principles that justice should be available to all, the law applies equally to all and leaders can only exercise power in accordance with the law continue to resonate around the world.
She asks Trump to provide sample from his cheek, blood or skin cells for DNA analysis.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Various development projects are planned to turn Kampung Baru into a more modern, organised and beautiful area, said Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad.
He said the mosque in Kampung Baru would be the centre of development which would include a 9.6 hectares Malay community heritage park.
‘‘The concept of this park is similar to Kampong Morten in Melaka but on a larger scale. It will have houses built in accordance with Malay architecture and 11 units of existing homes in Kampung Baru will be preserved and placed in the park. “
“Now, what is being built is a modern pedestrian bridge named ‘Saloma Link’, which will be decorated with LED lights, that connects Kampung Baru to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). After this, it will only take only 15 minutes on foot for the residents of Kampung Baru who want to go to KLCC, “he said in an interview on Ruang BIcara Bernama TV here yesterday night.
He said the park would also have a heritage theatre that would showcase the culture of the Malay community to the public.
He said that more public transport services would be made available in the village area.
The government would also build affordable housing and business areas for the Malays in Kampung Baru to increase the number of Malays in Kuala Lumpur in an orderly and planned manner, he added. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — A news report claiming that a 23-year-old Indian national had died in Malaysia from the 2019 novel coronavirus is false.
The Health Ministry in its official Facebook account said there were no Indian nationals listed in the records of its laboratory handling clinical samples testing for coronavirus.
“Based on information received up to 6pm today (January 30), the 23-year-old Indian national as mentioned in the news report is not in the list of notifications and positive cases reported to MOH,” the ministry posting said.
According to the report in the Indian news portal, the grandfather of the said 23-year-old man had received a call from the Malaysian authorities on Wednesday, informing him that his grandson had died of the disease. — Bernama
THE legal suit by PKR’s secretary-general against a vice-president has raised the stakes in the party’s internal crisis, said analysts.
Previously, they said, things were just informal and verbal. Now, it has become formal and legal.
THREE Japanese citizens among more than 200 on a first evacuation flight from China have tested positive for a new strain of coronavirus, Japan’s health minister said today.
The three people arrived in Japan yesterday, on the first flight to evacuate Japanese citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a deadly outbreak that has killed 170 people and injected thousands.
KABUL: At least 29 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in Taliban attacks that followed air and ground assaults by government forces on the Islamist group at the weekend.
The surge in hostilities signals deadlock at stop-start peace talks involving US and Taliban negotiators in Doha.
The Defence Ministry said on Sunday government forces had killed 51 Taliban fighters in the weekend assaults.
But the Taliban hit back, carrying out attacks on security checkpoints in the northern province of Kunduz on Tuesday night in which a security official who declined to be identified said 15 members of the Afghan army were killed.
The Taliban also attacked a police station on Monday night in Pul-e Khomri, capital of the neighbouring Baghlan province, killing 14 policemen, said Safdar Muhseni, head of the provincial council.
Taliban said it was responsible for both attacks. The group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said 35 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed in the attack in Kunduz and 17 in Baghlan.
Sources close to the talks in Doha said the Taliban had agreed internally to halt attacks against US forces and “reduce” assaults against Afghan government interests, but clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces have risen.
Afghan forces and the Taliban also clashed on Tuesday when security personnel tried to access the site of a crashed US military plane in central Afghanistan. US forces were later able to access the site and recover the remains of two personnel and what is believed to be the flight data recorder.
