UNITED KINGDOM
US spin doctor to aid Labour
David Axelrod, the mastermind behind US President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 election victories, is to advise Britain’s Labour Party in the run-up to next year’s general election, the party announced on Thursday. He is to work alongside shadow foreign secretary and election strategist Douglas Alexander until the vote, expected to take place in May next year. The party is also to use Axelrod’s consultancy firm AKVD as it looks to regain power from the Conservative-led coalition following election defeat in 2010. Labour Party leader Miliband called the appointment “excellent news.”
UNITED STATES
Chelsea Clinton pregnant
Chelsea Clinton announced on Thursday that she is pregnant with the first grandchild of former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Marc and I are very excited that we have our first child arriving later this year,” said Chelsea Clinton, 34, referring to her investment banker husband, Marc Mezvinsky, 36. Chelsea Clinton delivered the news with a broad smile at a New York City event on empowering women. The audience at “Girls: A No Ceilings Conversation,” organized by the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, immediately broke into applause and cheers.
IRAN
President touts moderacy
The nation’s president has underscored his moderate policies and outreach to the West during a military parade marking the country’s National Army Day. President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that Iran has no hostile intentions toward anyone in the world, including the US, which has long been considered an enemy. “We are not after war, we are after logic, we are after talks,” he said. The remarks were a stark contrast to his belligerent predecessor, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rouhani made no mention of archfoe Israel, but said Iran “will not invade any country,” although it would “resist any invasion.”
UNITED STATES
Wrongfully jailed awarded
Thirty years ago, a 16-year-old girl, Theresa Fusco, was found raped and strangled near the roller skating rink on Long Island where she worked. Not long afterward, prosecutors charged three men, who were convicted and went on to spend 18 years in prison. On Thursday afternoon, a federal jury awarded two of those men, John Restivo and Dennis Halstead, US$18 million each for a wrongful conviction by Nassau County and for the years they lost. The county dismissed charges against the three men in 2003 after DNA evidence indicated that the rape had been committed by someone else, who has never been identified. One of the three men, John Kogut, was retried and acquitted, but he lost his wrongful conviction lawsuit and is appealing.
UNITED STATES
Laptop lent to Clinton sold
The laptop computer that former president Bill Clinton used in 1998 to send the first-ever US presidential e-mail has sold for US$60,667 in an online auction, the Boston auction house that handled the transaction said on Thursday. RR Auction did not disclose the name of the buyer of the still-functional Toshiba Satellite that Clinton borrowed to e-mail astronaut John Glenn, who was orbiting Earth. The laptop, with accessories and full documentation, originally belonged to White House physician Robert Darling, who lent it to Clinton when NASA informed the president that Glenn wanted to swap e-mails.
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
‘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