CHINA
Two road accidents kill 33
Two mountain road accidents killed 33 people and injured eight in two provinces on Saturday, state media and officials said. A bus plunged into a ravine in Nayong County, Guizhou Province, killing 21 people and injuring three, China Central Television reported. A preliminary probe suggested the driver drove on a road intended only for smaller vehicles. The bus plummeted nearly 100m into a dry riverbed, Xinhua news agency said. In Kangle Country, Gansu Province, a farm vehicle careened while making a turn on a road, killing 12 people and injuring five, local officials said.
CHINA
Cabbies drink pesticide
More than 30 taxi drivers were hospitalized after apparently drinking pesticide during a protest in Beijing over a dispute with authorities, the Beijing Public Security Bureau said on Saturday. The drivers, none of whose lives were deemed to be in danger so far, were all from Suifenhe in Heilongjiang Province, the bureau said in a statement. “They came to Beijing to express their demands on contract and vehicle renewal,” it said.
FRANCE
Pilot error blamed for crash
Authorities have concluded that pilot error caused a helicopter crash near Bordeaux in December 2013 that killed Chinese billionaire Lam Kok (郝琳) and his 12-year-old son as they flew over Lam’s newly purchased wine estate. Libourne Prosecutor Christophe Auger said an inquiry into the crash that killed the 46-year-old tea magnate and three others had uncovered no technical problems. “It was caused by human error by the pilot, and the principal reason for the accident was flying at too low an altitude,” Auger told the Sud Ouest on Saturday.
BRAZIL
Protests follow shootings
Hundreds of people on Saturday marched through the narrow streets of one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest complexes of slums in a peaceful demonstration demanding an end to recent violence. During the four-hour-long demonstration at the Complexo Alemao, protesters carried banners reading: “Less bullets — more love” and: “We don’t want any more deaths.” Community leaders told reporters that at least 500 people took part. The march came one day after residents briefly clashed with police at the end of a rally protesting the shooting death of a boy in the shantytown, allegedly at the hands of police. Ten-year-old Eduardo de Jesus Ferreira was shot dead on Thursday during a police operation against suspected drug traffickers. The boy’s mother, Terezinha Maria de Jesus, told the G1 news portal that her son was at the door of their home when she saw a police officer shoot him. The police department has said that the officers involved in the anti-gang operation have been suspended pending an investigation.
RUSSIA
Boat that sank was unstable
A governor in the nation’s far east says a trawler that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk, killing at least 56 of the people on board, was carrying only about a fifth of the ballast it should have been, making it severely unstable. Thirteen people remain missing from the Thursday sinking; 63 were rescued. Initial reports suggested the trawler had collided with an ice floe or other large object. However, later reports cited survivors as saying the boat sank when it was pulling in a full net that weighed as much as 80 tonnes. Oleg Kozhemyako, acting governor of the Sakhalin region, said on Saturday that the trawler would normally have 250 tonnes of fuel, but was carrying only 57 tonnes and had not taken on adequate water ballast to compensate.
UNITED STATES
‘Revenge porn’ man jailed
The California attorney general said a San Diego man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for operating a “revenge porn” Web site and charging victims to remove the images. Attorney General Kamala Harris said on Friday that Kevin Bollaert’s sentence shows there are severe consequences for exploiting people online. Bollaert was convicted in February of identity theft and extortion in San Diego Superior Court. Prosecutors say he ran the Web site ugotposted.com, where people put nude photos of ex-lovers, who then had to pay Bollaert to take down the images. Prosecutors say victims included teachers, wives and professionals. The compromising photos cost people jobs, damaged relationships and led to one attempted suicide. Prosecutors said Bollaert earned about US$30,000 from people who paid to have the images removed.
RUSSIA
Nazi toy soldiers in probe
The Moscow prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation into the sale of figurine soldiers in Nazi regalia at the city’s most renowned children’s store. A statement from the prosecutor’s office on Saturday said investigators were considering possible charges of inciting hatred and undermining the dignity of veterans of World War II. The case comes just a month before planned extensive ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Red Army’s offensive against the Nazis is one of the most revered actions in the nation. News reports said the figurines were on sale at the Central Children’s Store, a vast building in central Moscow famous in Soviet times under the name Detsky Mir.
‘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