CHINA
Flood death toll rises to 48
The death toll in the latest round of flooding has risen to at least 48, including two schoolchildren aboard an overloaded bus that plunged into a pond, authorities said yesterday. At least 16 others are missing in the floods that have ravaged mountain districts of six provinces and autonomous regions. They include 13 dead and three missing in the collapse of a building in the city of Guiyang following a landslide. The Guangxi regional government said another 21 kindergarten students were sent to the hospital in the school bus accident on Friday, with three listed in serious condition. The bus was licensed to carry 11 people, but had a total of 26 on board. The driver, teachers and school administrators have been taken into custody, the government said. Overloaded buses have been involved in accidents killing scores of children in recent years, as local schools are closed and consolidated into larger institutions farther away from children’s homes.
UNITED KINGDOM
Reporter convicted of graft
A tabloid reporter accused of paying police for news tips has been found guilty of aiding and abetting public office misconduct. Anthony France, a crime reporter for the Sun, was accused of cultivating a “corrupt relationship” with Heathrow airport counterterrorism officer Timothy Edwards over four years. Edwards had earlier admitted selling dozens of stories and information to the journalist for more than £20,000 (US$30,981). France has denied the charge against him. He is to be sentenced on Friday. France’s trial followed a controversial police operation that was triggered by the nation’s phone-hacking scandal, investigating alleged bribery by reporters. Last month, four tabloid journalists were acquitted of paying prison officers for information, and prosecutors dropped cash-for-scoops charges against several others.
UNITED STATES
B.B. King wake draws crowd
In death, as in life, B.B. King drew fans to his side in Las Vegas. A funeral home manager said that more than 1,000 people streamed past the guitar-flanked casket of the King of the Blues during a four-hour public viewing on Friday. King died on Thursday last week at home in Las Vegas. The 89-year-old music legend, known for hits like The Thrill Is Gone and Everyday I Have the Blues, would not have been downhearted about the turnout. Rita, one of his 11 surviving children, said she knew he was just loving the send-off. A memorial service was set for yesterday in Las Vegas. His body is to be transported on Wednesday to Memphis, Tennessee, on the way to his final burial on Saturday next week in Indianola, Mississippi.
GERMANY
Teacher has quadruplets
A 65-year-old teacher from Berlin has given birth to quadruplets, media reports said. The three boys and a girl were born by caesarean section at a Berlin hospital on Tuesday, RTL television station said. The four newborns stood a strong chance of survival, but possible complications could not yet be ruled out, because they were born in the 26th week of pregnancy, RTL said in a statement. The mother, Annegret Raunigk, already had 17 children before deciding to travel abroad to have donated, fertilized eggs implanted. Her decision prompted criticism from doctors, who questioned whether her body would be physically capable of bearing the children. RTL spokeswoman Heike Speda told Deutsche Presse Agentur that the mother was “doing well, under the circumstances.”
‘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