COSTA RICA
Outsider wins presidency
A candidate who was virtually unknown just months ago was elected president on Sunday, becoming the first third-party member to win the highest office in decades. Luis Guillermo Solis of the moderate Citizen Action Party soundly defeated ruling party candidate Johnny Araya in a run-off vote that followed a first round of balloting on Feb. 2. Araya dropped out of the race last month when surveys showed he had no chance of winning, but his name remained on the ballot.
LIBYA
Militia agree to oil deal
The country’s main militia in the east agreed on Sunday to hand back control of four oil terminals it captured and shut down last summer in its demand for a share of oil revenues, the official news agency LANA quoted Justice Minister Salah Margani as saying. The militia would immediately hand over the terminals of Zuwaitina and al-Hariga. Two other oil terminals, Ras Lanouf and Sidrah, would be returned to government control in two to four weeks, LANA said. The deal was signed by Ibrahim Jedran, head of a movement demanding more autonomy for eastern Libya, it said.
UAE
Maid torturer gets 15 years
A Dubai court has upheld a 15-year jail term for an Emirati woman who tortured her Ethiopian maid to death by forcing her to drink pesticide, media reported yesterday. Her husband, also an Emirati, was jailed for three years for “aiding and abetting the crime,” Gulf News reported. The husband had confined the maids to a room in the couple’s villa and sealed the windows, it said. The Filipina maid testified at Sunday’s hearing that the housewife beat them with sticks, banged their heads against walls until they bled and forced them to drink detergent because she disapproved of the way the bathroom was cleaned. “She used to strip us, take pictures of us naked and threaten to send them to our friends,” the daily quoted her as saying.
PHILIPPINES
Diplomat may face charges
Police yesterday said they have detained and filed a complaint of child trafficking against a vacationing Italian diplomat found at a resort south of Manila allegedly in the company of three street boys aged nine to 12. Senior Superintendent Romulo Sapitula said the diplomat was based in Turkmenistan. Members of the child rights group Bahay Tuluyan who were on an outing in the same resort in Laguna became suspicious and alerted authorities, he said. Sapitula, the provincial police chief, said their investigation showed that prior to bringing the children to Laguna, the diplomat took them to his accommodation in Manila. The Italian embassy in Manila was aware that police have taken the man into custody, but it did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
UnITED STATES
Street party turns violent
At least 44 people were injured and more than 100 were arrested after a California student street party turned into a huge brawl, police said on Sunday. A spring break party in Isla Vista drew about 15,000 people and a “major disturbance” broke out after a University of California Santa Barbara Police officer was hit on the head with a backpack filled with large bottles of alcohol. As the authorities moved in to make arrests, “a large crowd gathered for several blocks and threw objects at law enforcement personnel, including rocks, bricks and bottles,” the sheriff’s office said. Partygoers ripped up stop signs, lit small fires and damaged property, including officers’ vehicles.
‘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