VIETNAM
Huge ivory stash seized
Authorities have seized 619kg of ivory illegally shipped in from Africa after finding 4 tonnes at the same port over the past two months, state media and an official said yesterday. The ivory seized on Thursday had been hidden in two containers arriving at Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh City, the city’s Customs newspaper said. Deputy customs chief Le Dinh Loi confirmed the report, but did not give more details.
PHILIPPINES
Illegal workers arrested
More 1,200 Chinese nationals suspected to be working illegally for an online gambling operator have been arrested at a resort and casino complex north of Manila, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said yesterday. The 1,240 Chinese nationals arrested on Thursday were being checked based on reports they illegally entered and worked in the country. The immigration bureau’s initial report said the foreigners were working as call center agents for an illegal online gambling operator at the Fontana Leisure Park in Clark Freeport, a former US-run air base north of Manila. They are temporarily being held under guard by immigration and police personnel in a building within the leisure park.
FRANCE
Armed man kills woman
An armed man stabbed a female employee to death after bursting into a retirement home for missionaries in southern France on Thursday, a prosecutor said. The man, wearing a mask and carrying a sawn-off shotgun and a knife, tied up and killed the woman who worked at the home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez near Montpellier. More than 70 men and women who have served as missionaries in Africa live at the home. Armed police searched the building, but believe the man fled, sources close to the police operation said. Investigators have no evidence at this stage to suggest the attack was terror-related at a time when the nation remains under a state of emergency following a string of jihadist atrocities, including the murder of an elderly Catholic priest in July. The man was not known to authorities.
SPACE
Thanksgiving in space
An international crew of astronauts celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday with a special “spacegiving feast” of rehydrated foods on board the International Space Station. NASA published a photograph of the six astronauts enjoying their meal, which included rehydrated turkey, stuffing, potatoes and vegetables. The meal was rounded off with cherry blueberry cobbler for dessert, NASA Commander Shane Kimbrough said in a preview statement made about 320km from Earth on Friday last week.
COLOMBIA
Ex-general gets 30 years
A retired general has been found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the 1989 assassination of a top presidential contender. The murder of cartel-fighting politician Luis Carlos Galan marks one of the bloodiest chapters in the nation’s history, one depicted in the hit Netflix series Narcos. On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that Miguel Maza, then-head of the nation’s intelligence agency, paved the way for the murder by weakening Galan’s security detail days before he was gunned down at a campaign rally. Maza has been jailed since 2013 and has said he was the target of cartel assassination plots. The trial comes as the nation re-examines the role of state agents in several high-profile killings during the apex of drug-fueled violence three decades ago.
GREECE
Refugees set fire to camp
Angry refugees on Thursday set fire to a camp on the island of Lesbos after a woman and a six-year-old child died following a gas cylinder explosion, local police said. The explosion occurred while the 66-year-old woman was cooking, police said, adding that the child’s mother and four-year-old sibling were hospitalized with serious injuries. In an apparent act of rage, refugees then set fire to the Moria camp, causing significant damage, police said. Firefighters arrived at the scene to try to put out the flames. Ensuing clashes between refugees and police left six refugees slightly injured. Some refugees fled the camp after the blast, but had since returned and calm was being restored, a police source said. Several fires have erupted in refugee camps on the nation’s islands, where about 16,000 people became stranded after the EU signed a deal that was aimed at stemming the influx of refugees. Moria has capacity for 3,500 people, but currently houses more than 5,000. Part of the camp was badly damaged in a fire on Sept. 19 during clashes between refugees and police, and thousands had to be moved out before returning two days later. Nearly 66,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in the country, official figures showed.
PERU
Officials blow up fireworks
Authorities have detonated nearly 21 tonnes of illegal fireworks, officials said. The massive haul exploded into the sky above a remote site in greater Lima on Thursday, with the National Superintendency for Control of Security, Arms, Munitions and Explosives for Civilian Use (SUCAMEC) undertaking the operation. “This is the most important burning of explosives carried out in the history of SUCAMEC,” said agency manager Juan Dulanto, who presided over the explosion. “It is unlikely to be repeated — nearly 21 tonnes, which is a significant amount of stock we have taken from the market.”
UNITED STATES
‘Brady Bunch’ star dies at 82
Florence Henderson, the wholesome actress who went from Broadway star to TV icon when she became Carol Brady, the ever-cheerful mom residing over The Brady Bunch, has died. She was 82. She died surrounded by family and friends, her manager, Kayla Pressman, said in a statement late on Thursday. Millions loved, and kept on loving, the innocent sitcom about a blended family. The Brady Bunch, first aired in 1969, repeatedly returned to TV in various forms, including The Brady Bunch Hour in 1977, The Brady Brides in 1981 and The Bradys in 1990.
‘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