CANADA
Novelist passes away
Canadian novelist W.P. Kinsella, who blended magical realism and baseball in the book that became the smash hit film Field of Dreams, has died. He was 81. His literary agent Carolyn Swayze said in a statement that Kinsella’s death on Friday in Hope, British Columbia, was doctor-assisted. Details about his health were not disclosed.
UNITED STATES
Man admits killing nuns
A man charged with killing two nuns confessed to investigators that he went into their home, struggled with them, stabbed them to death and stole their car, a state law enforcement agent testified on Friday. Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, is charged with capital murder in the slayings of sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill, both 68. “He did acknowledge killing Paula Merrill and Margaret Held,” Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agent LeCarus Oliver said. Sanders told investigators that he went through the back door of the sisters’ home, uninvited. Oliver testified that Sanders had not revealed a motive for the attacks.
JAPAN
Train driver goes over rails
Japanese train operator JR East has apologized after a driver urinated over the railway track while on duty because he did not want to delay services by using the toilet, media reported yesterday. The driver, in his 50s, felt the urge to go on Monday as his train stopped at Sakura station in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo, public broadcaster NHK and the Asahi Shimbun said. He then opened the cabin door away from the platform and urinated over the rails before departure, as he did not want to cause a delay by going to the restroom, Asahi said. The company, which received a report of the case from an eyewitness, instructed him to go to the restroom if necessary, NHK said.
GERMANY
Protests target trade deal
Hundreds of thousands of people were yesterday expected to take to the streets across Germany in protest against a massive transatlantic trade agreement, dealing a new blow to the disputed accord. “We hope that more than 250,000 participants will join in the march nationwide,” said Roland Suess from the anti-globalization group Attac, one of the organizers of the demonstrations in seven German cities, including the capital Berlin and economic powerhouse Frankfurt.
BRAZIL
Soap opera star drowns
Brazilians on Friday mourned the death of soap opera star Domingos Montagner, who drowned in a river where his series had been filming and where his character narrowly escaped death in a recent episode. Montagner, 54 and at the height of his career, was on a break from filming the hit series Velho Chico (“Old Chico”) in northeast Brazil when he went for a swim on Thursday in the Sao Francisco River with co-star Camila Pitanga, according to the Globo media group, which broadcasts the show. The pair was swept up in a strong current. Pitanga managed to grab on to a rock, but she was unable to keep hold of Montagner. She cried out for help, but some locals apparently did not pay attention because they supposed filming was under way. Montagner’s body was found several hours later 30m underwater trapped among the riverbed rocks, the Globo group’s flagship newspaper reported.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing