The octopus that predicted Japan’s World Cup results has been killed, and former Malaysian prime minister arrested.
It could take months for Thai football team to be rescued from cave
The 12 boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand are alive and being cared for, but extraction is proving much harder than anticipated, reports the BBC.
It is believed that the group cannot swim, making the extraction complicated. The Thai military has announced that the boys will have to learn to dive, or wait up to four months for the flooding in the cave to recede. Underground water is being pumped from the caves to reduce the risk of further flooding, but rain has been forecast for the next few days.
The boys were trapped in the cave after heavy rains caused flooding, and the deluge is raising water levels and threatening the air pocket around the group. The rescuers confirmed that none of the members of the group is in a serious condition, and are providing them with specific foods to keep them healthy. Phone lines have also been set up so that the boys can communicate with their families.
Nigerian football team captain’s father was abducted before match with Argentina
“Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel faced Argentina on 26 June, knowing that his father was being held for ransom, but did not tell anyone about it as the kidnappers threatened to shoot ‘instantly’ if authorities were informed,” reports ESPN.
His father was rescued after a “gun duel” Monday in Egede, near the city of Udi, in Nigeria. The rescue was confirmed Tuesday.
Mikel apparently received a phone call demanding N10 million ($28,000), four hours before his World Cup match against Argentina in St. Petersburg.
“Mikel, speaking to KweséESPN after the rescue, said that he did not tell his bosses at the Nigeria Football Federation, nor did he tell coach Gernot Rohr, opting instead to keep it to himself and face Lionel Messi’s team as if nothing were amiss,” the report added.
“I was confused. I did not know what to do, but in the end I knew that I could not let 180 million Nigerians down,” Mikel said. “I had to shut it out of my head and go and represent my country first. I was told that they would shoot my dad instantly if I reported to the authorities or told anybody.”
Nigeria lost the match by one goal.
Trump wants NATO to spend more on defence
President Donald Trump sent “sharply worded letters” to NATO leaders, warning them that the US is losing patience with them and their apparent failure to meet security obligations, reports The New York Times.
The letters — to countries including Germany, Belgium, Norway and Canada — came ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit next week in Brussels. Trump has “repeatedly questioned” NATO’s value, and claimed that the alliance is taking advantage of the US.
“In his letters, the President hinted that after more than a year of public and private complaints that allies have not done enough to share the burden of collective defence, he may be considering a response, including adjusting the United States’ military presence around the world,” the report added.
“Growing frustration,” Trump wrote, “is not confined to our executive branch. The United States Congress is concerned, as well.”
Germany in the grips of a political crisis
The German political system is having a meltdown, mainly over immigration. In a major turnabout for a leader who staked her legacy on welcoming migrants, Chancellor Angela Merkel has agreed to build border camps for asylum seekers and tighten German borders.
Why? To save her government and survive, reports The New York Times. “There are real concerns that this could set off a cascading series of events that significantly degrade, and maybe even break, European unity.”
Merkel giving up on open borders means other, less stable, European countries will do the same. Closing Europe’s internal borders will put pressure on countries that first receive migrants and refugees, like Greece. The symbolism of this move brings Merkel’s Germany, “the ideological anchor of the European experiment, maybe of the entire liberal Western order — into sync with Viktor Orban’s Hungary, which is seen as representing the forces of nativism, nationalism and democratic backsliding”.
“Maybe it will keep borders open enough that the European Union as we know it basically survives, but closes them enough to quiet right-wing nativist sentiment. Or maybe Ms. Merkel has sacrificed something crucial — perhaps for good — for the sake of briefly forestalling her coalition’s inevitable collapse,” the report adds.
The Malaysian ex-PM has been arrested
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, facing corruption charges, was arrested Tuesday, reports The Star. He will be charged by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Wednesday.
Razak has been accused of siphoning off $700 million from the state development fund, 1MDB. Billions of dollars from the fund are still unaccounted for. Razak lost the elections in May over the allegations.
“Mr Najib has always denied the corruption charges and had been cleared by Malaysian authorities while in power, but he is being investigated by several other countries. He has been banned from leaving Malaysia,” reports the BBC.
Police also recovered luxury good and cash worth $273 million from his properties in a raid in June.
Japan’s ‘psychic’ FIFA octopus has been killed and eaten
“Rabiot, a giant Pacific octopus caught in Obira, Hokkaido, correctly ‘predicted’ that Japan would win against Colombia, draw with Senegal and lose to Poland — and it became a national sensation in the process,” reports Sports Illustrated.
For the predictions, the octopus would be placed in a pool with three baskets of food, which represented Japan winning, Japan losing, and a draw. The octopus would then swim towards a basket.
However, it was killed recently as “Kimio Abe, the fisherman who had caught Rabiot, decided that his business was more important than keeping the ‘psychic’ octopus alive for the knockout stages”.
The news came just as Japan lost to Belgium Monday.