UNITED STATES
Roof friend to plead guilty
A friend of the man accused of gunning down nine black parishioners during a Bible study in a South Carolina church is appearing before a judge to plead guilty to federal charges. Under a plea agreement signed by 21-year-old Joey Meek and federal prosecutors, Meek is to plead guilty to lying to authorities and failing to report a crime. He appears before US District Judge Richard Gergel on Friday in Charleston. Authorities allege Meek failed to tell investigators all he knew about Dylann Roof’s plans to shoot parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in June last year. The 22-year-old Roof is charged with hate crimes and other charges in federal court.
UNITED STATES
Rock formation defaced
Rangers at Utah’s Arches National Park were investigating large graffiti on Thursday that was carved so deeply into a famous red rock arch that it might be impossible to erase, officials said. The carvings discovered earlier this month measure about 1.2m across and 90cm high, park superintendent Kate Cannon said. The Arches rock formation, commonly known as Frame Arch, is off a popular hiking trail where visitors can look through it and view the park’s iconic, stand-alone Delicate Arch. Cannon said the graffiti was etched so deeply that it might have taken at least one hour for someone to carve. She said park workers can try to reduce the carving’s visibility by grinding down the rock around it, but that causes further damage to the surface. She said they could also try to fill in the etchings with some kind of material that blends in, but it is unclear if that would be a permanent or unnoticeable treatment.
UNITED STATES
Wandering sea lion dies
Washington state biologists are trying to determine what killed a sea lion that was captured and released after it was strangely found in the driveway of a cattle ranch about 80km from the ocean. The male California sea lion was released into Puget Sound on April 15 after it apparently swam and waddled its way to the ranch, the News Tribune reported. On Friday last week, the sea lion was found dead under a bridge in Olympia, ending its unusual journey from the ocean to a small creek and then to Puget Sound. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Dyanna Lambourn examined the sea lion on Sunday and found no immediate cause of death. Samples from the necropsy were sent out on Tuesday to test for possible causes. Rancher Ken Shively found his gate open and the 159kg animal in his driveway. He initially thought it was a deer or elk.
CANADA
Beehive heist probed
Thieves in Quebec have staged an unusual heist of something that is becoming increasingly rare in North America these days: bees. Beekeeper Jean-Marc Labonte lost more than 180 beehives worth US$160,000 earlier this week in what he says is a first for his family business. “It’s very, very uncommon in Quebec,” he said. Labonte said he suspects the theft to be the work of another beekeeper who “lost many bees” last winter and is trying to get more free. The heist, which is being investigated by police, allegedly took place on Monday in a locked apiary in the city of Victoriaville, 160km northeast of Montreal. “It sickens me because bees are very rare and increasingly expensive as their numbers decline across North America,” he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing