BRUNEI
Helicopter crash kills 12
Twelve military personnel including six cadets were killed in an air force helicopter crash while flying home after jungle training, a spokesman said yesterday. The crash occurred on Friday in Kuala Belait. The defense ministry said the two survivors were in stable condition. The Bell 212 military aircraft was carrying 14 people, including the pilot.
FRANCE
Hollande lauds Thai PM
President Francois Hollande hailed Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s “commitments in favor of democracy and freedom” as they met in Paris on Friday, his office said. They agreed to “diversify economic relations” and discussed political, educational and cultural cooperation, a statement from Hollande’s office said. They also vowed to boost military ties and said their defense ministries would sign a cooperation agreement. Yingluck also met Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
POLAND
Monroe photos to be sold
The government plans to auction off part of a photographic collection that includes hundreds of photographs of Marilyn Monroe. The collection includes close to 4,000 photographs taken by the late celebrity photographer Milton Greene. Some are well-known images, but officials say they believe the collection might contain some previously unpublished works. The photographs ended up in the government’s possession as the result of a complex embezzlement scandal that shook the country in the early 1990s. A Chicago businessman accused of cheating the government out of millions of dollars gave the collection in partial repayment for the its loss. The collection is valued at US$680,000.
UNITED STATES
‘Goat man’ spotted in Utah
A man spotted dressed in a goat suit among a herd of wild goats in the mountains of northern Utah has wildlife officials worried he could be in danger as hunting season approaches. Phil Douglass of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said on Friday the person is doing nothing illegal, but he worries the so-called “goat man” is unaware of the dangers. Douglass said a man hiking last Sunday along Ben Lomond peak in the mountains above Ogden, about 64km north of Salt Lake City, spotted the person dressed like a goat among a herd of real goats. The person provided some blurry photographs to Douglass, who said they did not appear to have been altered. Coty Creighton, 33, spotted the goat man during his hike. He said he came across the herd, but noticed something odd about one goat that was trailing behind the rest. “I thought maybe it was injured,” Creighton said on Friday. “It just looked odd.” He said he pulled out binoculars to get a closer look at the herd about 200m away and was shocked. The man appeared to be acting like a goat while wearing the crudely made costume, which had fake horns and a cloth mask with cut-out eye holes, Creighton said. “I thought: ‘What is this guy doing?’” Creighton said. “He was actually on his hands and knees. He was climbing over rocks and bushes and pretty rough terrain on a steep hillside.” The man then appeared to spot Creighton. “He just stopped in his tracks and froze,” he said. Creighton moved down the mountain and hid behind a tree, then began snapping photographs. The goat man then put his mask back on, Creighton said, got back down on his hands and knees and scurried to catch up with the herd. “We were the only ones around for miles,” Creighton said. “It was real creepy.”
‘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