NORWAY
Nuclear leak contained
A radioactive leak at a research reactor has been contained, with no injuries sustained, an official at the research institute in the town of Halden said yesterday. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) said it expects no environmental damage outside the facility. The leak at the Institutt for Energiteknikk, located in a cave in the middle of Halden, began on Monday at 11:45am GMT, but the regulator said it was not alerted until yesterday. The crew of the reactor was evacuated after the leak was detected, but some staff returned to assess the cause and extent of the accident, the NRPA said in a statement. The reactor is close to the border with Sweden, but the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority said it had not detected any radiation as a result of the incident.
MEXICO
Authorities find drug tunnel
Prosecutors on Monday said they had found a tunnel in the city of Tijuana that led toward or into the US. The attorney general’s office did not say whether the tunnel reached US soil, but did say the 515m-long passage was equipped with ventilation and lighting. The tunnel also had rails, apparently used to push loads of drugs through. The tunnel, about 0.9m wide and 1.2m tall, was built about 7m underground. Prosecutors found over 2 tonnes of marijuana in packages at the house where the tunnel began on the Mexican side. Also on Monday, federal police said they found 1.9kg of methamphetamine hidden in a wheel of cheese at a package delivery facility in Mexico City. The police said that an X-ray inspection of the cheese revealed a hidden package. The drugs were wrapped in a sheet of lead and carbon paper. The carbon paper was apparently intended to reduce any odor. The lead might have been used to impede X-rays.
UNITED STATES
Pot van blows up on bridge
Police said a marijuana advocacy company’s van burst into flames on a bridge between New Jersey and Delaware, causing lane closures and tying up traffic for hours. Weed World Candies told WCAU-TV more than US$50,000 in merchandise was destroyed on Sunday evening when one of its vehicles heading to Philadelphia from Washington caught fire on the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Passing motorists captured the blaze on video. The company uses vans with advertising depicting cannabis plants next to lollipops — suggesting the lollipops it sells contain marijuana, despite containing no tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal psychoactive ingredient of cannabis — to promote the legalization and decriminalization of pot. Authorities said they believed a mechanical problem sparked the fire.
CHINA
Xiongmai recalls products
An electronics maker has issued a recall for millions of products sold in the US following a devastating cyberattack, but is pushing back against criticism that its devices played a role in the massive disruption. Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology said that the failure by customers to change their default passwords resulted in millions of Web-connected cameras and digital recorders becoming compromised. Security experts said unidentified hackers seized control of gadgets, including Xiongmai’s, on Friday and directed them to launch an attack that temporarily crippled Web sites including Twitter and Netflix. Xiongmai on Monday said it would recall products sold before April last year to demonstrate “social responsibility,” but added that its devices did not make up the majority used in the attack.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was