Foreign News
World record for matchstick Eiffel Tower after U-turn
A model of the Eiffel Tower has been officially deemed the world’s tallest matchstick building a day after being ruled out by Guinness World Records (GWR).
The 7.19m (23ft) tower had been disqualified on Wednesday for being made out of the wrong type of matches.
GWR said on Thursday it was too harsh at first and congratulated model-enthusiast Richard Plaud on his record.
Mr Plaud, 47, said this week had been an “emotional rollercoaster”.
It took Mr Plaud eight years to build the model, which is made out of 706,900 matches and 23kg of glue.
He began building the tower by cutting the red, sulphur tops off commercial matches – but soon realised this would be a long and tedious process. After contacting the manufacturer, Mr Plaud was sent kilos of plain wooden matches, and carried on building his model.
Mr Plaud, from Montpellier-de-Médillan in western France, completed the tower on 27 December and contacted GWR to authenticate his work. He was later told it had been rejected as only “commercially available” matches qualified for a record-breaker – but on Thursday, the organisation changed its mind.
Mark Mckinley from Guinness World Records said the organisation was “really excited to be able to approve it”. “We’re happy to be able to admit that we were a little bit too harsh on the type of matches needed in this attempt, and Richard’s attempt truly is officially amazing,” he added.
Mr Plaud hopes to put his tower on display in Paris for the Olympics in July.
The previous world record was held by Toufic Daher from Lebanon, who built a 6.53m (21ft) Eiffel Tower in 2009.
(BBC)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a former Navy commander to head the country’s domestic security services, despite the courts having blocked his bid to fire the previous head of Shin Bet.
Netanyahu’s office announced on Monday that he had nominated Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit to lead the agency, which surveils attacks from abroad and at home, including by armed groups based in Palestine and Lebanon. However, a halt to the sacking of Ronen Bar as head of Shin Bet, ordered by the Supreme Court, remains in place.
[Aljazeera]
The Trump administration has deported 17 more alleged gang members to El Salvador, the US state department has said, despite legal battles over removing people to the Central American country’s supermax prison.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group included members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs.
Salvadoran government officials told the BBC they included a mix of Venezuelans and Salvadorans.
Earlier this month a court ordered a halt to deportations carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law previously used only in wartime. However, US media, citing administration sources, reported that the recent deportations were made under general immigration laws.
In a statement, Rubio said the group included “murderers and rapists”, but did not provide names or details of the alleged crimes or of any convictions.
In a post on X, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele shared a dramatically edited video showing shackled men being loaded off a plane and their heads being shaved before they were put into prison cells.
“All individuals are confirmed murderers and high-profile offenders, including six child rapists,” he wrote. “This operation is another step in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.”
President Trump reposted the message, blamed the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden for allowing the deportees into the US and thanked Bukele for “giving them such a wonderful place to live”.
El Salvador has agreed to take in deportees in exchange for $6m (£4.6m).
Family members of some of those who were previously sent to the maximum security prison have denied they have any gang ties.
After Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove more than 100 Venezuelans from the US earlier this month, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge alleging the administration had illegally denied the immigrants due process.
In a hearing on 15 March, James Boasberg, the top federal judge in Washington DC, imposed a temporary restraining order on the use of the law and ordered deportation flights that were in the air to be turned around.
But the deportations proceeded. The next hearing in the case will be held on Thursday.
[BBC]
Foreign News
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for five years, meaning she would not be able to run in the 2027 French presidential election
She was found guilty of embezeeling European funds to finance her French far-right National Rally (RN) party.
[BBC]
US attacks kill 4 in Yemen as second aircraft carrier sent to Middle East
Former chief minister of North Central Province, SM Ranjith sentenced to 16 years RI
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