MEXICO
Vatican offends government
The country will send a protest note to the Vatican over purported comments by Pope Francis worrying about a possible “Mexicanization” of his native Argentina due to rising drug trafficking activity there, authorities announced on Monday. Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jose Antonio Meade said he had met with the Vatican’s envoy, Christophe Pierre, to inform him about the note. “We express sadness and concern with respect to the communications that apparently were made, referring to a private letter from Pope Francis,” Meade said. The pontiff apparently touched on drug activity in Argentina in a weekend letter to Argentine Legislator Gustavo Vera. “Hopefully, we are in time to avoid Mexicanization,” the letter said. “I was talking to some Mexican bishops, and it is terrifying.” Vera told Argentina’s Todo Noticias on Monday that the pontiff “loves the Mexican people very much,” but was concerned that Argentina not end up following a path of “undeclared civil war between cartels.” Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombardi declined to confirm or deny the letter’s authenticity.
NIGERIA
Anti-extremist wins prize
Pastor and activist Esther Ibanga, who has campaigned against Islamist extremists Boko Haram was yesterday awarded a Japanese peace prize worth US$170,000. Ibanga has kept up a vocal protest against the kidnappings that Boko Haram has made almost routine, the Niwano Peace Foundation said. The Tokyo-based foundation said it had awarded her its ¥20 million (US$167,600) annual prize because of the way she has tirelessly pressured central and local governing officials in her efforts to fight back against extremists. “Esther has worked extensively to foster and facilitate reconciliation between conflicting religious and tribal groups,” setting up an organization that has all tribal women leaders on its membership, the Buddhist group-backed foundation said.
MEXICO
Animals rescued from zoo
Authorities say they have rescued more than 100 animals from abusive, overcrowded conditions at a private zoo. The Federal Environmental Prosecutor’s Office or Profepa says an inspection of the Club de los Animalitos zoo in Tehuacan, Puebla State, found everything from bears and big cats to buffalo and dromedaries living in tiny enclosures with no climate control. The office released photographs showing tigers and other large felines in cages stacked on top of each other. It said the pens lacked proper flooring, and in some cases the animals’ waste was falling on top of others. Profepa said in a statement on Monday that the cramped conditions provoked aggressive behavior and fights between some animals, resulting in injuries.
CANADA
Fumigation kills baby
A baby died and four young siblings were in critical condition after they were accidentally exposed to bedbug fumigation chemicals at their Alberta home, police said on Monday. Corporal George Cameron of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the children were rushed to the hospital on Sunday after firefighters responded to a chemical spill in a home in Fort McMurray, about 400km north of Edmonton. A family member told the Edmonton Journal the mother had been using a pesticide to kill bedbugs when she inadvertantly poisoned her children. Cameron said the chemical “has not yet been identified.” The eight-month-old baby died in hospital. The other children, aged two to seven, remained in critical condition, Cameron said.
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