■ BOSNIA
Jolie to star in Balkan film
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has announced she is to star in a romantic film to be shot in the Balkans, as she made a surprise visit to Sarajevo. “Upon leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday, Angelina Jolie stated that she will be in the region working on a film this fall,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, for whom Jolie works as a goodwill ambassador. “The film is a love story set during the Bosnian war of 1992 to 1995, focusing on a couple who meet on the eve of the war and the effect the war has on their relationship,” it said. Jolie stressed that the film would not carry any political messages and added that the cast would be drawn from the different ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Connolly awarded honor
Comedian Billy Connolly was looking forward on Saturday to exercising his new rights to graze animals in the middle of Glasgow after he was awarded the freedom of his native city. The 67-year-old, whose popularity has spread as far as Australia, is one of the country’s best-loved stand-up comics. His new honor brings with it various antiquated privileges and duties, including the right to fish in the River Clyde and graze livestock on common land. “I am completely blown away. I am thrilled,” Connolly said. “Apparently I have to defend Glasgow if called to, which I am perfectly prepared to do. But if I commit a crime and am flung in jail, I am entitled to a cell of my own, which I would like more than anything.” Glasgow’s Lord Provost Bob Winter said: “Billy Connolly is arguably the world’s best-known Glaswegian and is truly deserving of the freedom of the city ... He has shown the world the unique humor, generosity and resilience of Glaswegians.”
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Al-Fayed burns warrants
Mohamed al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, said yesterday he had the London emporium’s royal warrants taken down and burned. The Egyptian tycoon, in a letter to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, called the endorsements a “curse” on the luxury department store. A royal warrant allows a supplier to advertise that they are used by the royal family. The Harrods warrants were from Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip, the queen’s mother and Prince Charles. “I ordered their removal. Later, I had them burned. They were a curse and business tripled following their removal,” al-Fayed said. The royal warrants were removed from Harrods in 2000. Al-Fayed has consistently attacked the royal family with a variety of claims since the death of his son Dodi Fayed and Diana, princess of Wales, in a Paris car crash in 1997.
■ BELGIUM
Singer plunges to death
The lead singer of a British pop trio climbed a telecommunications mast behind the main stage at a rock festival and leaped to his death in the parking lot below, police said on Saturday. Twenty-two-year-old Charles Haddon of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool died late on Friday during the Pukkelpop festival in the eastern town of Hasselt. District attorney Marc Rubens said police were treating the death as a suicide. Festival organizers said Haddon’s family has been notified. On Thursday, Michael Been, frontman for the US group The Call, died of an apparent heart attack at the same festival. The 60-year-old was working as the soundman for his son’s band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
■ BOSNIA
Jolie to star in Balkan film
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has announced she is to star in a romantic film to be shot in the Balkans, as she made a surprise visit to Sarajevo. “Upon leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday, Angelina Jolie stated that she will be in the region working on a film this fall,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, for whom Jolie works as a goodwill ambassador. “The film is a love story set during the Bosnian war of 1992 to 1995, focusing on a couple who meet on the eve of the war and the effect the war has on their relationship,” it said. Jolie stressed that the film would not carry any political messages and added that the cast would be drawn from the different ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Connolly awarded honor
Comedian Billy Connolly was looking forward on Saturday to exercising his new rights to graze animals in the middle of Glasgow after he was awarded the freedom of his native city. The 67-year-old, whose popularity has spread as far as Australia, is one of the country’s best-loved stand-up comics. His new honor brings with it various antiquated privileges and duties, including the right to fish in the River Clyde and graze livestock on common land. “I am completely blown away. I am thrilled,” Connolly said. “Apparently I have to defend Glasgow if called to, which I am perfectly prepared to do. But if I commit a crime and am flung in jail, I am entitled to a cell of my own, which I would like more than anything.” Glasgow’s Lord Provost Bob Winter said: “Billy Connolly is arguably the world’s best-known Glaswegian and is truly deserving of the freedom of the city ... He has shown the world the unique humor, generosity and resilience of Glaswegians.”
