NORTH KOREA
Park called a ‘psychopath’
Pyongyang yesterday labeled South Korean President Park Geun-hye a “psychopath” after she made a speech slamming the North’s nuclear ambitions and defending the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Park on Monday said deploying the US’ THAAD system was an act of “self-defense” in response to Pyongyang’s expanding nuclear weapons program. A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country said Park’s argument was “preposterous” and unfounded. “This is no more than nonsense talked by a psychopath,” he said.
GUINEA
Man killed during protest
A young man on Tuesday was shot dead by police during a demonstration in the capital, Conakry, that saw at least half a million people protest against alleged government corruption, officials said. At least 12 others were injured in the rally called to denounce what they said was economic mismanagement by t President Alpha Conde’s government. Opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo said 700,000 people had joined a 15km procession from the suburbs to the Stade du 28 Septembre, but security forces said the number was closer to 500,000. Thierno Hamidou Diallo, 21, was shot in the chest by a police officer “as he was sitting on the balcony of his apartment” in the suburb of Bambeto, his brother Mamadou Dian Diallo said.
INDONESIA
Boats sunk as a ‘gift’
The government yesterday sank dozens of impounded foreign boats to mark Independence Day, as President Joko Widodo steps up a campaign to stop foreign fishermen from “stealing” in its waters. “Today we offer 60 boats” to be scuttled in eight locations, fisheries ministry official Mas Achmad Santosa said. “This is a gift [to the nation] and goes to show our consistency in enforcing the law.” Officials refused to disclose the vessels’ countries of origin.
UNITED STATES
Wildfire rages in California
Hundreds of firefighters yesterday were battling a rapidly spreading wildfire raging unchecked in drought-stricken southern California after flames forced more than 80,000 residents to flee. The Bluecut Fire, which erupted on Tuesday morning and has grown to cover about 7,300 hectares of heavy brush in an area called the Cajon Pass, was zero percent contained as of Tuesday night, fire officials said. Two firefighters were trapped by flames in the effort to evacuate residents and defend homes, but managed to escape with only minor injuries, fire officials said. More than 970km to the northwest, crews made headway against another wildfire that has destroyed more than 175 homes and businesses. The so-called Clayton Fire was 35 percent contained on Tuesday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
ZIMBABWE
Banknote protest quashed
Police yesterday fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds protesting against central bank plans to re-introduce local banknotes. A crowd of about 100 marched through the streets of the capital, Harare, toward the central bank before riot police broke up the demonstration. Many people are worried that the central bank’s plan to introduce banknotes, or “bond notes,” in October to ease the US dollar shortage could open the door to rampant money printing, as happened in 2008 when inflation hit 500 billion percent, wiping out people’s savings and pensions.
GERMANY
Gabriel flips off neo-Nazis
Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel raised eyebrows yesterday over a video of him showing the middle finger to a group of far-right protesters. Gabriel was visiting Lower Saxony on Friday last week when he was accosted by a group of masked protesters holding banners bearing the slogan: “Traitor.” “Man, your father loved his country, and what have you done to it? You’re destroying it,” a protester could be heard saying on the video, in a reference to Gabriel’s father, who was a Nazi. The Social Democrat leader, who has condemned his father as a “die-hard Nazi,” turned to face the protesters with a smile, before making the gesture.
UNITED STATES
Man kills couple, bites face
A 19-year-old Florida State University student with no criminal record fatally stabbed a couple outside their house, wounded their neighbor and was biting the dead man’s face when deputies finally subdued him, authorities said on Tuesday. Austin Harrouff, a former high-school football defensive lineman and wrestler, might have been on hallucinogenic drugs when he attacked Michelle Mishcon, 53, and John Stevens, 59, outside their home in Tequesta, Florida, Sheriff William Snyder said. The sheriff said Harrouff had joined his family for dinner at a restaurant a short distance away when he stormed off, apparently agitated about slow service. Snyder late on Tuesday said Harrouff, who suffered dog bites, bruises, cuts and stun gun jolts in his struggles with deputies, might not survive.
MEXICO
Gunmen grab El Chapo’s son
One of the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is among the half-dozen men abducted by gunmen at a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, authorities said on Tuesday. Jalisco state Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer said officials had determined that 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar was among those taken. He said authorities had identified four of the six men marched out of the upscale restaurant by seven armed assailants. The kidnappers belonged to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, the state’s dominant criminal group, he said. The victims are all believed to be connected to the rival Sinaloa cartel headed by El Chapo in Sinaloa State.
CANADA
Police urge password law
Police chiefs on Tuesday called for the government to adopt a law that could force a person to reveal an online encryption key or password in the interests of public safety. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police adopted the resolution at an annual meeting in Ottawa, citing the technological and legal challenges of obtaining digital evidence while protecting individual liberties. In a statement, the group said it urges the government, “for the purpose of community safety, to identify a legislative means for public safety agencies inclusive of law enforcement, through judicial authorization, to compel the holder of an encryption key or password to reveal it to law enforcement.”
UNITED STATES
Navy to honor Harvey Milk
The navy is naming a ship in honor of late gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served in the navy for four years before he began a career in the San Francisco City Government. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on Tuesday said that Milk displayed tremendous courage fighting for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The ship is one of a new fleet of replenishment oilers that are to be built in San Diego.
‘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