UNITED STATES
Governor criticizes foreigners
Maine’s Republican governor says it is hard to understand workers “from Bulgaria” and workers from India are “the worst ones.” Governor Paul LePage on Saturday said that foreign workers are being used in restaurants after he criticized a referendum proposal to raise thte state’s minimum wage to US$12. He says he is disappointed his alternative proposal to hike the wage to US$10 did not get traction. He described Indians as “lovely people, but you’ve got to have an interpreter.” LePage is known for making controversial remarks. In this case, he was chuckling as he spoke at the state party convention. He joked that his wife is going to get a job as a waitress for supplemental income. He also had a crude remark about President Barack Obama, saying Obama stands for “one big-ass mistake, America.”
UNITED STATES
Clinton may be best: Koch
Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, a key source of financing for conservative Republican causes along with his brother, said Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton might make a better president than the candidates in the Republican field. Koch, in an interview to air yesterday on ABC’s This Week program, said that in some respects, former president Bill Clinton had been a better president than George W. Bush, who Koch said had increased government spending. Then when asked if Hillary Clinton would be a better president than the Republicans currently running, he said: “It’s possible, it’s possible.” ABC said Koch, who along brother David leads an influential political organization called Freedom Partners, has been displeased so far with the tone of the Republican presidential race.
UNITED STATES
Handcuffed man shoots self
A handcuffed man shot and killed himself at a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hospital early on Saturday after carjacking an acquaintance in New Orleans and kidnapping a second woman at gunpoint, police said. Garry Saxton, 29, of New Orleans, stole a car from a woman who picked him up to drive him to an airport late on Friday night, New Orleans Police Department spokesman Aaron Looney said. The woman told police that Saxton, a relative of her boyfriend, fled in her sport utility vehicle after she escaped to a nearby home. Saxton, also known as Gary Zarders, also is suspected of kidnapping a second woman in New Orleans before driving to Baton Rouge. Saxton arrived at Baton Rouge General Medical Center with a pregnant woman who accused him of kidnapping her, Baton Rouge Police Sergeant Don Coppola said. The woman was complaining of complications from her pregnancy, Coppola said. Coppola said Saxton was handcuffed behind his back when he fatally shot himself with a gun that he apparently hid in a seat before hospital security searched and detained him.
UNITED STATES
Dog-owners stage protest
Hundreds of dog owners on Saturday walked their poodles, corgis, dachshunds and many mutts to protest the proposed limits on dog-walking in San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The protesters walked their four-legged pooches, many wearing red bandanas, along Crissy Field while holding signs that read: “Unleash Our Land!” and “Put Feds On A Leash!” Andrea Buffa, an event organizer and member of Save Our Recreation, said protesters are calling on the National Park Service to keep dog walking in the open-space areas where it has been allowed for decades.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was