UNITED KINGDOM
London sells water cannons
After the collapse of his political dreams, top “Brexit” campaigner Boris Johnson suffered one final humiliation on Friday — the sale of three unused water cannons he bought when he was mayor of London. His replacement, Sadiq Khan, said he would sell them off to fund youth services in the British capital. “This shows the inability of Boris Johnson to get a good deal... We want to get rid of them,” Khan said, complaining that the city had also had to pay storage costs. Khan said the whole deal “beggars belief.” Johnson bought the three vehicles second-hand in Germany two years ago for about £200,000 (US$265,460) to deploy them in case of rioting, even though police do not have authorization to use them in mainland Britain. Water cannons have only been used in Northern Ireland, not in the rest of Britain. Calls have grown for their use since London and other major British cities were hit by a week of rioting and looting in 2011.
UNITED STATES
Child killings investigated
The mother of four young children who were stabbed to death in a gated apartment complex in Tennessee is being held for questioning, but authorities have not charged her with a crime. The deaths of the children on Friday saddened and dismayed neighbors and county officials, as authorities try to piece together what happened in the apartment near a verdant golf course in a typically quiet neighborhood in suburban Memphis. Deputies were called to the complex in unincorporated Shelby County shortly before 1pm on Friday. Officials have not released the ages of the children, but sheriff’s office spokesman Earle Farrell said deputies responding to the scene called them “babies.” Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham called the killings an “egregious act of evil,” though he did not specifically allege that the mother had stabbed the children.
PERU
Tourist falls to death
Authorities said a German tourist plunged to his death in a deep Andean ravine while posing for a photo in an area above the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu that is closed to visitors. The director of the Machu Picchu archeological park said that 51-year-old Oliver Paps fell more than 100m on Wednesday after entering a dangerous area by crossing over a barrier meant to keep tourists away from the edge. Director Fernando Astete on Friday said that the body had been recovered. Astete said other tourists reported details of the accident at a platform overlooking Machu Picchu that can be reached from the citadel by hiking up a mountain for more than an hour. Machu Picchu is the main tourist destination in Peru.
VENEZUELA
Power rationing to end
President Nicolas Maduro said he is lifting electricity rationing that began more than two months ago because a drought had caused low water levels at the hydroelectric dam that provides most of the country’s power. Maduro announced that beginning tomorrow the government would no longer cut off electricity to much of the country for four hours a day. Only Caracas and four states had been spared from the power cuts that were instituted on April 25. Officials had previously reported that a resumption of rain was improving the water level behind the Guri Dam, which produces 60 percent of Venezuela’s electricity. On June 14, the government ended a two-day workweek for civil workers ordered for power conservation and it suspended power cuts on weekends.
CHINA
Bus accident kills 26
A bus accident in the country’s north killed 26 people and injured four when the coach crashed through a highway guard rail and plunged into a canal, state media reported yesterday. Images of the scene of Friday’s accident showed rescue workers pulling bodies from a coach submerged in deep water below an expressway near the northern port city of Tianjin. The long-distance coach was carrying 30 people from Hebei Province to the northeastern city of Shenyang, the Xinhua news agency reported. The vehicle crashed when a tire blew out and the driver lost control, it said, sending the bus over the edge of the road. The four survivors included the ticket collector, second driver and two passengers, it reported. The accident occurred days after a bus burst into flames in Hunan Province, killing 53 and injuring 11.
SOUTH SUDAN
Peace agreement flouted
An international conflict research group said the country is at risk of falling back into full-scale war, just two months after the government and rebels formed a coalition government aimed at ending more than two years of conflict. The International Crisis Group on Friday said that the two sides are flouting a peace agreement they signed in August last year and are preparing for widespread conflict. The group’s South Sudan researcher Casie Copeland said the two sides have not shown willingness to compromise on issues such as oversight of security arrangements. The warning comes after violence last month rocked three of the country’s 10 states.
IRAQ
IS commanders killed: US
The Pentagon yesterday said that a US-led coalition airstrike killed two senior commanders of the Islamic State (IS) group on Saturday last week in northern Iraq, including a fighter considered to be the group’s deputy minister of war. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the strike killed Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari and a lower-level commander, Hatim Talib al-Hamduni. Cook said al-Bajari was a former member of al-Qaeda who oversaw the IS’ fight in June 2014 to capture the northern city of Mosul and worked to consolidate the group’s control over the city. Cook said that removing the two senior leaders would help as Iraqi forces and the coalition continue preparations to retake Mosul. Iraqi leaders have pledged to retake Mosul this year, but US officials say that timetable might not be realistic.
NIGERIA
Millions march for freedom
The country’s Shiite movement and journalists yesterday said that more than 1 million Shiites have marched to demand freedom for their detained leader and Israeli-occupied parts of Palestine. Shiite Islamic Movement spokesman Ibrahim Musa said millions of people marched on Friday on International Quds Day in a dozen northern cities and towns. Independent journalists reported more than 1 million people participated in the ancient Islamic city of Zaria that is the organization’s headquarters. Human rights groups say the country’s army killed hundreds of Shiites in raids in December last year. Shiite leader Ibraheem al-Zakzakhy was hit by seven bullets and has been detained ever since. The army said the raids came after Shiites tried to assassinate Nigeria’s army chief — a charge the movement denies. Musa’s statement demanded Zakzakhy’s unconditional release and the “complete and unconditional withdrawal from all Israeli-occupied territories.”
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