RUSSIA
Scores rescued from ice floe
Emergency services rescued 675 fishermen on Sunday from an ice floe that was drifting out to the Sea of Okhotsk. None of the rescued ice fishermen required medical treatment, the emergency services on Sakhalin Island said. About half of the 675 fishermen were picked up by helicopters and the others by boat. Ice fishermen routinely get stranded on ice floes in the country, especially in the spring as temperatures rise. Sunday’s operation was unusual only in the high number that had to be rescued. One of the rescued fishermen, Vladimir Vasilenko, said they should have known better than to go out on such a day. “Of course the wind was blowing from the shore. We should have thought that something could happen,” he said in a televised interview. “We also heard on the radio that it was the last chance for fishermen, and so we went fishing.”
FRANCE
Minimal interest in elections
Three weeks before the presidential election, a record number of voters are thinking of abstaining, testimony to widespread frustration with a lackluster campaign. An IFOP poll on Sunday said a record 32 percent of voters could abstain in the first round, up 3 percentage points from two weeks ago. Political analyst Vincent Tiberj, writing in Le Monde daily, said that voters seem to be bored with the campaign that had “failed to live up to its promises.” Neither President Nicolas Sarkozy nor Socialist Francois Hollande has excited much passion. With neither candidate likely to win an outright majority in the first round of voting, a second round, with just two candidates, will take place on May 6.
AFRICAN CONTINENT
High oil prices stunt growth
Developing countries in Africa received less in overseas aid last year than they paid for oil imports, International Energy Agency (IEA) figures showed yesterday. Sub-Saharan Africa received about US$15.6 billion in overseas development aid last year, but this was outweighed by the US$18 billion cost of importing oil. Even though overseas aid has increased, poor nations are effectively “running to stand still” in development terms, because they are paying so much for energy imports. With oil prices likely to remain high, the only answer is for developing countries to move to cleaner renewable sources of energy, IEA chief economist Fatih Birol said. When industrialized economies were developing, oil was the equivalent of US$13 a barrel, but now developing countries must pay US$120 to US$130, which leaves developing countries “hamstrung,” Birol said, adding that clean energy was imperative if more people were to be lifted out of poverty.
UNITED STATES
Skin cancer on the rise
Skin cancer is on the rise among young adults, according to a study published yesterday that suggests indoor tanning beds and childhood sunburns may be to blame. Between 1970 and 2009, the rate of melanoma among women increased eightfold and it quadrupled among men, according to the research by Mayo Clinic experts who studied all medical records for a county in Minnesota over that timespan. However, death rates from melanoma fell during the same period, suggesting that early interventions may be helping to save some lives, the researchers said. Although the study did not focus on reasons for the increase, lead investigator and Mayo Clinic dermatologist Jerry Brewer said other researchers have found that people who use indoor tanning beds are 74 percent more likely to get melanoma than non-tanners.
MEXICO
Miguel de la Madrid dies
Former president Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, who was faulted for his slow response to a massive 1985 earthquake, has died, sources close to his family told local media. He was 77. Born in Colima in the east on Dec. 12, 1934, De la Madrid studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and at Harvard University, going on to serve as finance minister from 1978 to 1981. Elected president in 1982, he opened up the economy, knocking down tariff barriers and bringing the nation into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the predecessor to the WTO, in 1986. However, his administration was also criticized for its handling of the magnitude 8.1 earthquake that struck Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, killing at least 6,000 people by the official count, and more than 30,000 by some estimates. Even as citizens mounted their own relief operations to help the homeless in the face of government inaction, De la Madrid barred the military from taking part and refused international aid.
UNITED STATES
Sandler sweeps razzies
Comedian Adam Sandler and his movie Jack and Jill swept the annual Razzies on Sunday, winning a record-breaking 10 awards for the worst film and performances of last year. The Golden Raspberry Foundation said the cross-dressing comedy, in which Sandler played both the male and female lead parts, was the first film in the 32-year history of the Razzies to sweep all 10 dishonorable categories. Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino was also declared a winner in the contest that was created as an antidote to the love-fest that engulfs Hollywood around awards season that ends with the Oscars in late February. This year, the awards were handed out on April Fool’s Day in a change of tradition that for years saw the Razzies announced on the eve of the Oscars.
JAMAICA
Huge marijuana bust
Two men have been arrested after police allegedly found nearly 453kg of marijuana in their car during a routine traffic stop in a southern parish. Authorities said on Sunday that police in the parish of Clarendon signaled the driver of a sedan to stop along a main road. Police allege that a subsequent search of the car led to the discovery of a large cache of marijuana packed in plastic bags. The motorist and a passenger were taken into custody.
UNITED STATES
Banjo picker remembered
Earl Scruggs was remembered as an influential, helpful and humble banjo player who put his own mark on bluegrass music. About 2,300 mourners attended Scruggs’ public funeral on Sunday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, where he played his songs for years on the Grand Ole Opry country music show and recorded his final album. On Sunday evening, the Academy of Country Music paid tribute to Scruggs at its annual awards show in Las Vegas. “No one will ever play the banjo like Earl,” Charlie Daniels, better known for his fiddle and guitar playing, told mourners in Nashville. Daniels recalled that when he was a young studio musician, Scruggs invited him to join the Earl Scruggs Revue. Scruggs, a four-time Grammy winner, died on Wednesday last week at age 88. The pioneering banjo player and his pickin’ partner Lester Flatt, a guitarist, had teamed up for 20 years to become the most famous duo in bluegrass history. Flatt and Scruggs were best known for their song The Ballad of Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies TV series.
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