the times | Thursday November 11 2021 2GM 37
World
A bird said to have the aerodynamics of
a jet fighter has been tracked flying
non-stop more than 8,000 miles from
Alaska to Australia, setting a world
record for continuous avian flight.
It was the second time the bird had
broken the world record.
The bar-tailed godwit left southwest
Alaska for its summer grounds in New
Zealand on September 17 but hit strong
winds over the Pacific, south of Fiji,
forcing a detour far west to Australia.
Carrying a tiny solar-powered satel-
lite tracking device, it landed at Tweed
Heads, 500 miles north of Sydney at
about 9.30am on September 27. The
godwit, tagged as 4BBRW, had flown
non-stop for 8,108 miles and been aloft
for 239 hours.
By chance, Geoff White, an Austra-
lian bird photographer, spied the satel-
lite transmitter on the bird five hours
after it landed at an estuary near the
border of Queensland and New South
Wales, taking a series of close up pic-
all for now. Thank you very much.”
Nominations for next May’s election
closed last month but as long as they act
by November 15, parties can substitute
one candidate for another. This tactic
was employed by Rodrigo Duterte six
years ago, in an effort to throw his polit-
ical opponents off guard.
In the build-up to the deadline, mem-
bers of the Duterte family have made a
series of confusing and contradictory
statements. In September Rodrigo, 76,
said that he would run for vice-presi-
dent. Recently he has said he might
seek election to the Senate.
Either position could protect him
from an International Criminal Court
investigation into crimes against hu-
manity committed during his murder-
ous “war on drugs”. Having a daughter
as president would also help.
Other candidates include the former
world boxing champion Manny Pac-
quiao, and the mayor of Manila, Fran-
cisco Domagoso.Troops bribed
their way on
to tours of
duty in Syria
Russia
Marc Bennetts Moscow
Dozens of Russian soldiers have been
convicted of trying to bribe their way
onto tours of duty in war-torn Syria to
receive higher salaries and increased
benefits.
More than 30 servicemen paid Ivan
Zharkov, a military lawyer, sums of
between 20,000 and 40,000 roubles
(£209 and £418) in unsuccessful bids to
ensure that they would be deployed to
Russia’s bases in the country, according
to a report by the Kommersant business
newspaper.
Investigators said the soldiers, who
included both army privates and offi-
cers, wanted to go to Syria to receive the
“veteran of combat” status upon their
return, which entitles them to monthly
payments for life, an increased salary
and additional leave. They would also
have been entitled to daily allowances
while in Syria.
Privates who are deployed to Syria
are said to receive salaries of 200,000
roubles a month, while officers get up to
300,000 roubles, far more than the
average wages received by servicemen
based in Russia. The money is paid in
foreign currencies into Russian over-
seas banks.
The soldiers were each fined between
30,000 and 90,000 roubles by military
courts in Russia’s far-eastern region.
Zharkov, who is said to have three
previous convictions for similar
offences, was docked 10 per cent of
his monthly salary for the next six
months.
Russia has deployed tens of thou-
sands of military personnel to Syria
since its armed forces entered the
conflict in support of President Assad
in September 2015. Although military
service is compulsory in Russia, Mos-
cow has deployed only its professional
soldiers to Syria.
Russia operates a naval facility in
Tartus and an air base at the Hmeimim
air base in Latakia province. President
Putin has described the conflict in Syria
as a “priceless” opportunity to develop
the military’s fighting capabilities and
test new weaponry.Loreena von Bredow was murdered with her father, Bernard, left, at their home
in Aregua, Paraguay, last month. He was tortured and both of them were shotA bar-tailed godwit beat
its own migration recordThree Germans
arrested over
murder of top
palaeontologist
between 1700 and 1800, that he had
bought and repaired.
During a trip back to Germany Bred-
ow had left the instruments in the care
of an acquaintance called Yves Asriel
Spartacus Steinmetz, 60, investigators
told the ABC Color newspaper. Stein-
metz is claimed to have given the valua-
bles to an accomplice, named by local
media as Volker Grannass, 68, and then
falsely claimed that they had been de-
stroyed in a house fire.
The pair then allegedly realised they
could not get a good price for the instru-
ments without documents certifying
their provenance. The market value of
the instruments remains unclear.
“They already had the violins, but the
certificates were missing,” Sandro Le-
desma, the prosecutor leading the case,
said yesterday.