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Al-Fayed burns warrants
Mohamed al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, said yesterday he had the London emporium’s royal warrants taken down and burned. The Egyptian tycoon, in a letter to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, called the endorsements a “curse” on the luxury department store. A royal warrant allows a supplier to advertise that they are used by the royal family. The Harrods warrants were from Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip, the queen’s mother and Prince Charles. “I ordered their removal. Later, I had them burned. They were a curse and business tripled following their removal,” al-Fayed said. The royal warrants were removed from Harrods in 2000. Al-Fayed has consistently attacked the royal family with a variety of claims since the death of his son Dodi Fayed and Diana, princess of Wales, in a Paris car crash in 1997.
■ BELGIUM
Singer plunges to death
The lead singer of a British pop trio climbed a telecommunications mast behind the main stage at a rock festival and leaped to his death in the parking lot below, police said on Saturday. Twenty-two-year-old Charles Haddon of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool died late on Friday during the Pukkelpop festival in the eastern town of Hasselt. District attorney Marc Rubens said police were treating the death as a suicide. Festival organizers said Haddon’s family has been notified. On Thursday, Michael Been, frontman for the US group The Call, died of an apparent heart attack at the same festival. The 60-year-old was working as the soundman for his son’s band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
■ UNITED STATES
TV’s Harold Dow dies
Emmy-winning CBS News correspondent Harold Dow, who helped shape the documentary program 48 Hours and covered the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has died. He was 62. Dow died suddenly on Saturday morning in New Jersey, network spokeswoman Louise Bashi said. He lived in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he’d been at home. Dow had been a correspondent for 48 Hours since 1990. His nearly 40 years with the network also included reporting for CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and CBS News Sunday Morning. A 48 Hours report on runaways earned him a George Foster Peabody Award.
■ UNITED STATES
Judge orders written report
A Nevada judge has an unusual sentence for a 25-year-old Sacramento man who sold marijuana to a police informant in a casino parking lot. District Judge Dave Gamble ordered Matthew Palazzolo to write a report on what the judge called the “nonsensical character” of California’s medical marijuana law, the Gardnerville Record-Courier reported. Gamble gave Palazzolo 90 days to complete the paper discussing his realization that marijuana led him to use more powerful narcotics. Palazzolo, who works for a Sacramento law firm, was arrested outside a Stateline casino in February after selling the informant 0.11kg of pot for US$1,060. Palazzolo said he grew it after using complaints of a sore back to get a California medical marijuana card, but he said the pot was for recreational use.
■ UNITED STATES
Gallery displays portraits
Move over Martha Washington. Martha Stewart and Michelle Obama are getting space in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington for the first time. A new exhibit, “Americans Now,” opened on Friday featuring famous names from science, business, government and the arts. US President Barack Obama and the first lady are among those portrayed. It’s the first time Michelle Obama’s individual portrait has been shown at the gallery. Familiar names in the collection also include actor Tom Hanks and musician Willie Nelson. Video portraits in the exhibit feature late-night comedians Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman, as well as actor George Clooney and NBA star LeBron James. The portraits are on view through July next year.
■ UNITED STATES
Woman dies in manhole
A 23-year-old woman has drowned after getting trapped in an uncovered manhole during heavy rain in Illinois. Police say the woman and a man were riding in a car on Friday night and got stuck in a flooded viaduct. Both got out of the car to start pushing and the woman slipped into a manhole. She was submerged in water for about four minutes before the man and a police officer were able to free her. Police Lieutenant Jim Henry says the woman died at the scene. Her name has not been released.
■ MEXICO
Egg poachers detained
Police in say six suspects have been detained on the southern Pacific coast with 3,756 illegally harvested eggs from protected sea turtles. Guerrero State police say the six men were caught with the Olive Ridley turtle eggs in a coastal town east of the resort city of Acapulco. The eggs were stuffed in sacks and were apparently being transported for sale or consumption. Olive Ridley turtles are protected under law.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in