UNITED KINGDOM
WWI battle remembered
Queen Elizabeth II attended a service at Westminster Abbey on Thursday, the eve of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, one of the deadliest chapters of World War I. The 90-year-old British monarch laid a wreath of roses on the grave of the Unknown Warrior inside the ancient abbey in London before a bugler sounded the Last Post, a tribute to the fallen. An honor guard of soldiers and civilians were to hold an overnight vigil at the grave, ending just before 7:30am, the time British troops were sent into battle on July 1, 1916. The British and French offensive against German forces ground on for 141 days in 1916, leaving more than 1 million dead or wounded. Prince William, his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry attended a vigil on Thursday evening at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France, where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers are commemorated.
UNITED STATES
Breath testers recalibrated
Philadelphia police said their breath test machines have been recalibrated and returned to service after discovering they were improperly calibrated. Private attorney Joseph Kelley, who notified police of the issue on Wednesday, said he estimates between 500 and 1,000 driving under the influence cases could be affected by the improper calibrations. A police spokesman said they have asked the district attorney’s office to review cases involving breath tests from Jan. 17 to Wednesday. The machines must be calibrated yearly with updated solutions that determine the accuracy of blood alcohol readings. Kelly said the machines were accurate, but that defense attorneys can argue the results should be barred from court.
CHECHNYA
TV show to find aide
President Ramzan Kadyrov is to recruit a new aide through an Apprentice-style reality TV show, major state-run channel Rossiya said on Thursday. The station said it was looking for candidates to take part in the show called The Team. Contestants will face challenges such as climbing mountains as well as “experiencing Chechen hospitality and traditions to the full degree,” it said in a statement. Kadyrov is to hand the winning candidate a job as head of the Strategic Development Agency. “Who is the best? The head of the republic Ramzan Kadyrov will decide that himself. He will judge all the trials with the help of a special jury,” the statement said.
UNITED STATES
Package to help Puerto Rico
President Barack Obama on Thursday signed a rescue package for financially strapped Puerto Rico, which is facing more than US$70 billion in debt and a major payment that was due yesterday. Obama signed the bill hours after it won final Senate passage on Wednesday night. Obama said there is still tough work to do to get Puerto Rico out of the hole, “but it is an important first step on the path of creating more stability, better services and greater prosperity over the long term for the people of Puerto Rico.” This came as Puerto Rico’s governor signed an executive order on Thursday to implement a debt moratorium on more than US$1 billion worth of general obligation bonds. Puerto Rico was facing a US$2 billion debt payment due yesterday that includes those general obligation bonds. Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla previously said the government did not have enough money to make the payments.
AUSTRIA
Runoff election ordered
A presidential runoff election must be held again, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled yesterday, handing the Freedom Party’s narrowly defeated candidate another chance to become the first far-right head of state in the EU. The decision comes a week after Britain delighted groups who are against the EU, such as the Freedom Party, by voting to leave the bloc. Concerns about immigration and jobs featured prominently in the Brexit referendum, as they did in the knife-edge presidential election. The court said that widespread irregularities in the counting of the more than 700,000 postal ballots cast meant there was enough doubt over the election’s outcome for a rerun to be ordered. Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party lost the May 22 vote to former Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen by less than 1 percentage point, or about 31,000 votes.
NEW ZEALAND
Town flooded with interest
A tiny town that offered property for bargain prices in a bid to attract more people has been swamped with more than 5,000 inquiries from around the world, the local mayor said yesterday. Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan said the South Island township of Kaitangata had more people than jobs, with a population of 800, but up to 1,000 vacancies, mostly in the thriving agricultural sector. To boost its population, the town has been offering house-and-land packages for NZ$230,000 (US$164,730) — a good deal considering the national average is NZ$577,000, rising to NZ$955,000 in Auckland. Cadogan said the response had been overwhelming, with global interest from people inquiring about moving to the town, which is set in a lush valley about an hour’s drive from Dunedin. “We’ve been smashed,” he told TV3. “I think my PA’s going to throttle me... there’s over 5,000 messages on my phone, the council Web site’s full. It’s just phenomenal.” The town has a coal mine, sawmills and processing factories for the dairy industry.
BANGLADESH
Worker hacked to death
A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in the nation’s southwest yesterday in the latest attack blamed on militant groups, police said. At least three assailants on a motorbike fled the scene after hacking Shyamonando Das with sharp weapons, local police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman said. The attack happened in Jhenaidah District, 210km southwest of Dhaka, as the victim was picking flowers for his morning prayers near the temple, Rahman said. The worker died on the spot. Police had no immediate clues about who was behind the latest killing, but they suspected militant groups could be responsible as the pattern of the attack fits previous ones. No group has claimed responsibility.
‘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