■UNITED KINGDOM
David Cameron grieving
Opposition leader David Cameron said on Saturday that the sudden death of his severely disabled son had left a hole in his life “so big that words can’t describe it.” In his first public comments on the death of his six-year-old son Ivan, who died in hospital on Wednesday, the Conservative Party leader said he and his wife Samantha were consoling themselves in the knowledge that their son’s suffering was over. Ivan Cameron had a rare epilepsy condition accompanied by severe cerebral palsy. In a weekly e-mail to party members, he said his family had always been acutely aware that Ivan might die young: “But we didn’t expect to lose him so young and so suddenly.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
Fat Duck food scare
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has temporarily shut down his Michelin-starred restaurant amid a food poisoning scare, media reported on Saturday. Blumenthal shut down The Fat Duck after dozens of guests reported feeling unwell. Health officials say initial tests came back negative, but Blumenthal decided to close the restaurant as a precaution. “We have done everything in our power and I’ve never come across anything like this before,” he was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as saying. “We called in the environmental health officers and they said it could be a nonspecific virus which is going around. But all our staff have been tested and nothing has shown up.”
■ROMANIA
Villagers build bridge
Tired of waiting for authorities to replace a bridge swept away last July by floods, villagers have finally given up — and built their own. The catch: They didn’t have a permit. Now they’re the subject of a criminal investigation. Prosecutor Viorel Damu said on Friday that police were trying to identify those who worked on the bridge, which was built in a single day, on Feb. 6. The guilty parties could be jailed for three years or fined up to 70,000 lei (US$21,000), he said. The mayor called that “absurd.” He said villagers tested the bridge and limited the allowable weight to 2.5 tonnes. And they’ll tear it down again, too, he said — just as soon as authorities find time build a new one.
■SPAIN
Regional elections open
More than 4 million people were eligible to cast ballots yesterday in regional elections in the separatist-minded Basque Country and Galicia in the first test of voter sentiment since the country plunged into recession late last year. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist Party is hoping to remain part of the governing coalition in Galicia in the northwest and score a historic victory in the Basque Country, a wealthy region bordering France. Voting stations opened in the two regions at 9am and closed at 8pm when local TV stations were expected to release the results of exit polls.
■MADAGASCAR
Opposition calls for protests
Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina called on Saturday for daily street protests until the president steps down, just a day after the UN said both men had agreed to more talks. A power struggle between the sacked mayor of the capital, Rajoelina, and President Marc Ravalomanana has caused weeks of civil unrest, killing about 125 people and devastating the Indian Ocean island’s US$390 million tourism sector. “From Monday, we will not stop [demonstrating] until we end this dictatorship,” Rajoelina, a 34-year-old former disc jockey, told about 10,000 opposition supporters gathered in central Antananarivo.
■UNITED STATES
Twins born from two wombs
A Marquette, Michigan, woman with two wombs has given birth to twin daughters — one from each uterus. The Mining Journal and WLUC-TV report that Sarah Reinfelder’s two healthy babies were delivered seven weeks premature on Thursday by Caesarean section at Marquette General Hospital. The 21-year-old Sault Ste. Marie woman has a condition known as uterus didelphys, and doctors say such twin births are rare. The uteri are different sizes, with the larger twin born from the larger uterus.
■UNITED STATES
Abortion rule may change
President Barack Obama’s administration took a first step on Friday toward rescinding a controversial rule mandated by the administration of former president George W. Bush that protects health workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other care on moral grounds. An official at the Department of Health and Human Services said the rule had “upset the balance” between allowing doctors to decline to provide abortions and protecting the rights of women to get the care they need. The law protects health care workers who do not want to perform abortions and the Bush administration rule that took effect on Jan. 20 went further by preventing hospitals, clinics and other groups that receive federal money from discriminating against workers who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable.
■COLOMBIA
Battles with FARC kill 11
The latest fighting between military forces and guerillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) left 11 people dead, authorities said on Saturday. The death toll comprised 10 alleged members of FARC, a Marxist group that has been waging a civil war for 45 years, and one government soldier, the military said in a statement. The reported battles in the Sumapaz region led to the capture of local FARC commander Mosquera Machado. President Alvaro Uribe called the capture a great success. Negro Antonio has been blamed for the slayings of several FARC captives.
■UNITED STATES
Woman tried to trade kids
Police in Louisiana have arrested a woman who allegedly traded two young children for an exotic bird and a bit of cash, the lead detective on the case said on Friday. Donna Greenwell, a 51-year-old trucker, has been charged with aggravated kidnapping after she allegedly swapped a four and five-year-old in her care for a cockatoo and US$175, the lead detective on the case, Keith Dupre, said. Greenwell saw an ad for the cockatoo and contacted 27-year-old Brandy Lynn Romero and her husband Paul, 46. “When Greenwell found out they were a childless couple, it led up to trading the bird for the kids,” Dupre said.
■UNITED STATES
Police test not a good idea
Authorities in California say a man wanted for a store robbery was arrested when he showed up to take a test to become a police officer. Chula Vista police spokesman Bernard Gonzales said investigators had identified Romeo Montillano as a suspect in a Dec. 8 robbery at a K-mart discount store. Gonzales says investigators learned that Montillano had signed up for a Police Department entrance exam. The 40-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday when he arrived to take the test. Gonzales said that when Montillano was taken into custody he asked if he would still be able to take the exam.
‘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