GUATEMALA
Prison brawl kills six
A brawl on Sunday among inmates at an overcrowded prison killed six people and wounded several, officials said. Deputy Minister of the Interior Elmer Sosa said police and soldiers intervened after the bloodshed and restored order at the prison. Prison system spokesman Rudy Esquivel said six inmates have been confirmed dead at the Granja de Rehabilitacion Canada prison. He said the prison was designed to hold 600 inmates, but houses 3,092. The spokesman said the fight erupted between members of the Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs and other inmates who do not belong to the gangs.
CHINA
Factory gas leak kills 10
A gas leak on Saturday at a steel parts factory in the east has killed 10 people and left seven hospitalized with poisoning. The Zouping County government said on its official microblog that the leak poisoned 17 people, five of whom died instantly. It said another five people died early on Sunday. The cause of the leak is under investigation. Satellite images show the factory next to warehouses and low-rise residential homes in a village about 60km east of Jinan, the Shandong provincial capital.
UNITED STATES
Gun threat closes university
The University of Chicago yesterday canceled all classes and activities on its main campus because of a specific anonymous threat of gun violence, the university said in a statement. University president Robert Zimmer said that FBI counterterrorism officials on Sunday contacted the university to warn that “an unknown individual” had posted a message online that threatened an armed attack on the main campus quad at 10am yesterday. Zimmer said he decided to cancel classes “based on the FBI’s assessment of this threat and recent tragic events at other campuses across the country.” He added that the decision had been made “in consultation with federal and local law enforcement officials.” Law enforcement officials said that investigators from the FBI were attempting to identify the person who made the threat. Students, nonmedical faculty and the university’s nonessential staff members were urged to stay away from the main campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago yesterday. Students who live in university housing were told to remain in their dormitories. The university canceled events at a number of other facilities yesterday, including the university laboratory schools and the university’s libraries.
UNITED STATES
Burglar dies in chimney
A suspected burglar who attempted to enter a California home through the chimney on Saturday died after the homeowner lit a fire without realizing the intruder was inside, police said. The man appeared to have climbed into the chimney during the night while the owner was away and then became stuck, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said. The owner of the home in Huron lit a fire in his fireplace on Saturday afternoon, but then heard a man yelling inside the chimney as the house filled with smoke, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. The homeowner tried to extinguish the flames, but firefighters who dismantled the chimney during a rescue effort found the suspect dead inside, the sheriff’s office said. The deceased man was identified by the Coroner’s Office as Cody Caldwell, aged 19. The cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation and burns.
‘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