UNITED KINGDOM
Bus plows into supermarket
A woman and an eight-year-old boy were killed and five other people injured on Saturday when a double-decker bus plowed into a supermarket in the center of Coventry. The bus crashed into several cars and a lamppost before hitting the supermarket on what would have been a busy shopping day in the city center. “Boy [8] and woman confirmed dead after Coventry bus crash,” West Midlands Police said in a tweet. The boy was on the upper deck of the bus. “It was absolute chaos,” Maneer Fiaz, an eyewitness who took part in rescue efforts as bystanders rushed to help, told Sky News. “We got the driver out through the window,” he said, describing seeing children stranded in the upper part of the double-decker bus. A nine-year-old girl also on that deck was seriously injured and is one of five people being treated in hospital after the incident.
FRANCE
Mini models hit catwalk
Bucking the fashion show stereotype of tall, willowy models, Paris Fashion Week on Friday was treated to a parade of women of restricted growth sashaying along the runway to great public applause. The only criteria for becoming one of the atypical models showing off the New York Creative Business House’s tailor-made collection, was that you had to be under 1.30m tall. “The Dwarf Fashion Show,” as it has been dubbed, was in its third edition after debuting at last year’s Paris Fashion week and a show last winter in New York. Asian fashionistas will be able to enjoy the show next year when it is due to hit the Tokyo catwalks. “It’s to change people’s ideas of us, and because I like fashion I wanted to be on the catwalk,” French model Emma told reporters.
UNITED STATES
Clinton hams it up
US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday attempted to showcase her softer side — and boost her flagging poll ratings — by playing a bartender on primetime US television in a comedy skit. The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for next year’s US presidential elections has seen her lead dwindle over a roiling e-mail scandal dating to when she was secretary of state. However, she put that behind her with a lighthearted appearance on Saturday Night Live during which she played a sympathetic barkeeper named “Val” opposite Kate McKinnon, famed for her impression of the former first lady. Clinton, criticized in some quarters for being too stiff and unable to laugh at herself, also tried an impression of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. The duo ended the skit with a rendition of Lean on Me. A vote for Hillary is a vote for four more years of Kate McKinnon’s impression,” Clinton said on Twitter.
VENEZUELA
Official angry at US hold up
A top official is railing against the US after being stopped at a Mexican airport while traveling on official business. People’s Ombudsman Tarek William Saab on Saturday said that he had been questioned by officials at a Mexico City airport. He said officials informed him that Interpol had issued an alert at the request of the US that asked authorities to question him about the reason for his visit and the length of his stay. As ombudsman, Saab is in charge of defending human rights in the nation. He said he was put out by the inconvenience, and plans to lodge a complaint with ther authorities. Saab also accused the US of using intimidation tactics.
‘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
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
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