UNITED STATES
Ex-Putin aide found dead
Mikhail Lesin, a former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin who helped found the English-language news service Russia Today, was found dead in an upscale Washington hotel room, Russian authorities said. The Russian embassy in Washington on Friday confirmed the death of Lesin, whose body was discovered on Thursday. Russia Today reported on its Web site that Lesin, 57, died of a heart attack. Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Sean Hickman said that officers were called to the Dupont Circle Hotel at about 11:30am on Thursday and found a dead man. Russian embassy spokesman Yury Melnik confirmed that the man was Lesin. Russia Today, commonly known as RT, credited Lesin with “inspiring the creation” of the agency.
BOLIVIA
Warden fired over jail party
The warden of the nation’s main prison has been fired and placed under investigation after inmates threw a noisy birthday bash for a jailed former anti-drug chief. State attorney Pablo Guzman on Thursday said that Colonel Johnny Rojas was dismissed and is suspected of granting another prisoner’s request to hold the party behind bars for the ex-drug czar, general Oscar Nina. Neighbors last month complained about loud music from the party, which reportedly included a show with singers in the main patio at Palmasola Prison. Minister of Government Carlos Romero said parties of a “recreational and cultural” nature are permitted at the prison, “but they don’t usually take place at 11 at night.”
VENEZUELA
Government cashes in SDRs
With its cash reserves in sharp decline, the government withdrew US$460 million from the IMF last month in its third such operation this year. The IMF Web site on Friday showed that the government exchanged part of its special drawing rights (SDR) — an international reserve asset created by the IMF — account at the fund for greenbacks. Some countries often buy SDRs to comply with their obligations at the IMF, and in other cases sell them for hard currency to raise their reserve level at home, the fund said. Venezuela depends almost exclusively on oil exports and has taken a big hit from a drop in crude prices, and hard currency reserves have fallen 25 percent over the past year to US$15.4 billion. Venezuela’s three SDR-selling transactions this year at the IMF have netted it more than US$2.3 billion. Until this year, Venezuela had not withdrawn assets from the IMF since 2006. The IMF does not have access to complete data on the Venezuelan economy since 2006, as Caracas rejects assessment visits by the IMF.
MEXICO
Missing tiger hunt ramps up
Authorities on Friday said they are intensifying efforts to trap a tiger that escaped from a restaurant zoo on the southern Pacific coast. Tracks from the tiger named “Ankor” were found about 10km from the private zoo he escaped from on Oct. 26 in the township of Coyuca de Benitez, west of the resort of Acapulco. Photographs of the dense vegetation suggested the tiger had chosen a pretty good area to hide out in, and authorities did not say how they planned to trap him. The owner of a ranch about 2km from the restaurant found five of his cows dead earlier this week, and the tiger is suspected in that case. Authorities also seized another tiger, a lion and a jaguar from the zoo, known as the “Mangrove Paradise,” and took them to a zoo park in the central state of Hidalgo for safekeeping.
‘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