UNITED STATES
Target set for e-mails
The Department of State has proposed a deadline of the middle of January to finish its review and release 55,000 pages of former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton’s work e-mails she sent through a private server and has since turned over to the department. Clinton’s exclusive use of a personal e-mail account for government business has prompted concerns about transparency and security. The Jan. 15 deadline came to light in a document filed on Monday in a Washington federal court in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Vice News against the department seeking Clinton’s e-mails. “The department understands the considerable public’s interest in these records and is endeavoring to complete the review and production of them as expeditiously as possible,” acting director of Information Programs and Services John Hackett said in the filing. “The collection is, however, voluminous and ... presents several challenges.”
FRANCE
Massacre survivor quits
One of the few cartoonists to survive a Muslim militant attack on Charlie Hebdo journal is leaving the publication, saying he can no longer bear the pressure. Renald Luzier, better known as Luz, announced his decision in an interview in Liberation. “Every print-run was torture because the others are no longer there,” said Luz, who drew the cover picture on the first post-attack edition of Charlie Hebdo, but had recently declared he would no longer draw cartoons of the prophet Mohammed because he was fed up with it.
SAUDI ARABIA
Executioners wanted
The Ministry of Civil Service yesterday advertised vacancies for eight executioners after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of last year. The ministry said that no qualifications were necessary and that applicants would be exempted from the usual entrance exams. It said that as well as beheadings, the successful candidates would be expected to carry out amputations ordered by the courts under the kingdom’s strict version of Shariah law.
FRANCE
Teachers launch strike
Teachers yesterday went on strike to protest against a proposed reform of secondary education. Minister of National Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, 37, has come under fire for the disputed reforms. Among the most contentious elements is a proposal to reduce the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek in favor of a general class on classical culture. Teachers are also furious at plans to give schools more autonomy in a system that has previously sought to ensure that all children at high school level receive exactly the same education.
FRANCE
‘Le selfie’ enters dictionary
Two of the bibles of the French language, the Petit Larousse encyclopedic dictionary and Le Petit Robert, have developed a few new culinary and artistic tastes. The editors on Monday announced the latest editions would contain 300 new words and expressions, including “focaccia,” biryani, goji and “vegan.” Showing it is moving with the times, and in defiance of the Academie Francaise’s diktat’s on Anglicisms, next year’s edition of Larousse will include what Liberation newspaper described as the “unbearable” word “selfie” — plus its Quebecois equivalent “egoportrait” — as well as “big data” and “open data,” “community manager” and “bitcoin.”
‘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