UNITED STATES
Trump defends club changes
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he transformed a Florida golf club that he bought from the Ritz-Carlton and that most members like the changes, despite a US$6 million federal lawsuit brought by disaffected members. “I can say right now members are very happy,” Trump testified in a videotaped deposition played on Monday, the first day of trial on the lawsuit, the Palm Beach Post reported. The deposition was recorded in April last year. Trump bought the club for US$5 million in 2012. About 60 members wanted to leave, but Trump would not return their US$35,000 to US$210,000 initiation fees as Ritz-Carlton had promised, until new members joined, according to the lawsuit. Meanwhile, they were barred from the club, but still charged US$6,000 annual dues and US$1,800 annually for food and drink, the suit said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Woman jailed over benefits
A woman was jailed on Monday for subjecting her children to unnecessary medical procedures so that she could claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in state benefits. The unnamed woman from Croydon, south London, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after she spent at least a decade pretending her son and daughter had a string of health problems. Following the mother’s complaints the children underwent surgery to have feeding tubes fitted to their stomachs, despite their being able to eat normally. Her son was administered steroid medication to treat severe asthma and he was also encouraged by his mother to show symptoms she believed were consistent with autism, police said. As a result of the supposed health problems the 48-year-old woman falsely claimed £87,400 (US$112,550) in disability benefits. Police said she falsely claimed a total of £375,200 in benefits, including income support while living with her employed partner.
UNITED KINGDOM
Taser death probed
The Independent Police Complaints Commission on Monday opened an investigation into the death of a former Premier League soccer player who was shot with a stun gun by police. Dalian Atkinson, 48, went into cardiac arrest on the way to a hospital and died about 90 minutes after officers used a Taser on him, the West Midlands Ambulance Service said in a statement. Officers deployed stun guns after being called to an address in Telford involving “the safety of an individual,” West Mercia Police said. “He had some health issues that he was trying to get through and that’s why his heart was weak,” his nephew Fabian Atkinson said.
MEXICO
Police hunt kidnappers
Police and troops were searching for 10 to 12 suspected gang members who were abducted in a raid by gunmen on an apparent celebration at an upscale restaurant in the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta. Jalisco state prosecutor Eduardo Almaguer on Monday said that local, state and federal authorities, including marines and soldiers, joined in the operation, while investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage for clues. Both the kidnappers and those kidnapped were members of criminal organizations, Almaguer said at a news conference called to discuss the early Monday abduction in the resort’s main hotel zone.
SOUTH KOREA
Blast kills three soldiers
An accidental explosion at a naval base yesterday left three soldiers dead and another injured, the Ministry of National Defense said. Military authorities are investigating the blast that occurred during repair work of a docked submarine at the base in port town of Jinhae, but the possibility of an attack was considered very low. The explosion occurred when the soldiers opened the hatch of the submarine and was strong enough to blow one of the soldiers into the sea, a ministry official said.
IRAN
Dual national arrested
A British-Iranian has been suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service, the Tehran prosecutor told local media yesterday. “The accused, who was arrested in Tehran last week, was active in the field of the Iranian economy, and was linked to the British espionage service,” the Mizan news agency quoted Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying. He did not give the name or gender of the accused. Dolatabadi recalled warnings by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Western governments would seek to “infiltrate” the country in the wake of last year’s nuclear deal. The government does not recognize dual nationality and treats those arrested as citizens.
THAILAND
Rights group urges release
The New York-based Human Rights Watch yesterday called for the release of an anti-junta activist in his 10th day of a hunger strike after he was detained for campaigning against a military-backed draft constitution. The constitution was overwhelming supported by voters an Aug. 7 referendum. Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, a student at Khon Kaen University, was detained on Aug. 6 for handing out “vote no” leaflets in violation of a ban on campaigning ahead of the vote. The rights group said Jatupat should be released, but he should be given access to medical treatment until he is freed.
INDIA
Doctor arrested for murder
Police have arrested a doctor for allegedly injecting six people with a lethal overdose and burying most of the bodies at his farmhouse, an officer said yesterday. Santosh Pol, dubbed “Doctor Death” by local media, was arrested in a town in Maharashtra state last week during a police investigation into the disappearance of one of his victims. “Pol has confessed to killing around six people, including five women and one man. We have recovered four bodies from his farmhouse and one from [outside] his [town] residence,” police inspector Padmakar Ghanvat said. “He has been constantly changing his statements during interrogations, which makes it difficult for us to understand his motives.” All of the alleged victims went missing in the town of Wai in recent years. Police have also taken Pol’s nurse into custody on suspicion of helping him carry out some of the killings, media reports said.
AUSTRALIA
Lawmaker has car trouble
A member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly has lost the use of a government car for the second time in a few weeks, after she lent it out and it was implicated in the unlawful killing of a cow on a cattle station. Larissa Lee had been loaned the four-wheel drive by the chief minister’s office, after losing her own government car in June after allegedly allowing an unlicensed 17-year-old to drive it, a case that is currently before the courts. The loan car was ostensibly for the purpose of getting around her electorate of Arnhem during the election campaign.
‘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
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
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