Prosecutors believe they broke into
Bredow’s house and tortured him in an
attempt to locate the papers. They then
appear to have marched him into the
bathroom, made him kneel and shot
him in the back of the neck. One of the
three suspects allegedly then called
the police and claimed to have dis-
covered the Bredows’ bodies.
In a raid on Grannass’s house
police found the missing instru-
ments and ten rifles and shotguns.
They also arrested Stephan Messing,
51, who is accused of trying to hide
the murder weapon.
None of the suspects has
yet issued a public response
to the allegations.
The Paraguayan justice
ministry said it had ap-
pealed through Interpol
for their phone and
travel records.
“It’s like something
out of a movie,” a min-
istry spokesman told
Última Hora.Paraguay
Oliver Moody Berlin
Three German expatriates in Paraguay
have been arrested in connection with
the murders of a German palaeontolo-
gist and his 14-year-old daughter, who
were apparently killed in an attempt to
claim the rights his collection of rare
18th-century instruments.
Bernard von Bredow, 62, was tor-
tured and shot dead at his home in
Aregua, a town about 20 miles outside
the capital, Asuncion, on October 22.
His daughter, Loreena, was killed with
a single shot to the stomach and
dumped in the bathtub, according to
local investigators.
Bredow, originally from Siegsdorf,
Bavaria, was a self-taught expert on the
archaeology of the last Ice Age and was
known in Germany for discovering the
remains of an entire woolly mammoth
when he was 16.
He also fashioned a full-sized replica
of the Condover mammoth, discovered
at a Shropshire gravel pit in 1986, which
is still on display in the town of Cra-
ven Arms.
Bredow is believed to have
moved to Paraguay in 2016 and
built a two-storey house sur-
rounded by a brick
perimeter wall. He
also maintained a
museum of his
finds in Bavaria
until it had to
close during the
pandemic.
Paraguayan
police have ar-
rested three of his
compatriots, who are ac-
cused of forming a con-
spiracy to kill Bredow
for four vintage violins
and cellos, dated to
three suspects all
the police and c
covered the Bre
In a raid on
police found th
ments and ten ri
They also arrested
5 1, who is accuse
the murder
None o
yet issue
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istry
Últiyyin the town of Cra-believed to have
guay in 2016 and
orey house sur-
a brick
l. He
ed a
his
aria
to
hear-
of his
ho are ac-
ng a con-
Bredow
e violins
ated totures. Only later when he
checked 4BBRW’s tag
reference online did he
realise its importance
to birdwatchers.
Godwit 4BBRW last
year broke the worldDuterte’s daughter poised
to enter presidential race
Philippines
Richard Lloyd Parry Asia EditorBird joins the jet set with record flight
record, set by a female godwit 13 years
before, for the longest non-stop flight
when he flew continuously 7,500 miles
from Alaska to New Zealand. The bird’s
first world record was beaten by about
125 miles when another female godwit
landed in New Zealand from Alaska
early on September 26. The next day,
4BBRW’s latest flight ended in Austra-
lia, returning him the record.
He has since flown on 1,200 miles to
New Zealand. Professor Phil Battley, an
ornithologist who has studied the mi-
gration of godwits, highlighted the
bird’s “ego, his competitiveness and his
inability to let others shine”.
Godwits are often likened
to a jet fighter because of
their long, pointed wings
and sleek shape. Bar-
tailed males weigh on
average up to 400g and
fill up on molluscs,
worms and aquatic in-
sects before long flights,
often doubling their size.
They can shrink internal
organs to lighten their load.Australia
Bernard Lagan Sydney
The daughter of President Duterte of
the Philippines has added to specula-
tion that she will make a last-minute
run to replace her father, a move that
would transform the crowded field for
next year’s presidential election.
Sara Duterte, 43, abruptly withdrew
her candidacy for re-election to her
current job as mayor of Davao, the city
in the southern Philippines from which
her father also launched his political
career. It is widely seen as a prelude to
entering the presidential race before
the final deadline for registering a can-
didacy on Monday.
Duterte made a curt announcement
on social media that she would be re-
placed in the election for mayor by her
brother, Sebastian “Baste” Duterte.
“This afternoon, I am withdrawing
my candidacy for mayor of Davao city,”
she said. “Baste will replace me. This isPacific
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