PUERTO RICO
Corpses rescued from flood
Authorities have removed at least 59 corpses from a flooded cemetery in the central mountain town of Lares as heavy rains continue to pelt the island. Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla on Saturday said ongoing downpours have exposed caskets and caused small landslides in the area. He signed an executive order to activate the National Guard to help with the situation. Emergency management director Miguel Rios said new burial spots will be found for the more than 100 corpses. Garcia said the Institute of Forensic Science has sent a refrigerated truck to Lares to help prevent the bodies from decomposing further.
ISRAEL
PM criticized for plane bed
Officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will use alternate sleeping arrangements when traveling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customized bed on a recent flight to London. Channel 10 TV said Netanyahu spent US$127,000 in public funds during a five-hour flight to attend former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. Netanyahu’s office initially defended the decision, saying he had a busy schedule and needed to be fresh for important meetings in Britain. However, following a public uproar, officials close to Netanyahu said he had been unaware of the cost, and once informed, he ordered the bed be canceled on all future flights. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
CUBA
Gay rights activists march
About 500 people marched through Havana on Saturday to the rhythm of conga drums in an early celebration of the international day against homophobia. President Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela led the procession of gays and their supporters, some of whom chanted “Homophobia no! Socialism yes!” She is the head of the National Sexual Education Center and a leading campaigner for gay rights. She says she is optimistic the country will eventually legalize gay marriage. “What is most complicated is the time it takes to overcome prejudices,” she said. Promoters plan a series of expositions and conferences leading up to another celebration in the city of Ciego de Avila on the day against homophobia itself, which falls on Friday.
MEXICO
Spanish businessmen killed
Police on Saturday found the bodies of two Spanish businessmen in a car dumped in a canal in Sinaloa state. The men were handcuffed and had been shot. The prosecutor’s office said the victims were 57-year-old Fernando Carmona and 58-year-old Jose Montoya, who had both been living in Guadalajara. Prosecutor Julio Cesar Romanillo said the two men went missing a week ago after they left a hotel in Culiacan to visit a couple of nearby towns. Authorities said the businessmen sold clothing for a living and were in Sinaloa to sell jackets.
VATICAN
Pope canonizes first saints
Pope Francis yesterday created the first saints of his reign, canonizing about 800 Italian martyrs who refused to convert to Islam in the 15th century, as well as a Colombian and a Mexican who founded congregations. Thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square to attend the service to formally bestow the sainthoods, which had been approved by Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI. Scores of Colombians and Mexicans traveled to the Vatican to attend the canonizations by Francis, the first Latin American pope.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
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