UNITED STATES
Alleged dirty cash uncovered
Federal agents who seized more than US$4 million in US banknotes shipped from Alfredo Piano’s Buenos Aires bank uncovered what they claimed was a cache of dirty money. Piano, an 82-year-old Argentine banker, said many of the US$100 bills were filthy, yes — and others had been ravaged by fire, water and even dogs. Piano’s banknotes became the subject of recent scrutiny in federal court in Washington, where the bills were named defendants in a lawsuit called “US versus US$4,245,800 in Mutilated United States Currency.” In it, the authorities alleged that the tattered cash that Piano’s Banco Piano SA had tried to exchange at face value was likely the proceeds of criminal activity.
UNITED STATES
Haiti benefit raises US$5m
Celebrities Bette Midler, Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Piers Morgan, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Kathryn Bigelow and Emma Thompson were among the guests at US actor Sean Penn’s third annual Help Haiti Home benefit, which raised more than US$5 million for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. The dinner party at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, included a surprise performance by U2 — the band’s first in four years.
GUATAMALA
Cocaine plane caught
Authorities have found half a tonne of cocaine on a plane from Venezuela in the latest high-profile drugs haul in the region, authorities said on Sunday. Two people were also arrested during Saturday’s capture, the Venezuelan Attorney-General’s Office said in a brief statement announcing an investigation into the affair. President Otto Perez said on Saturday: “We are on alert and we will be reviewing processes to make sure these planes do not enter Guatemala.”
VENEZUELA
Pet food price caps mulled
The nation’s socialist revolution is going to the dogs — literally. President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday ordered aides to study extending price caps to dog and cat food as part of the government-funded Mission Nevado campaign to rescue an uncontrolled population of street animals in cities. At an event in Caracas with animal rights activists, the president adopted a gray-and-white calico cat. He said taking care of neglected animals represents the noblest sentiments of the revolution started by his predecessor, former president Hugo Chavez. The Mission Nevado honors the canine sidekick of 19th-century South American liberator Simon Bolivar.
GREECE
Golden Dawn MP detained
Another Golden Dawn MP was placed behind bars on Sunday, meaning a third of the far-right party’s 18 lawmakers are currently being held in pre-trial detention. Continuing a crackdown against Golden Dawn, Stathis Boukouras was remanded in custody on Sunday afternoon, court officials said. He joined two other MPs, Giorgos Germenis and Panayiotis Iliopoulos, who were also put behind bars at the weekend. All three face charges of joining and directing a criminal organization. In response to his client being placed in custody, Boukouras’s lawyer, Alexis Kougias, said that “Greece is heading to a democratic breakdown.” Three other Golden Dawn MPs, among them the leader Nikos Michaloliakos, have been put in custody since September last year.
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
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
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