UNITED KINGDOM
Nine arrested in sex sting
Nine men were released on bail after they were questioned by detectives investigating a suspected case of child sex abuse in northwest England, police said on Saturday. It is not yet clear if the arrests were related to the sentencing last week of nine other men convicted of luring girls as young as 13 years old into sex using alcohol and drugs. Both of the latest arrests and the child sex ring case took place in Rochdale, near Manchester. In the latest series of arrests, the men, aged 24 to 38, are suspected of sexual activity with a child, Manchester police said.
UNITED STATES
Wallenda practices for Falls
Nik Wallenda has performed his first practice walk on the tightrope he will use to walk above Niagara Falls next month. The Buffalo News reports a couple hundred people came out to watch Wallenda as he slowly crossed the 5cm steel cable strung between two cranes in front of the Seneca Niagara Casino. Wallenda stopped after walking about a third of the wire’s length because he could feel the cable moving beneath his feet. He later placed a short weighted pole on the cable to the prevent movement. Wallenda is a seventh-generation member of the famous daredevil family the Great Wallendas, also known as the Flying Wallendas. His high-wire walk is set for June 15. Wallenda would be the first to walk above the falls.
UNITED STATES
‘Shady’ book in gray area
The author of a book called Shades of Gray says her work is being confused with that of a chart-topping erotic fiction writer. Susanne Jacoby Hale, an author based in Florida, says she has received e-mails, Facebook messages and telephone calls from people thinking she wrote Fifty Shades of Grey. Fifty Shades of Grey, by British author E.L. James, has sold millions of copies and become a sensation among women drawn to the sadomasochistic romance between a college student and a wealthy entrepreneur. Hale’s book is about a dropout prevention teacher.
JAPAN
Bassist Donald Dunn dies
Bass player and songwriter Donald “Duck” Dunn, a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame band Booker T. and the MGs and the Blues Brothers band, has died in Tokyo. He was 70. Dunn was in Tokyo for a series of shows. News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep. Miho Harasawa, a spokeswoman for Tokyo Blue Note, the last venue Dunn played, confirmed he died alone early yesterday. She had no further details. Dunn, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1941, performed on recordings with Eric Clapton, Neil Young and many others, and specialized in blues, gospel and soul. He played himself in the 1980 hit movie The Blues Brothers. He received a lifetime achievement Grammy award in 2007 for his work with Booker T. and the MGs.
CUBA
Raul Castro backs gays
President Raul Castro backs greater gay rights and ending discrimination against homosexuals, his daughter Mariela, a famed sexologist, said on Saturday during a colorful gay rights march in Havana. “He has done some advocacy work, speaking of the need to make progress in terms of rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” Mariela Castro told reporters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing