20/01/2026

TUESDAY | JAN 20, 2026

FOLLOW

ON YOUTUBE

8

Malaysian Paper

/theSunMedia /

Harry, Elton John suing Daily Mail publisher

Boy ‘fighting for life’ after shark attack

SYDNEY: A 12-year-old boy is fighting for his life in hospital after being mauled by a large shark in Sydney Harbour, Australian police said yesterday. The marine predator struck on Sunday afternoon while the boy and his friends were jumping into the water off the harbour’s Shark Beach. “It was a horrendous scene at the time when police attended. We believe it was something like a bull shark that attacked the lower limbs of that boy,” said Superintendent Joseph McNulty, New South Wales marine area police commander. “That boy is fighting for his life now.” At the time of the attack, the children were leaping into the water off a 6m rock in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. Recent heavy rain had drained into the harbour, turning the water murky, police said. “We believe the combination of the brackish water, the fresh water, the actions of the splashing may have made that perfect storm environment for that shark attack,” McNulty told reporters. He praised the boy’s “gallant” young friends for going to his aid before police arrived. “He had been bitten by a large shark,” McNulty said. Officers pulled the unconscious child on to a police boat and gave him first aid, applying two tourniquets to stem the bleeding from the boy’s legs, he said. They tried to resuscitate the boy as they sped across the harbour to a wharf where ambulance paramedics were waiting. The child, confirmed by police to be 12 years old, is in intensive care at Sydney Children’s Hospital surrounded by family and friends, McNulty said. There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators’ encounters with humans. Increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures that appear to be swaying sharks’ migratory patterns may be contributing to a rise in attacks despite overfishing depleting some species, scientists say. A great white shark mauled surfer Mercury Psillakis to death at a popular northern Sydney ocean beach in September. Two months later, a bull shark killed a woman swimming north of Sydney. – AFP 4 held in drug raid SYDNEY: Police in the Australian state of Queensland have arrested four people after seizing more than 100kg of cannabis and several firearms. The Queensland Police Service said in a statement yesterday that the major organised crime squad executed search warrants on a property and vehicle in the town of Alligator Creek, over 1,000km northwest of Brisbane, on Tuesday. During the search, detectives located and seized 108kg of cannabis, almost 8kg of methamphetamine, 1kg of cocaine as well as four rifles, one handgun, ammunition and over A$400,000 (RM1.08 million) in cash. A 24-year-old man from the nearby city of Townsville was arrested and charged with 15 offences, including five counts of supplying dangerous drugs. Three others, two of whom were from Townsville, were also arrested and charged with a combined 19 offences relating to the possession and supply of drugs. – Bernama

o Associated Newspapers says claims are smears

for the death of his mother Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 as her vehicle sped away from photographers, is due to give evidence on Thursday, having in 2023 become the first British royal to appear in a witness box in 130 years during the MGN trial. Associated, whose titles have not hitherto been embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal which has hung over the British press for two decades, has denied its journalists were involved in any wrongdoing. The publisher says evidence from former private detectives, some of whom have been convicted of crimes and have been paid for their testimonies, was untrustworthy. It has also argued that the claimants, some of their rich supporters and members of a research team working for their lawyers were trying to reopen a public inquiry into press standards which was held almost 15 years ago after phone-hacking revelations. The judge, Matthew Nicklin, has said the trial will only focus on specific articles and whether they were based on information which was gathered unlawfully. – Reuters

material

illicitly

obtained

by

private

investigators. Both sides are likely to make allegations of dishonesty about the other. Not just reputations, but also legal costs running to tens of millions of dollars ride on the outcome. “This case asks whether Britain’s most influential publisher truly sailed through the phone-hacking era without touching the water or whether it simply avoided the spotlight,” media lawyer Mark Stephens said. “For the first time, the court will examine the evidence, the patterns, and the sourcing that have never before been tested.” For Harry, it is the final instalment of his legal war on the British tabloids, having said it was his mission to clean up the press and hold those in senior positions to account. He has already successfully sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, and he previously won an apology and admission of some wrongdoing from Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm which settled ahead of a trial a year ago. The prince, who has long blamed the press

LONDON: Prince Harry and six others including veteran pop star Elton John are suing the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers, for unlawful behaviour, ranging from hacking voicemail messages on their mobile phones to obtaining personal information such as financial or medical records by deception. Associated, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday , has rejected all the allegations, calling them preposterous smears, and argues they are part of a coordinated conspiracy against the press. In a trial expected to last nine weeks, lawyers for Harry, John and the other claimants – John’s husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence and former lawmaker Simon Hughes – will argue that Mail stories were based on Constructive dialogue need of the hour DAVOS: The 2026 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) opened yesterday in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, calling for constructive dialogue in a complex global landscape. A series of publications released by the WEF in the lead-up to the meeting indicated rising risks and downward pressure on the global economy in an increasingly contested and fragmented world. The latest Chief Economists’ Outlook pointed out that while the global economic outlook has improved modestly, uncertainty remains. Factors such as shifting asset valuations, rising debt, geoeconomic realignment and the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence are expected to continue affecting the world economy. Under the theme “A Spirit of Dialogue”, the five-day event has drawn nearly 3,000 leaders and experts to discuss five pressing global challenges, including enhancing cooperation, unlocking new sources of growth and deploying innovation at scale and responsibly. In a recent interview with Xinhua news agency, WEF President and CEO Borge Brende underscored the critical role of dialogue in today’s world. “In the World Economic Forum’s view, dialogue is not a luxury; it is a necessity,” he said. – Bernama

An activist holding a placard with a slogan against US President Donald Trump in Davos on Sunday. – REUTERSPIC

Japan PM calls for snap election on Feb 8 TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday she would dissolve parliament this week ahead of a snap election on Feb 8, hoping for a stronger mandate to push through her ambitious policy agenda. The country’s first woman leader is banking on her high poll numbers to lead the unpopular ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to victory.

“If the LDP can get a majority by itself in the lower house, that’ll help her pursue policies” without concessions to other parties, said Sadafumi Kawato, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo. Takaichi’s Cabinet approved a record US$768 billion (RM3.1 trillion) budget for the fiscal year from April 2026, and she has vowed to get parliamentary approval as soon as possible to address inflation and shore up the world’s fourth-largest economy. But opposition parties say Takaichi’s plan to dissolve the lower house risks delaying its passage. – AFP

campaigning to start on Jan 27 and voting and counting held on Feb 8.” The LDP has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades, albeit with frequent leadership changes. Takaichi was appointed premier in October, and her Cabinet is riding high in the polls despite her party’s flagging popularity. The ruling bloc, which includes coalition partner Japan Innovation Party, has only a slim majority in the lower house of parliament. This could hamper the passage of her policy agenda, including “proactive” fiscal spending and boosting the defence budget.

“Is Sanae Takaichi fit to be prime minister? I wanted to ask the sovereign people to decide,” she told a news conference. “Following the dissolution of the lower house on Jan 23, the schedule will be set for