GERMANY
Rally protests drone strikes
Demonstrators formed a human chain near a US air base in the nation’s west to protest against lethal drone strikes. Organizers estimated that about 5,000 people took part in the chain near Ramstein Air Base on a rainy Saturday, while police put the number at about 2,000, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. Activists contend that the base is used to relay flight control data for lethal drone strikes. They are calling for the base to eventually be closed. US President Barack Obama said during a 2013 visit to Berlin that “we do not use Germany as a launching point for unmanned drones ... as part of our counterterrorism activities.”
UAE
Drone disrupts air traffic
A rogue drone on Saturday disrupted air traffic at Dubai International Airport (DXB) for more than an hour, the operator of one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs said. “DXB airspace was closed due to unauthorised UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] activity for 69 minutes resulting in a number of diversions,” Dubai Airports said in a statement on Twitter. “Airspace reopened at 12.45” on Saturday, it added. As a result, some flights were delayed for four hours and four flights were diverted, newspaper 7Days reported. The use of drones is banned within the boundary of the airport, with those found guilty of flying the pilotless aircraft there facing heavy fines.
UNITED STATES
Uber driver returns ante
A World Series of Poker player says he hit an “emotional jackpot” thanks to an Uber driver who returned his US$7,000 ante. Jacob Brundage, of Lakeland, Florida, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he lost a tote filled with cash and playing chips on June 1. The 39-year-old said he realized the bag was in an Uber car that he rode from the Venetian hotel to the Rio. Brundage failed to reach the driver through the app and enlisted a group of waiting Uber drivers to help. The driver, who wants to remain anonymous, called Brundage and returned the bag. Brundage gave him US$200 as a reward.
MEXICO
Official identifies suspect
A law enforcement official said the prime suspect in the killings of 11 family members is a man who apparently sought revenge after one of the victims reported that he raped her and he was jailed. The official told reporters that authorities believe multiple attackers shot the woman and her family, including two girls. The killers also brutally slashed a male victim, believed to be the woman’s partner, and might have tried to decapitate him. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
ITALY
Minister leads campaign
A minister is spearheading efforts to discourage men from murdering women who spurn or leave them. Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Relations with the Parliament Maria Elena Boschi, who also deals with equal opportunity matters, on Saturday said in an interview in newspaper Corriere della Sera that the campaign to educate men against such violence must start first in the family, but also involve schools and sports clubs. Galvanizing the campaign is the recent case of a man who strangled, then set afire a woman in Rome who broke up with him and was seeing someone else. Boschi said helping the campaign would be an Italian lawyer who testified against an ex-lover who had acid doused on her face.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in