UNITED STATES
Beatles’ first contract sold
A New York auction house says it has sold the first recording contract ever signed by The Beatles for over US$90,000. Heritage Auctions says the 1961 contract was for a recording of a rock and roll version of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. The single from the recording session in Hamburg was released only in Germany, but it led to The Beatles being discovered by manager Brian Epstein. The session was before Ringo Starr joined the band. Drummer Pete Best signed the contract along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The contract was sold on Saturday by the estate of German Beatles collector Uwe Blaschke. Heritage Auctions did not identify the buyer, who paid US$93,750.
UNITED STATES
Woman missing at falls
Police say they have launched a search after a woman went over Niagara Falls. It happened at about 6pm on Saturday. New York State Park Police say a woman in her 40s went over the falls at Prospect Point. Park Police spokesman Randy Simons said it appeared the woman intentionally entered the water to “harm herself.” A police investigation is under way and rescuers were searching the area, he said. The woman has not been found.
FRANCE
Man dies at Techno Parade
A young man died on Saturday after he fell off a statue at the center of Paris Place de la Republique during a music festival in the French capital. The man, who has not been identified, had been climbing up the statue which represents liberty in the middle of the vast square in northeast Paris, but slipped, a police source said. It marked the first serious accident during the Techno Parade music festival, now in its 17th year. “The incident occurred after the conclusion of the Techno Parade,” said Tommy Vaudecranne, president of Technopol, which organized the event. “All of the floats had already left the Place de la Republique. Our hearts go out to the family and relatives of the deceased,” he said.
RUSSIA
Governor arrested over fraud
The governor of Russia’s remote northwestern region of Komi has been arrested and charged with leading a criminal organization and committing fraud, the country’s powerful Investigative Committee said on Saturday. A judicial inquiry has been opened against Governor Vyacheslav Gayzer and 18 others, including several of Gayzer’s deputies, a spokesman for the committee said. The accused face charges of corruption and belonging to “a criminal group.” “The goal of the group was to appropriate state property by illegal means,” spokesman Vladimir Markin said. The group had “close contacts with members of the criminal community” and was “led by the head of the Komi Republic Vyacheslav Gayzer,” he added. The alleged acts took place between 2006 and this year. The group was dismantled by agents from the Investigative Committee and Russia’s FSB security service, the spokesman said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the governor’s arrest. While Moscow has long declared war on corruption, which permeates all levels of government, it is highly unusual for senior officials to come under criminal investigation. In March, Alexander Khoroshavin, the governor of Russia’s far eastern gas hub of Sakhalin, was arrested on suspicion of taking a large bribe.
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
‘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