BOLIVIA
Morales announces lawsuit
President Evo Morales on Saturday said that his nation has decided to file suit against Chile at the International Court of Justice over a water dispute. Morales’ nation says it owns the Silala spring in its southwest department of Potosi and that it is not being compensated by Chile for use of its waters, which flow across their shared border. However, Chile says that it is an international waterway. “We have decided as a pacifist country to go to The Hague so that Chile respects our water in Silala,” Morales said at a public event. Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Heraldo Munoz has said his nation could file a counterclaim. The move would mark the second legal action taken by Bolivia against Chile at the Netherlands-based court that oversees disputes between nations.
CHILE
Zika sexually transmitted
The nation has confirmed its first case of the Zika virus having been sexually transmitted, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on its Web site on Saturday. The mosquitoes that transmit the virus are not found in the nation, which has confirmed 10 cases of Zika involving people infected outside the country. The new case is that of a 46-year-old woman whose partner was infected while in Haiti. There is growing evidence that suggests a link between Zika and microcephaly in babies. The condition is defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems.
MEXICO
Three killed in shootout
Police in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz said they killed three alleged criminals in a shootout, and then found three bodies the suspects had apparently been transporting. The confrontation occurred on Saturday on a rural highway. Veracruz state police said they approached a car that was parked suspiciously by the side of the road. Police said they came under fire from the car’s occupants, two men and a woman. All three were killed in the exchange of gunfire. When they secured the crime scene, police found a second vehicle with three more dead bodies. Local media reported the suspects had been attempting to dispose of the bodies at a nearby dump, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
UNITED STATES
‘Vaxxed’ axed at Tribeca
Robert De Niro is removing the anti-vaccination documentary Vaxxed from the lineup of his Tribeca Film Festival, after initially defending its inclusion. Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Conspiracy was set to be part of the film festival when it opens next month. The decision to include the film by anti-vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield came under fire, particularly since Wakefield’s contention that vaccines have a link to autism have been discredited. While De Niro on Friday defended the decision to include the film, he released a statement on Saturday saying he had reversed his decision. De Niro, who has a child with autism, said he had hoped to provide an opportunity for conversation surrounding an issue “that is deeply personal to me and my family.” However, he said that after he and Tribeca organizers reviewed it, “we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.” He said members of the scientific community had also reviewed it with him. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 13 to April 24.
‘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