An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane’s cargo hold, officials said on Wednesday. The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley. The snake turned out to be a harmless 60-centimeter (2-foot) green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold. “It wasn’t until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn’t venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous...
Turkey Detains 120 Opposition Officials Including Former Mayor
Turkish authorities on Tuesday detained a former mayor and dozens of municipality officials in the western city of Izmir over alleged corruption, extending a crackdown against the country’s main opposition party. Police detained 120 officials from the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, including former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer and the party’s provincial leader Senol Aslanoglu, state-run Anadolu Agency said. In total, the Izmir Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants against 157 officials as part of an investigation into alleged rigging of municipality tenders and fraud, it added. Officials from CHP-controlled municipalities in Istanbul and elsewhere have faced waves of arrests this...
UPenn To Update Swimming Records Set By Lia Thomas, Settling With Feds On Transgender Athletes Case
The University of Pennsylvania says it will update records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by Thomas’ participation on the women’s swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case. The U.S. Education Department and Penn announced the voluntary agreement Tuesday. The case focused on Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title. The department investigated Penn as part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls’ and...
Son Of Notorious Mexican Drug Kingpin “El Chapo” To Plead Guilty In US Drug Trafficking Case
The son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” intends to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges in the U.S., according to court documents filed Tuesday. Prosecutors allege Ovidio Guzman Lopez, along with his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, ran a faction of the cartel known as the “Chapitos,” or little Chapos, that exported fentanyl to the United States. Ovidio Guzman Lopez’s father is Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel who smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years. Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested in Mexico in 2023 and extradited to the United States. He...
Singapore Police Under New Law, Can Now Seize Bank Accounts To Stop Scams
Police in Singapore can now seize control of a person’s bank account and block money transfers if they suspect the person is being scammed, under a new law that kicked in on Tuesday. The move is aimed at addressing a common issue faced by the police where victims often refuse to believe they are being scammed despite warnings, authorities have said. The law was passed earlier this year by lawmakers, though some members of parliament have described the measure as intrusive. Singapore has seen a worsening problem with scams, which surged to a record S$1.1 billion ($860m; £630m) in 2024...