UNITED STATES
Keystone vote looms
The US Senate braced for yesterday’s cliffhanger vote on whether to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, with President Barack Obama signaling that he might veto the controversial bill. Congressional Republicans have long pushed the Obama administration to lift its hold on the US$5.3 billion project, which remains under extended review about six years after it was submitted. The pipeline, which would bring oil from tar sands in the Canadian province of Alberta to refineries on the US Gulf coast, easily passed the House of Representatives last week.
UNITED NATIONS
African birthrates lauded
Fewer babies could mean an “economic miracle” for sub-Saharan Africa, with gains of US$500 billion a year over three decades for the region, the UN Population Fund said yesterday. The State of World Population report said a total of 59 nations were poised for a “demographic dividend” when the working-age population outnumbers the rest due to declining fertility rates. The agency said these nations — almost all in Africa — could follow the example of East Asian economies like South Korea, whose rise since the 1970s was helped by demographics.
HONDURAS
Family pleads for sisters
The family of the reigning Miss Honduras pleaded with police on Monday to find their teenage daughter, who was abducted just days before she was set to fly to London for the Miss World contest. Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, and her sister Sofia Trinidad have not been heard from since they vanished on Thursday outside the northern city of Santa Barbara, and all signs are that the siblings have been kidnapped. “Days have gone by and we have not heard a thing. The police have to know something,” said a tearful Teresa Munoz, their mother. The sisters disappeared after attending a birthday party for Sofia’s boyfriend.
UNITED STATES
Second USC killer gets life
The second of two men convicted of murder in the 2012 shooting deaths of two University of Southern California (USC) graduate students from China was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Javier Bolden was found guilty last month of first-degree murder for the slayings of 23-year-old engineering students Qu Ming (瞿銘) and Wu Ying (吳穎), who were gunned down in a botched robbery attempt as they sat together in a car parked outside Wu’s rented home, a few blocks from campus. Bolden, 22, received two consecutive life terms without parole eligibility for the USC killings in April 2012, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. Bolden’s accomplice, 21-year-old Byran Barnes, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in February after pleading guilty to murder and admitting he was the actual shooter. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for the two men.
UNITED KINGDOM
Hammer attacker sentenced
A judge on Monday handed out a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years in prison for a thief who brutally attacked three sisters from the United Arab Emirates in a London hotel room with a claw hammer. Drug addict Philip Spence, 33, attacked the tourists as they slept with their children at the four-star Cumberland Hotel on April 6, in an incident that raised concern about the safety of visitors from the Gulf.
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
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