COLOMBIA
Spain returns treasure trove
Spain on Monday returned almost 700 pieces of pre-Columbian art that it had seized more than a decade ago in a drug bust. The catalog of museum-worthy artifacts includes vases decorated with human faces, ceramic bowls decorated with geometric designs in ochre tones, musical instruments, necklaces and even small figures of people dating from 1400 BC up to the 16th century. “Recovering for our nation these 691 archeological treasures has a value that is really difficult to put any price on,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Angela Holguin said at a briefing, presenting 50 of the remarkable pieces. The artifacts — from Calima, Narino, San Agustin, Quimbaya, Sinu and other groups — had been spirited out of Colombia in 2001 before being seized from drug traffickers by Spanish authorities in 2003.
NICARAGUA
Four miners remain trapped
At least four miners are believed to remain trapped in a wildcat gold mine near Bonanza, about 420km northeast of Managua. Officials say rescue work remains dangerous and difficult in the water-logged work site. It was unclear exactly how many miners were missing because the workers were freelancers As many as eight men were feared missing. Rescue squad commander Javier Amaya said on Monday that oxygen levels in the partly collapsed mine remained good, but that their efforts were hampered by water and humidity. The miners have been trapped since Thursday last week when a landslide blocked the mine entrance.
FRANCE
Eight die in building blast
The death toll in the partial collapse of a four-story apartment building in a Paris suburb has risen to eight after emergency crews pulled the bodies of a man and a woman from the rubble. Fire department spokesman Gabriel Plus said the bodies were found on Monday in Rosny-sous-Bois, a town northeast of the capital. Officials said there was no longer any danger in the neighborhood after an explosion sheared off part of the building on Sunday. French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said a gas leak was believed to be the cause of the explosion.
RUSSIA
Space sex test geckos dead
Five geckos sent into orbit to test the effect of weightlessness on the small lizards’ sex lives have all died, the Russian space agency said on Monday. The Foton-M4 satellite on which the geckos spent the past month and a half returned to Earth as planned on Monday and the various species traveling aboard were removed. Interfax news agency later quoted an expert who worked on the mission as saying “that according to preliminary data it is becoming clear that the geckos froze” after their heating system failed. However, the fruit flies that were also traveling on the satellite survived and had reproduced, the space agency said.
GABON
Minister quits over exams
Leon Nzouba has resigned as education minister due to a scandal after hundreds of students failed the nation’s high-school exams, government spokeswoman Denise Mekamne said. Nzouba was heavily criticized for his handling of a dispute involving 900 students who were deemed to have failed their exams, but who challenged their grades. The students claim to have been penalized by recent reforms, meaning their marks obtained during previous years no longer count toward the final exam result. Nzouba initially awarded the students with the qualification following protests, before changing his mind.
‘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
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