UNITED STATES
Foley family celebrates life
The family of murdered journalist James Foley on Sunday prayed for the safety of his fellow hostages, as hundreds gathered for a Mass to celebrate his life as a witness on the front line. Foley was kidnapped in late 2012 in northern Syria by the jihadist group that now dubs itself the Islamic State and which this week released a video showing him being beheaded. His parents said the death should serve as a challenge to others to match the courage and humanity Foley had shown reporting on the fate of beleaguered civilian populations in Libya and Syria. As the Mass was under way at the church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Rochester, New Hampshire, another US reporter was released. Peter Theo Curtis, 45, was released after two years held by a different Syrian group, but other hostages remain in the country, including Foley’s former cellmate Steven Sotloff, who was threatened with death in the video released last week.
UNITED KINGDOM
Clegg to meet Indian PM
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday began a trade mission to India, where he was to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote economic ties. The three-day visit by a 40-strong delegation is the latest in a series of similar trips by Prime Minister David Cameron’s government, which is keen to foster closer links with the world’s largest democracy. British retail, aerospace and education businesses are expected to sign deals and explore opportunities with Indian counterparts during the trip.
UNITED STATES
Hip-hop record exec shot
The hip-hop mogul Marion Knight, known as Suge, a founder of the Death Row Records label, was shot early on Sunday at a West Hollywood, California, nightclub. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Knight, 49, another man and a woman were shot at 1:37am at the 1Oak nightclub on Sunset Boulevard. Suspects have yet to be identified, and an investigation is continuing, said Jeff Gordon, a sheriff’s deputy. In a video posted by TMZ, Knight appears to be getting into a sheriff’s car and waiting for an ambulance to arrive. TMZ and other Web sites reported that Knight was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was said to be recovering from surgery in intensive care. Citing privacy rules, a hospital spokeswoman said she could not provide any information.
UNITED STATES
Cyrus wins top MTV prize
Pop diva Miley Cyrus won Video of the Year for Wrecking Ball at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards outside Los Angeles, which gave pride of place to the rising generation of pop stars. The music video for Wrecking Ball was directed by fashion photographer Terry Richardson and shows the 21-year-old singer in skin-tight white underwear and cropped top, swinging suggestively from a wrecking ball. The former idol of tween girls sent a homeless man to accept her award, who spoke out for the 1.6 million homeless and runaway children and teens in the US, as a teary-eyed Cyrus listened. Rapper Common asked for a moment of silence in memory of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager killed by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri. Rapper Drake won Best Hip-Hop Video for Hold On (We’re Going Home). Pop princess Katy Perry won the trophy for Best Female Video with her song Dark Horse, featuring rapper Juicy J. The men’s category was won by Ed Sheeran, 23, for his “Sing,” a duet which he recorded with Pharrell Williams.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing