CHINA
Putin gifts Xi ice cream
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday brought a chilly gift for his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping (習近平), as they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit: a tub of ice cream. “I promised to bring it for you. And I’ve brought you a whole box of ice cream,” Putin said. Xi thanked the Russian president for his “kindness,” before adding that he had developed a taste for Russian ice cream on his many official visits to Moscow.
UNITED STATES
Clown sightings irk locals
Reported sightings of silent, menacing clowns in northeastern South Carolina might be part of a horror movie publicity stunt or an elaborate hoax, but they are no laughing matter for parents and police. Over the past two weeks, residents have told authorities they have spotted clowns on at least eight occasions. One theory is that the clowns are connected to the release of the independent horror movie 31 by director Rob Zombie. A preview of the movie, which features a gang of sadistic clowns, screened on Thursday evening at a theater in Greenville. Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller told reporters that investigators do not know if the sightings had any connection with the movie, whether it was one or more people looking for “kicks” or something more sinister.
UNITED STATES
Couple puts child in dryer
Police say they have arrested a North Carolina mother and her boyfriend after they put a child under 12 into a clothes dryer. Burlington Police Sergeant Jennifer Matherly said in a news release that the child suffered minor injuries and was given to relatives after officers investigated the case on Friday. Matherly said the child’s mother, 25-year-old Heather Rowland, is charged with misdemeanor child abuse and her boyfriend, 37-year-old Eric Chambers, is charged with assault on a child under 12. Both remain in jail after bond was set. It was not known if they had attorneys.
UNITED STATES
Jail visitor shoots officers
Two unarmed officers were critically injured after being shot by a visitor in the lobby of a central California jail, authorities said on Saturday. Correctional Officers Juanita Davila and Toamalama Scanlan were shot in the head and neck areas during a struggle with a man who tried to cut to the front of the visitors’ line and refused to take a seat when he began pacing near a secure area of the Fresno County jail, sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said. Officers from the secured areas inside the jail ran to the lobby, where a lieutenant fired shots at the gunman, identified as 37-year-old Thong Vang. Botti said Vang returned fire, but no one was hit. When confronted by sheriff’s deputies and a Fresno police officer, Vang dropped his weapon and told authorities he wanted to be arrested, Botti said.
FRANCE
Mother held after baby dies
A British mother was on Saturday arrested after her five-month-old baby was found dead during a family holiday in southwest France, a judicial official said. The woman in her 30s and her husband were staying with their two children, the baby and a three-year-old, at a holiday home in the Bayonne area. Saturday was the last day of their week-long holiday and the father woke up early and left the bedroom which all four were apparently sharing, the official said. The mother got up around 9am and it was then that the father discovered that the baby was dead.
‘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