UNITED STATES
Legionnaires’ linked to water
An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease over the past 18 months has killed 10 people in Michigan, where officials are dealing with a major health crisis over lead-contaminated water. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday said that the outbreak dates back to June 2014 and it has not ruled out a link to the toxic tapped water in the city of Flint. “The state of Michigan is treating this situation with the same urgency and transparency as the lead response in the city of Flint,” the department said in a statement on the spike in Legionnaires’. Officials said that since there have been 87 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe type of pneumonia caused by bacteria, resulting in 10 deaths. The illnesses occurred in Genesee County, where Flint is located. Officials said that nearly half the people with the disease were exposed to water in Flint.
FRANCE
Pigs tumble onto road
Dozens of pigs tumbled out of a truck that overturned on a motorway near the western city of Poitiers on Wednesday, but showed little appetite for their sudden freedom. “Most of the animals stayed near the vehicle,” road safety official Captain Jean Chevassu said. “Two or three pigs ... strayed further. It wasn’t too hard to recover them.” The driver of the tractor-trailer lost control, leaving the vehicle lying across the two-lane road and shutting it for most of the day. The impact tore a hole in the roof of the truck, through which most of the about 180 pigs emerged onto the road and into the surrounding forest. Twenty-six pigs died at the scene, while another 13 with severe injuries were put down.
UNITED STATES
Chilean wins Pritzker Prize
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena won this year’s Pritzker Prize on Wednesday, earning praise for “powerful” designs that address key social and economic challenges of the 21st century. “Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people’s lives,” said Tom Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which awards the prize. Aravena, 48, who is based in Santiago, is to receive the US$100,000 award and bronze medallion at a ceremony at UN headquarters in New York on April 4. The Pritzker jury highlighted Aravena’s work at ELEMENTAL, a Santiago architectural group that focuses on projects of public interest and social impact. It has produced more than 2,500 units of affordable housing, including an innovative “half a good house” that allows residents to complete the work themselves, thereby incrementally raising their living standards.
VENEZUELA
Lawmakers defuse dispute
Three opposition lawmakers on Wednesday gave up their seats to try to defuse an acrimonious power dispute between President Nicolas Maduro’s government and the new opposition-led National Assembly. The Supreme Court had barred the three — plus a pro-government legislator — from office pending a probe into alleged vote cheating in their jungle state, Amazonas. However, the opposition, which won control of the legislature in last month’s elections for the first time in 17 years, defiantly swore the three in anyway. However, in a reluctant U-turn cheered by lawmakers as a “victory for the people,” the opposition majority on Wednesday approved a letter from the three asking to leave the legislature pending resolution of the election dispute.
AUSTRALIA
Opera House locked down
The Sydney Opera House yesterday was cordoned off in a security scare sparked by “information on social media” with people cleared from the harbor front precinct before police declared it safe. Metal barriers were erected with onlookers kept about 150m away from the building, with police officers and security personnel guarding the area in a 90-minute lockdown. Similar precautions were taken across the harbor at the suburb of Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches, which has a ferry linking it to Circular Quay where the Opera House is located. “Following information on social media, police conducted an operation in the vicinity of the Opera House and Manly as a precautionary measure,” New South Wales Police said in a statement. No further information was provided, although Sydney’s Daily Telegraph said the scare revolved around a threat received about an object inside the Opera House.
JAPAN
Earthquake rocks Hokkaido
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck just off the northernmost main island of Hokkaido yesterday, the Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued and NHK national television said that while there might be some changes in sea level, no tsunami damage was expected. There were no immediate reports of damage. No irregularities were reported at Hokkaido Electric Power’s Tomari nuclear plant and Tohoku Electric Power’s Higashidori nuclear plant, both of which have been kept shut pending stringent safety checks following the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster, spokesmen at both firms said. There were also no irregularities at the Rokkasho plutonium preprocessing and other nuclear-related facilities in Aomori Prefecture, operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
TAJIKISTAN
Extended presidency mulled
The national parliament is considering a proposal to allow President Imomali Rakhmon to run for an unlimited number of terms, cementing his grip on power as others have done in the Central Asian region. The government has submitted to parliament, controlled by Rakhmon’s supporters, a package of amendments to the constitution which will ultimately need to be approved by a referendum. The amendments have not been officially published, but the draft includes a provision that lifts the limit of two consecutive presidential terms for Rakhmon, citing his special status as the “Leader of the Nation,” a title given to him by the legislature last month. Another proposed amendment would reduce the minimum age for presidential candidates to 30 from 35. Rakhmon’s elder son, Rustam Imomali, is 28 and will be 33 when his father’s current term ends in 2020.
AUSTRALIA
Man killed in Sydney storm
Severe thunderstorms in Sydney yesterday killed at least one person and injured another, police said, with winds of 122kph lashing Australia’s busiest airport, besides ripping down power lines and closing roads. A man was killed and a woman passenger suffered critical injuries when a falling tree crushed their car in the city’s west, which emergency services said took the initial brunt of the storm. Photographs showed damaged shop fronts and roads left impassable by twisted metal and roofing panels. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors and keep away from windows.
‘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