UNITED STATES
FBI fakes AP story
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and The Associated Press (AP) sent separate letters to Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday expressing concerns that the FBI faked an AP story to catch a bomb threat suspect in 2007. The AP also asked the Department of Justice to account for other times it has posed as a media organization in an investigation. Documents obtained by the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation and publicized this week by American Civil Liberties Union principal technologist Christopher Soghoian revealed that the FBI’s Seattle office forged an AP story to help catch a 15-year-old suspect who had been making bomb threats at a high school.
COSTA RICA
Eruptions force alert
Authorities issued an emergency alert on Thursday after ash from the erupting Turrialba Volcano reached the capital San Jose and beyond. The alert came after a series of eruptions late on Wednesday and early on Thursday. The National Emergency Commission also ordered the closure of the national park around the volcano. In a statement, authorities said 11 people had been evacuated to temporary shelters around the town of Santa Cruz de Turrialba. Falling ash was seen as far away as Ciudad Colon, about 50km away. Authorities are also monitoring two other volcanoes — Rincon de la Vieja, in the northwest, and Poas, in the country’s center.
UNITED STATES
‘Satan’ seeks execution
A Texas death row inmate whose attorneys contend he is so delusional that he cannot understand why he was convicted and condemned has been scheduled for execution. Scott Panetti, 56, was set for lethal injection on Dec. 3, according to a judge’s order received this week by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Panetti has a history of mental problems and his case has been to the Supreme Court at least three times. State attorneys have argued he exaggerates some of his symptoms to avoid execution. Panetti was convicted of fatally shooting his in-laws, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, in their home 22 years ago in front of his estranged wife and young children. His trial judge assigned Panetti a standby attorney after he chose to be his own lawyer at his 1995 trial, where he wore a purple cowboy outfit, flipped a coin to select a juror and wanted to subpoena Jesus Christ and the assassinated former president John F. Kennedy as witnesses. He insisted that only an insane person could prove insanity. “He has a fixed delusion that Satan, working through the state of Texas, is seeking to execute him for preaching the Gospel,” his appeals attorney, Greg Wiercioch, said on Thursday.
UNITED STATES
‘Blurred Lines’ set for trial
The family of Marvin Gaye has won a round in a court battle over allegations that last year’s blockbuster hit song Blurred Lines plagiarized the late Motown legend’s work. A federal judge on Thursday denied a motion by singer Robin Thicke and songwriter Pharrell Williams, who wanted a court to reject the plagiarism accusations made by Gaye’s children. The ruling clears the way for the dispute to head to a celebrity trial that is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in February. The Gaye estate says that Blurred Lines copied elements of the singer’s 1976 track Got to Give It Up. The two sides brought in music experts who dissected the songs’ structures to debate the merits of the claim.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was