PHILIPPINES
Family appeals for clemency
Family members of a maid facing the death penalty after being convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia made a last-minute appeal yesterday for clemency. The parents, siblings and two young sons of Mary Jane Veloso delivered an open letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo to the Indonesian embassy and appealed for “mercy and compassion” for the 30-year-old single mother. The letter said Veloso was tricked by a compatriot into carrying 2.6kg of heroin in her luggage and says she was a victim of drug syndicates. Indonesia’s highest court last month rejected a judicial review petition by Veloso, who is among 10 foreign drug smugglers facing death by a firing squad. “We are begging for mercy beloved president [Widodo], don’t impose the death penalty on my daughter, Veloso’s mother, Celia Velso, said. Veloso’s sons, aged six and 12, held a placard that read: “Mercy and compassion for Mary Jane and family.”
UNITED KINGDOM
SNP offers to help Labour
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon offered to help Labour party leader Ed Miliband become prime minister on Tuesday, while raising the possibility of seeking another independence referendum after next year. In a lively televised debate between the leaders of the four main Scottish parties, Sturgeon outlined her aim to help the center-left Labour party into power to prevent Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron winning a second term. “I don’t want David Cameron to be prime minister, I’m offering to help make Ed Miliband prime minister,” Sturgeon said.
UNITED STATES
Chicago mayor re-elected
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel won re-election on Tuesday as voters in the city’s first mayoral runoff decided that, despite his brusque management style, the former White House chief of staff was best equipped to deal with the many dire challenges facing the country’s third-largest city. Emanuel was forced to campaign furiously across the city to beat Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia after failing to capture a majority against four other candidates in a February election. The mayoral runoff was the first since the city changed the way it conducts elections about 20 years ago. “To all the voters I want to thank you for putting me through my paces,” Emanuel told supporters on Tuesday night. “I will be a better mayor because of that. I will carry your voices, your concerns into ... the mayor’s office.” With nearly all voting precincts reporting results, Emanuel had about 56 percent of the vote compared with about 44 percent for Garcia.
UNITED STATES
Ferguson goes to polls
Voters in the troubled Missouri city of Ferguson cast ballots on Tuesday in the first municipal elections since police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed teenager Michael Brown on a residential street in August last year, triggering weeks of sometimes violent protests. Four African-Americans are among the eight candidates vying for three seats up for grabs on the six-seat council. Nearly 15,000 residents are registered to vote, although only 12 percent turned out for mayoral elections a year ago. The St Louis suburb of 21,000 is two-thirds African-American, but historically, its black community has not been actively engaged in municipal politics.
‘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
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