■ UNITED STATE
Felix upped to category 2
Hurricane Felix, the second hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season, was upgraded yesterday to a category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 160kph, the National Hurricane Center reported. A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch remained in effect for the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao and a tropical storm watch remained in effect for Jamaica.
■ DENMARK
Protest turns violent
A protest by hundreds of youth activists turned violent early yesterday, with protesters setting fire to street barricades and cars and smashing shop windows, police said. One officer was injured and at least 25 people were arrested as riot police clashed with rock-throwing youth in the Norrebro district of Copenhagen, police spokesman Mads Firlings said. The unrest started after a demon-stration late on Saturday to commemorate the Youth House -- a makeshift cultural center for the city's anarchists and disaffected youth that was demolished in March. "It's six months since we cleared the house there, and they want to show they've not forgotten," Firlings said.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Flight crew member sedated
A South African Airways cabin crew attendant had to be restrained and sedated after an outburst during a flight from Lagos to Johannesburg, the airline said. The crew member "became abusive and threatening" shortly after takeoff at about midnight local time. The unidentified flight attendant was sedated by a medical doctor onboard to "ensure passenger safety and comfort." The flight attendant was arrested and taken into police custody at Tambo International Airport after landing, the airline said, without giving more details on the incident.
■ MEXICO
Henriette kills six
Six people died when rocks crushed their houses in a landslide in the Acapulco after Tropical Storm Henriette strafed the country's Pacific coast, local authorities said. Five of the dead were children, according to a report released by the city's civil protection authority. The town has many flimsy houses built on an outlying hillside, which makes them vulnerable to bad weather. The US National Hurricane Center warned that Henriette could become a full hurricane on Saturday night or yesterday. On Saturday afternoon, the center said Henriette was passing Mexico some 145km southwest of Manzanillo.
■ UNITED STATES
`Black Widow' wins again
When it comes to wolfing wings, Sonya Thomas is a wiz. The 48kg competitive eater who is called "The Black Widow" bested a dozen beefy rivals on Saturday night, scarfing 173 wings in 12 minutes to win the wing-eating contest at the National Buffalo Wing Festival as she did in 2004. That's 2.35kg of wings. Thomas, 40, who is originally from South Korea and now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, is "the crowd favorite," said Brian Kahle, spokesman for the annual event in the city where Buffalo wings were born. "It was 12 huge guys and her." Thomas has set numerous records in competitive eating events, including 37 hot dogs in 12 minutes; 35 bratwursts in 10 minutes; 11 pounds of cheesecake in 9 minutes and 44 lobsters in 12 minutes. She is ranked No. 5 by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese