27/04/2026

MONDAY | APR 27, 2026

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SYDNEY: Great white sharks and bull sharks feeding on a washed-up whale carcass have forced the closure of a string of beaches south of Sydney, Australian wildlife and surf rescue authorities said yesterday. The 8m, 25 tonne sperm whale carcass was reportedly spotted on Saturday lying on wave swept rocks at Era beach in the coastal Royal National Park, leading to immediate beach closures. “There’s some great white sharks and there’s also some bull sharks being sighted there,” said Brendon Neilly, area manager for the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. “While they can be fairly dramatic and confronting events for people, they are eminently natural events, and so the whale carcass is being moved back into the food chain by the sharks,” he said. “So I wouldn’t be swimming there, but it’s a pretty interesting process.” Wildlife officials were working on strategies to dispose of the whale carcass, but probably not before tomorrow, Neilly said. Surf Life Saving NSW issued an alert advising that all beaches within the Royal National Park, including Era, Garie, Burning Palms and Wattamolla, were closed due to “increased shark activity”. “We can’t prevent people from going in the water but knowing just how many sharks are there and the reports of larger white and bull sharks in the water, they’re not the fish you want to be swimming in the same water with,”Surf Live Saving NSW chief executive Stephen Pearce told national broadcaster ABC. There have been nearly 1,300 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 260 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators’ encounters with humans. The most recent fatality was a 12-year-old boy who died after being attacked by a shark in Sydney Harbour in January. – AFP COLOMBO: Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested yesterday at the main international airport with 110kg of powerful cannabis, officials said. A Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said the group, returning home after a four-day holiday in the Thai capital, had Kush – a potent, plant-based strain of cannabis – hidden in their luggage. “Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic,” the spokesman said. They were to be taken before a magistrate later yesterday. The monks were mostly young students from temples across Sri Lanka and had been on a holiday sponsored by a businessman. Customs officials said it was the largest single detection of Kush at the airport. – AFP STRANDED HUMPBACK TO BE TOWED OUT WISMAR: A humpback whale stranded off the Baltic Sea island of Poel is set to be towed to the North Sea on a barge, organisers said on Saturday. Felix Bohnsack, technical lead of the private initiative behind the plan, said the whale could be transported over about three and a half days past Fehmarn to waters near Skagen, more than 400km away. Its condition would then be reassessed. Veterinarians involved believe the animal is fit for transport. The plan is to transport the 12-tonne male whale using a barge. If the whale swims away or cannot be loaded, a tracking device attached to the animal would help monitor its position. – Bernama Sydney beaches close as sharks feed on carcass 22 MONKS ARRESTED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING

Trump evacuated as shooter opens fire A suspect detained at the Washington Hilton. – DONALD J. TRUMP VIA TRUTH SOCIAL/HANDOUT/ REUTERSPIC

formal name, is a “sovereign country” and belongs to the world. “Our 23 million people have the right to engage with the international community. The greater the external pressure we face, the more courage and resolve we have,” he said in English. China denied pressuring the three countries but praised them for blocking flight permission. Lin did not offer details on his trip, saying only that his delegation “overcame all obstacles” to get to Eswatini in his capacity as Lai’s special envoy. – Reuters with guns drawn took position on the stage where Trump had been sitting during dinner before he was evacuated. Police surrounded the hotel, and helicopters hovered overhead. The security breach occurred after the welcoming speech and during dinner, before Trump was due to speak. Cabinet members were evacuated first as confusion and concern spread through the partying guests. One administration official, Mehmet Oz, told journalists “shots fired upstairs” as he was rushed out by security. Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing an audience member and lightly wounding the president in the ear. A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round. The Washington Hilton where Saturday’s gala was taking place was the site where Republican President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981. – AFP

and I feel that too,” he said, after posting video of the gunman sprinting past security as guards drew their weapons. The man was detained at the scene. Trump said one officer was shot at close range but appeared to not be critically injured. He said that the venue was “not a particularly secure” facility as questions swirled about the president’s safety. Trump said at the hastily arranged news conference that he first thought the noise was a tray being dropped before he realised it was gunfire. He said he planned to re-schedule the media gala within a month despite the security scare. City officials said the suspect, who will be arraigned in court today on firearm and assault charges, appeared to have been a guest at the hotel. He was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives. “Law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the individual,” Washington police chief Jeffrey Carroll told reporters. “A US Secret Service uniformed division officer was struck in his vest. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He appears to be in good spirits.” As the incident erupted, tactical teams

WASHINGTON: US Secret Service agents bundled Donald Trump from the stage as shots rang out on Saturday evening at a media gala, in what the president later described as an attack by a “would-be assassin”. Armed guards opened fire at the gunman who charged through a security checkpoint just outside the ballroom of the hotel where Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, senior government officials and hundreds of other black-tie guests had gathered. People dived under tables in chaotic scenes as Secret Service teams swarmed into the glitzy White House Correspondents’ Association dinner held annually at the Washington Hilton. “A man charged a security checkpoint armed with weapons, and he was taken down by the Secret Service,” Trump told a press conference at the White House shortly after the incident. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf, o Suspect to be charged for firearms, assault offences

BR I E F S

Taiwan foreign minister arrives in Eswatini TAIPEI: Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung arrived in Eswatini saying Taipei would not be held back by “authoritarian forces”, after the government accused China of pressuring three African states to block overflight permission for President Lai Ching-te. be a new Chinese strategy to curb the island’s international engagement. Late on Saturday Lin posted a picture on Facebook of himself getting off a private jet upon arrival in the small southern African kingdom, formerly known as Swaziland.

“In that moment, I felt the deep friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini that transcends distance, and I became even more convinced that Taiwan will not be held back by authoritarian forces,” he wrote. Lai, in a video message yesterday to King Mswati III for the 40th anniversary of his accession, said the Republic of China, Taiwan’s

Taiwan last week said the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar unilaterally revoked flight permits for its presidential aircraft to cross airspace they manage on a planned trip to Eswatini, one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies. It marked the first time a Taiwan president cancelled an entire foreign trip due to denial of airspace access, representing what appeared to