UNITED STATES
Widower settles lawsuit
The widower of a sick woman booted off several flights allegedly because she was too fat has settled his lawsuit with airlines Lufthansa, Delta and KLM. Janos Soltesz’s wife, Vilma, 56, weighed more than 185kg, died in October 2012 in Hungary after she had been unable to return to New York to see her regular doctors. The husband had been seeking millions in damages from the three airlines, accusing them of “recklessness, carelessness, negligence” for refusing to transport his wife, allegedly because of her weight and disability, US court documents showed. The terms of the final deal were not made public.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Ashya arrives for treatment
Ashya King, the five-year-old cancer patient whose parents sparked an international manhunt after they took him from hospital in Britain, arrived in Prague on Monday for potentially life-saving treatment after leaving Spain. “I’m so happy. For one month, I’ve tried to get here and now we’ve arrived, it’s amazing,” Ashya’s father, Brett King, told reporters after landing in the Czech capital, where his son is scheduled to undergo alternative therapy. “When you see my son, you’ll see it’s worthwhile,” he said. Ashya underwent surgery for a brain tumor in his native Britain before his parents removed him from hospital and is now being prepared for proton beam therapy in Prague, a treatment that was unavailable to him at home. His parents said they took their son abroad to avoid radiotherapy treatment that they believed would turn him into a “vegetable.”
UNITED STATES
Ex-envoy contests freeze
Former ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad on Monday vowed to fight a decision by Austrian authorities to freeze bank accounts belonging to his wife. Lawyers for Khalilzad said in a statement that the diplomat and his wife, Cheryl Benard, were “vigorously contesting” the actions by Austrian prosecutors. The attorneys said that “for reasons that remain unclear” an Austrian prosecutor had frozen Benard’s accounts after receiving a request for information from the Department of Justice.
UNITED STATES
Man jailed for selling secrets
A former air force employee who tried to sell classified information about a military satellite network to China has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison. Brian Scott Orr of Marina del Rey was sentenced on Monday in Los Angeles. He was also fined US$10,000. Prosecutors say Orr was a former civilian employee with the Air Force Research Laboratory in New York who worked on a computer network used to control military satellites. Prosecutors say he lost his top secret clearance because of poor work performance and odd behavior, resigned in 2011, but kept some restricted training materials. Prosecutors say he sold the information last year for US$5,000 to an FBI agent he believed was a Chinese spy. Orr pleaded guilty to retention of stolen government property.
CANADA
Russian jets buzz frigate
A Canadian navy frigate taking part in a NATO exercise in the Black Sea was buzzed by three Russian military jets off the southern coast of Ukraine in an “unnecessarily provocative” incident, Minister of Defense Rob Nicholson said on Monday. While the incident on Sunday did not pose a threat, Nicholson said it risks escalating tensions in the region even further at a time when a fragile ceasefire is just taking hold. Two Russian Su-24 Fencer fighter jets and a surveillance plane buzzed the frigate.
AUSTRALIA
Man dies after shark attack
A man was killed yesterday in a shark attack at Byron Bay despite a beachgoer’s rescue attempt, police said. Mark Hickey swam 15m to 20m from the shore of Clarkes Beach to retrieve the victim, a local man in his 50s, who had sustained severe wounds to his right leg, Police Inspector Bobbie Cullen said. “A gentleman who was on the beach went out and located the gentleman and pulled him in,” Cullen said. “Absolutely it is [an extraordinary act of bravery] and we can only thank him for his efforts.” Hickey, a lawyer on vacation, told Ten Network television news that he saw the shark and its bloodied victim and swam out to try to attempt a rescue as the shark attacked again. “I went out there and, I don’t know, I just thought I’ve got to get this guy in and that’s what I tried to do,” Hickey said. He said he dragged the victim onto the beach and attempted to resuscitate him for 20 minutes, but the man had apparently bled to death in the water.
INDIA
Flood toll climbs above 400
The death toll from floods in New-Delhi-ruled Kashmir and in Pakistan climbed to 405 yesterday as armies in both countries scrambled to help the victims and authorities in Islamabad warned of more flooding in the days ahead. Hundreds of thousands more are stranded, some “neck-deep” in water, authorities said, and nearly 700 people have been injured. Pakistani National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Ahmad Kamal said authorities were bracing for worsening conditions as water levels in the Chenab and Indus rivers were rising.
CAMEROON
Boko Haram repulsed
The government on Monday said that its soldiers had killed “more than 100” Boko Haram fighters during an attempted incursion in the north of the country by the Nigeria-based insurgents over the weekend. The statement, which could not be immediately verified, said Boko Haram militants fired two shells on the town of Fotokol. Meanwhile, panicked residents continued to flee their homes in Mubi, Nigeria, on Monday in fear of Islamist attacks.
CHINA
Envoy marries partner
Britain’s consul-general in Shanghai married his same-sex partner at British Ambassador Simon Wood’s residence in Beijing on Saturday, sparking debate over gay unions in the country. Brian Davidson wed his US partner, Scott Chang, according to posts on a verified Sina Weibo account, under new rules allowing UK nationals in same-sex relationships to marry in British consulates in 24 countries. Wood posted a picture of himself standing between the newlyweds, who were dressed in suits and bow ties. The ceremony provoked mixed reactions among Chinese. “That country is clearly sick. It’s like the last days of Rome,” one person wrote in an online comment. “I respect foreign gay culture. But it’s not Chinese culture. Please respect that,” another wrote. “It’s real love. I wish them well and feel envy,” wrote a Sina Weibo user.
VIETNAM
Six die in karaoke bar
Six men died and six more were left in a critical condition from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning at a karaoke bar in northern Quang Ninh Province, police said yesterday. The 12 had apparently been drinking heavily on Sunday night and decided to sleep in the bar when there was a power failure, a policeman said. “The bar owner ran the generator and we believe the victims suffocated due to generator fumes,” he said.
‘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