PERU
Thousands protest president
Thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets across the country to demand the resignation of embattled President Pedro Castillo, a leftist whose government is under investigation for corruption. Carrying the Andean nation’s vertically striped red-white-red flag and signs with anti-government slogans, protesters marched toward the opposition-dominated Congress in the capital, Lima. Castillo has called those who oppose his government “reactionaries” and “the enemies of people.” Police with helmets and plastic shields launched several tear gas canisters in an attempt to disperse the crowds. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
UNITED KINGDOM
Nurses vote to strike
Nurses across the UK have voted to strike in their first national action over a pay dispute, a media report said yesterday. The strike ballot among more than 300,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) was the biggest in the union’s 106-year history. “Our strike action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses — we have their support in doing this,” secretary Pat Cullen said. Although counting is still under way, the domestic PA news agency reported that RCN officials believed enough members had voted for winter industrial action, which is set to take place within a few weeks, possibly before Christmas. The RCN is campaigning for a pay rise of 5 percent above inflation.
CANADA
Montreal sees record heat
Temperatures in Montreal on Saturday reached an all-time high for November, as residents accustomed to bundling up for intense Canadian winters were hit with a wave of unseasonable warmth. Montreal, the largest city in Quebec Province, saw temperatures exceed 23°C, beating the last record set for the month in 2020. Average temperatures normally hover at about 8°C this time of year. Already in October temperatures were 2°C above normal.
VENEZUELA
Caracas rejects ICC decision
The government on Saturday rejected a decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to resume an investigation into alleged human rights violations by the country’s officials. ICC Prosecutor Karim Kham on Tuesday applied for authorization to continue the investigation after he had received “a significant amount of information provided by Venezuela to date, as well as other credible sources.” However, the government pushed back. In a statement, it called Kham’s vision “prejudiced” and vowed “to defend the truth and demonstrate the productive work of the authorities in the investigation of all the complaints of serious crimes against people” in the pre-trial chamber.
UNITED STATES
Aaron Carter dies aged 34
Aaron Carter, who won early fame as a child pop star and toured with his brother’s hit band, Backstreet Boys, before pursuing careers in rap and acting, was found dead in his home near Los Angeles on Saturday, according to media reports. A Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department spokesperson on Saturday afternoon confirmed that deputies had found a deceased person at Carter’s residence, and that homicide investigators were on their way to the scene, but said they could not provide further details. There were no reports that foul play was suspected in Carter’s death. Carter, 34, released his debut album in 1997 when he was just nine years old.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
FALLEN: The nine soldiers who were killed while carrying out combat and engineering tasks in Russia were given the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after carrying out duties in Russia, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday. In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) for “heroic” conduct and “mass heroism” in fulfilling orders issued by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during a 120-day overseas deployment. Video footage released by North Korea showed uniformed soldiers disembarking from an aircraft, Kim hugging a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials
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