UNITED STATES
Republicans make demands
Republican presidential contenders have agreed on a series of demands that would give them greater control over debates. The possible candidates for next year’s election are trying to inject changes into the nominating process and wrestle command from the Republican National Committee and media hosts. Representatives from more than a dozen campaigns met behind closed doors for nearly two hours on Sunday night in suburban Washington. They emerged having agreed to several changes to be outlined in a letter to debate hosts in the coming days. They include largely bypassing the committee in coordinating with network hosts and other changes, according to Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson’s campaign manager Barry Bennett, who hosted the meeting.
SPAIN
Bikers protest guardrails
About 7,000 motorcyclists on Sunday gathered in Madrid to press authorities to remove or modify metal guardrails on the nation’s roads that they describe as being dangerous for bikers. Participants rode in from all over the nation to protest at the meeting point next to Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Biker’s club At Ground Level president Juan Esteban said members were fed up with seeing how fellow riders suffered lethal injuries or amputations on a regular basis “because of these blasted guardrails.” The protest ended with a minute’s silence to honor bikers who had died over the past year.
COLOMBIA
Coast guard finds 20 Cubans
The coast guard on Sunday rescued 20 Cuban migrants who were on a boat that had been abandoned by human traffickers in the Gulf of Uraba, officials said. According to preliminary information, two Colombian people smugglers who were attempting to get the migrants to neighboring Panama had jumped ship when the engine failed. The migrants have been taken to a coast guard station in the town of Turbo for processing.
WEST BANK
Alleged attacker shot dead
A Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at a border crossing in the West Bank yesterday and was shot dead by the army, Israeli police said. A second Palestinian, allegedly an accomplice, was arrested, police said. The attempted attack took place on the Palestinian side of a crossing between Israel and the occupied West Bank, Israel’s Ministry of Defense said. Since the beginning last month, nine Israelis, 69 Palestinians and an Arab-Israeli have been killed in a wave of violence.
UNITED STATES
Halloween humor effort fails
An army base went on alert after a soldier dressed for Halloween as a suicide bomber with a simulated explosives vest tried to get into the compound. The prank unfolded on Friday night at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, which is home to airborne and special operations forces. “The incident resulted in an emergency response,” the base said in a statement, adding that ordnance disposal teams cleared the area and a gate was closed. “Costumes of this sort are not allowed on Fort Bragg,” the statement said. Fort Bragg later removed the statement from its Web site, stating that comments posted on it had been “either profane, sophomoric, or did not treat the subject seriously.” A later statement said: “Please take note that this is a family-friendly Web site meant to inform and keep our families safe, many of whom have directly felt the effects of real — not costumed — suicide bombers.”
‘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