UNITED STATES
Former fat cat slims down
A former 18.6kg cat dubbed Skinny has lost more than half of his weight to become the darling of a Dallas veterinary clinic. Brittney Barton said the orange tabby she adopted in 2013 has slimmed down to 8.6kg with exercise and a special diet. Barton calls Skinny the “resident cat” at her practice, HEAL Veterinary Hospital. Barton said on Friday last week that Skinny spends weekdays roaming the clinic. The former fat cat’s weekends are spent at home with Barton and her family. Skinny was found abandoned near Dallas in 2012 and ended up at a shelter. The vet says Skinny just had his annual checkup and is healthy. Barton said Skinny is living proof that while he is supposed to be a large cat, “he’s not supposed to be an obese cat.”
UNITED STATES
Retired detective detained
A retired Los Angeles police detective suspected of robbing five banks has been ordered held without bail. Seventy-year-old Randolph Adair appeared on Monday in federal court in Santa Ana. His public defender, Amy Karlin, declined to comment. The FBI believes that Adair is the “Snowbird Bandit” — named for his age and white hair — who has robbed five banks around Orange County since March. Adair has been charged with one count of bank robbery and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He was arrested on Wednesday last week after several of his family members contacted investigators saying Adair fits the description of the robber. The FBI said Adair might have had gambling problems.
FRANCE
Spanish bus driver charged
Prosecutors on Monday charged a Spanish bus driver with reckless endangerment after he drove the vehicle under a low bridge, causing the roof to be shorn off and seriously injuring six passengers. The 59-year-old driver has been charged with causing “involuntary injuries” through “manifestly deliberate violation of a duty of care or safety,” Lille public prosecutor Frederic Fevre said. The bus was taking 53 Spanish youths and their chaperones to Amsterdam when the predawn accident occurred outside Lille on Sunday. The youths, aged between 18 and 29, had boarded the bus in the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao. The entire top of the bus was shorn off in the accident, leaving 34 passengers in need of medical attention, including six with serious injuries.
SWEDEN
Divers claim sub found
Wreck divers said on Monday they had found the wreck of a Russian mini-submarine in Swedish territorial waters, nine months after a high-profile hunt for a mystery submarine. The military reacted with caution to the claim. “It is they who claim it’s a submarine,” Swedish Armed Forces spokesman Anders Kallin said. “Our analysts have not yet presented their conclusions and want to see more images, which the [diving] company will send to us,” he said, adding that the results were expected “in the coming days.” Kallin said the military would “not speculate.” Stefan Hogeborn, a diver from Ocean X Team that made the discovery, said the vessel is “completely intact” with “no visible damage to the hull” and the hatches closed. “It is unclear how old the submarine is and how long it has been lying at the sea floor, but the Cyrillic letters on the hull indicate that it is Russian,” he said in a statement. The Expressen tabloid, which published images of the wreck on its Web site, said it was found about 1.5 nautical miles (2.8km) off the east coast of the nation.
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