UNITED STATES
Victims sue lottery winner
Two alleged victims of a registered sex offender have filed a lawsuit seeking damages for pain and suffering after the man won US$3 million in a Florida Lottery jackpot. Timothy Poole purchased the winning ticket earlier this month in Mount Dora, near Orlando. He took a lump sum payment of about US$2.2 million. Poole was accused of sexually battering a nine-year-old boy in 1999. Poole denied the allegations, but pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and was sentenced to time served. His probation was revoked in 2003 after he failed to show up for counseling. The lawsuit was filed by two brothers, who were aged 9 and 5 when Poole was arrested. In 2010, the Florida Legislature eliminated a statute of limitations for victims of sexual battery younger than 16.
VENEZUELA
Merida’s Coromoto closes
An ice cream store listed by Guinness World Records for its 863 different flavors has become the latest victim of Venezuela’s economic crisis. “We are closed during the season due to shortage of milk,” the famous Coromoto ice cream store in Merida posted on its Facebook page. Locals confirmed that the shop, hugely popular among tourists for its exotic and strange flavors, ranging from beer to beans, had been closed since Christmas Eve. A sign on the door asked customers’ forgiveness “for not attending you due to the lack of milk.” The country has been suffering acute shortages of basic goods, from toilet paper to spare tires, all year due to an economic slowdown, the highest inflation in the Americas and the impact of strict currency controls.
UNITED STATES
San Antonio fire kills five
Five people died on Sunday after a fire broke out at a senior-living apartment building in the San Antonio suburb of Castle Hills, authorities said. Ten other residents of the Wedgwood Apartments were hospitalized, and at least one is in critical condition, according to Bexar County Fire Marshall spokeswoman Laura Jesse. About 150 additional residents of the 11-story high-rise were taken by city buses to a local high school, and about 100 people remained there on Sunday afternoon. A total of 150 firefighters from San Antonio and six other fire departments responded to the blaze, which was reported shortly after 6am, San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Christian Bove said. The cause of the three-alarm fire is under investigation, but appears to have originated on the third floor, Jesse said. Not all of the 216 residents listed on the building’s rent rolls have been accounted for yet, Jesse added.
MEXICO
Vigilante leader arrested
The leader of one of Mexico’s first anti-crime vigilante groups was arrested along with 26 supporters over a shootout that killed his son and 10 others, authorities said. Hipolito Mora was taken in on an arrest warrant on Saturday for “probable murder” in the bloody Dec. 16 episode with a rival group, Michoacan State Special Commissioner Alfredo Castillo said. Another 26 vigilantes were also apprehended for their involvement, he said. Mora put up no resistance, according to prosecutors, as he was arrested for his involvement in the shootout between two vigilante groups that turned on each other in La Ruana. Six of Mora’s followers, including his oldest son, died, as well as five members of a rival vigilante group led by Luis Antonio Torres, known as El Americano, who is also wanted for arrest and whose whereabouts are unknown.
PHILIPPINES
Liberal pope shirts pulled
ABS-CBN, the nation’s largest broadcaster, pulled souvenir T-shirts for an upcoming papal visit from its stores yesterday, after drawing fire from Catholic bishops irked by the words “No religion” emblazoned on the garments. Pope Francis, who has been praised for being reform-minded, is to visit the country next month. The T-shirts printed by the network bore the statement: “No race. No religion. I embrace diversity” and were marketed with the hashtag #PopeTYSM, which stands for “Thank you for the compassion” in Tagalog. While acknowledging that the statement was intended to convey Francis’ “openness,” the message was “misleading and quite frankly erroneous,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines. “[Francis] has never said and taught that religion and race do not matter, because they most certainly do. It is what selfish, uncharitable and judgemental people do with religion and race that is a problem,” Villegas said.
JAPAN
New bird flu case sparks cull
Tokyo yesterday ordered the slaughter of about 42,000 chickens after officials confirmed the country’s second bird flu outbreak in less than a month. DNA tests confirmed the presence of the virus’ H5 strain at a farm in Miyazaki Prefecture after its owner on Sunday reported that several chickens had died suddenly, the local government said. Officials began the slaughter yesterday and asked farms within a 10km radius not to move their poultry outside of that perimeter. It is uncertain whether there is a link between the first outbreak and the second, a Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry official said, adding that further testing would be conducted.
CHINA
Collapse at school kills 10
A scaffolding collapse at one of Beijing’s most prestigious high schools killed 10 construction workers and injured four others yesterday, officials said. The accident occurred at the start of the school day at Tsinghua High School, but did not affect any classrooms or other buildings used for instruction, Beijing’s Municipal Propaganda Bureau said. It added that the injured were in stable condition. A school official surnamed Jiang (江) said all the victims were building a gym at the school and that no teachers or students were hurt. Xinhua news agency said an initial investigation found that steel bars used to reinforce concrete had collapsed and caused the accident. It said police had detained several people, but gave no details about their identity.
BANGLADESH
Striking activists fight police
Opposition activists clashed with police during a nationwide strike yesterday, leaving one woman dead and several injured, as tensions grew ahead of the first anniversary of controversial elections. Police said a female teacher died after she was hit on the head by a rock thrown by an opposition protester in Noakhali District. The streets in Dhaka were largely deserted during the strike, with offices and schools closed and highways empty. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and 19 allies, including Islamist outfits, called the strike to protest a crackdown against their leaders and supporters by the security forces. BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed said that at least 400 party officials and activists have been arrested since Wednesday to thwart protests to mark the first anniversary of the Jan. 5 elections that the party boycotted. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League has ruled out polls before the end of her new term in 2019.
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
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