UNITED STATES
Man breaks sheriff’s leg
A North Carolina man who authorities say has mixed-martial arts training is in jail after he broke the leg of a sheriff and hit emergency personnel. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reports that 21-year-old Logan Pederson of Corapeake faces multiple charges, including driving under the influence and felony assault. Authorities said emergency personnel responded to a wreck in Gates County, about 240km northeast of Raleigh, on June 1. Investigators say when a paramedic attempted to treat Pederson, he hit her and also struck a firefighter with an elbow to the head. He also spit on officers. Authorities said that as Sheriff Ed Webb led Pederson in handcuffs to take an alcohol test, he put the sheriff in a wrestling hold and broke his leg. “Anything he could do to be hateful, he did it,” Webb said.
UNITED STATES
Einstein Letters on sale
The Einstein Letters, which include more than two dozen missives by Albert Einstein, were to go up for sale yesterday at the California-based auction house Profiles in History. Some were in English and others in German. Some were done in longhand, others on typewriters. Amassed over decades by a private collector, the letters represent one of the largest caches of Einstein’s personal writings ever offered for sale.More than that, they give a rare look into Einstein’s thoughts when he was not discussing complicated scientific theories with his peers, said Joseph Maddalena, founder of Profiles in History. “We all know about what he accomplished, how he changed the world with the theory of relativity,” Maddalena said. “But these letters show the other side of the story. How he advised his children, how he believed in God.” In one letter, Einstein urged one of his sons to get more serious about geometry. In another, he consoled a friend who recently discovered her husband’s infidelity. In still another to an uncle on his 70th birthday, Einstein recalled how the toy steam engine the uncle gave him years ago had prompted a lifelong interest in science. On the issue of God, Einstein dismissed the widely held belief that he was an atheist. “I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one,” he wrote to a man who corresponded with him on the subject twice in the 1940s. “You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist... I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”
BRAZIL
Unauthorized bio ban lifted
The Supreme Court on Wednesday removed a ban on unauthorized biographies, long a subject of fierce debate between writers and journalists on one side and music stars on the other. The decision was adopted unanimously by the justices. They deemed the ban unconstitutional “in line with the fundamental rights of freedom of thought and expression, artistic creation and scientific output,” Deputy Chief Justice Carmen Lucia Antunes Rocha said. The controversy erupted in 2007 when “O Rei” (the King) of Brazilian music, Roberto Carlos, won an order demanding the withdrawal from shelves of an unauthorized book about his life. He won the order citing an interpretation of the Civil Code, which stipulates that a person can prohibit the dissemination of writings or pictures of their life if they consider that this is a violation of their honor. However, in Wednesday’s decision, the court reinterpreted two articles of the Civil Code, resulting in the ban being lifted.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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