MEXICO
Troops arrest ‘El Kilo’
Troops on Saturday arrested a suspected leader of the Zetas drug cartel believed to be the planner behind a group of mass graves found in the northeast of the country, the navy said. “We have taken into custody Martin Omar Estrada Luna, alias ‘El Kilo,’ a suspected leader of the Zetas in San Fernando,” the village in Tamaulipas State where the graves were found with the remains of at least 145 people this month, a navy statement said. The suspect detained was “apparently linked to the recent discovery of mass graves with bodies in them” in San Fernando, the statement said. Earlier, Navy chief Mariano Saynez said in a Twitter posting that Estrada Luna was suspected in last year’s deaths of 72 US-bound migrants found dead in the same town. Estrada Luna was one of six people arrested in the same operation on Saturday, the navy statement added. A series of bus hijackings alerted authorities who since April 1 have found about 20 mass graves in San Fernando.
UNITED STATES
Post office in stamp gaffe
The Postal Service had egg on its face on Friday after realizing that a stamp showing the Statue of Liberty in close up was not taken in New York’s harbor, but Las Vegas. The mix-up in the US$0.44 stamp meant that envelopes are in fact adorned with a replica of the famed statue in the Nevada gambling capital rather than the weathered and revered original in the Big Apple. A spokesman for the US Postal Service defiantly said that the picture was still a winner. “We still love the stamp design and would have selected this photograph anyway,” spokesman Roy Betts said in a statement. The post office said it “regrets the error” and was would work “to prevent this situation from happening in the future.”
CUBA
Jailed American files appeal
A US contractor jailed for distributing laptop computers has filed an appeal of his 15-year prison sentence, the head of the court said on Saturday. Alan Gross, 61, was convicted last month of “acts against the independence or territorial integrity” of the nation, in a case that strained already delicate relations between the US and the nation’s communist government. “An appeal has been presented. It has been placed at the disposal of judges who are dealing with the matter,” said Ruben Remigo Ferro, chief justice of the Supreme Court. Gross was arrested in December 2009 for allegedly delivering laptops and communications equipment to the small Jewish community, though the community’s leaders have denied that.
ISRAEL
Rabbi calls for spy’s release
Chief Ashkenazi rabbi Yonah Metzger yesterday called on US President Barack Obama to free Jewish-American spy Jonathan Pollard if he wants Jews to vote for his re-election. Public radio quoted Metzger as saying Obama should free Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel, before pushing the Jewish state into peace initiatives. “Obama should prove his friendship with Israel and immediately free Jonathan Pollard before applying pressure to advance diplomatic initiatives,” he said during a Friday sermon at a Jerusalem synagogue, public radio reported. Metzger warned Obama that he would do well to free Pollard if he wanted another term in the White House. “I’m not making a prophesy, but rather echoing the frustrations of numerous American Jews who voted for him and are disappointed by his lackadaisical approach to the numerous appeals for Pollard’s release,” he said.
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
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