GREECE
Asylum seeker dies in brawl
An Afghan asylum seeker on Thursday died after a brawl in a migration camp involving 50 others, a police source said. The man, aged around 20, was seriously injured by his countrymen in the camp at Hellinikon, in Athens’ southern suburbs, and transferred to a neighboring hospital, where he died from his wounds. Two other migrants, whose nationality was not confirmed, were also hospitalized. Police reinforcements were sent to the scene. More than 3,000 people live in the Hellinikon camp — most of them from Afghanistan, but others from elsewhere, including Syria. Brawls between migrants in camps across the country are common as they wait for months for their claims to be processed. On Tuesday, three others at Hellinikon were also hospitalized following a fight, police said.
UNITED STATES
Toker ‘abused corpse’
A central Pennsylvania man was on Thursday charged after police say he sprayed fluid used to embalm a human brain on marijuana that he then smoked. State police in Carlisle charged 26-year-old Joshua Lee Long with abuse of a corpse and conspiracy. Court records indicate Long’s aunt contacted detectives on June 21 after finding a human brain in a department store bag under a porch while cleaning out a trailer. Long allegedly told her during a telephone conversation from the Cumberland County jail that he used the formaldehyde-soaked pot to get high. “The defendant related that he knew it was illegal to have the brain and that he and [another man] would spray the embalming fluid on ‘weed’ to get high,” wrote Trooper John Boardman, the investigator. Court records indicate a coroner concluded the brain was real and that Long supposedly named it Freddy. The coroners who examined the brain believe it was most likely a stolen teaching specimen, according to the arrest affidavit. Long remains in jail, and court records did not list a lawyer for him.
GREECE
Police settle soap suit
Court documents show the Pennsylvania State Police have paid US$195,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a New York man who spent 29 days behind bars after troopers mistook homemade soap for cocaine. Alexander Bernstein’s attorney, Joshua Karoly, told the Morning Call his client also settled claims against Safariland LLC, the company that produced the allegedly faulty drug test that troopers used during a November 2013 traffic stop. Details of that settlement were not available. State police and Safariland did not return messages seeking comment on Thursday. Bernstein was a passenger in a Mercedes-Benz police pulled over for speeding near Allentown. Troopers smelled marijuana, searched the car and found packages the driver said was homemade soap, but tested as cocaine. Lab tests later showed it was soap.
UNITED STATES
Jagger’s girlfriend pregnant
Mick Jagger’s representatives say the rock legend is expecting his eighth child. The representatives confirmed a report by People magazine and other media outlets that Jagger’s girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, 29, is pregnant. Jagger, the 72-year-old frontman of the Rolling Stones, already has seven children — Georgia, James, Jade, Elizabeth, Lucas, Karis and Gabriel — who range in age from 45 to 17. He is also a grandfather of two children. W magazine, which reports on fashion and celebrities, said Hamrick is a ballerina who has performed with the American Ballet Theatre in New York.
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
‘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