UNITED STATES
Bin Laden son on terror list
The US added Hamza bin Laden, son and would-be heir of late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to its terrorist blacklist on Thursday. Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, has become active as an al-Qaeda propagandist since his father’s death at the hands of US special forces on May 2, 2011. According to letters found in the Navy SEAL raid on Osama’s hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to the Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader asking to be trained to follow him.
UNITED STATES
Lawmaker told to resign
A legislator indicted on allegations of beating his wife should resign, leaders of the South Carolina legislature said on Thursday, with one lawmaker calling it “terrifying and horrific” to hear children on a 911 telephone call screaming for their father to stop. The comments come a day after Representative Chris Corley was indicted on felony domestic violence charges and suspended from his seat in the House of Representatives. State law requires an officeholder indicted on a felony to be suspended. Corley’s wife told deputies he stopped hitting her on Dec. 26 only after noticing she was bleeding and hearing the screams of two of their three children, ages two and eight. Corley said his wife tried to punch him after accusing him of cheating, and the police report noted a scratch on his forehead
UNITED STATES
Lynx spotted in Colorado
Some elusive and charismatic lynx have been parading past awe-struck Colorado residents and visitors this winter, electrifying social media and giving biologists a reason to smile. One of the rare, fluffy-looking cats strolled nonchalantly across the Purgatory resort in southwestern Colorado last week, threading through a crowd of skiers and snowboarders who swerved around the animal and stopped to take videos. Two weeks earlier, a pair of lynx loped along a mountain highway a few feet from Dontje Hildebrand’s car. “My heart just about busted out of my chest when I realized what I was seeing,” Hildebrand said.
HAITI
Politician arrested on air
A former rebel leader who is wanted on drug charges in the US, and was recently elected to the Haitian Senate, was arrested on Thursday as he appeared on a live radio talk show. Guy Philippe was being interviewed live on the show with another recently elected lawmaker when the host abruptly announced that police were outside the studio in the Petionville district of the capital to arrest him. The host came back on air and said that authorities had taken him away. Radio host Gary-Pierre Paul Charles later told reporters that the police were members of the Haitian anti-drug unit and fired shots into the air to disperse a crowd that had gathered.
FRANCE
Police search for student
Police in eastern France on Thursday searched a forest for the body of a missing Japanese student as a chilling video emerged in which a man thought to be her fugitive Chilean ex-boyfriend threatens her. Narumi Kurosaki went missing in the city of Besancon, where she had been studying French, on the night of Dec. 4. French authorities believe the 21-year-old was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who is believed to have fled to Chile, and have issued an international warrant for his arrest. The Chilean Ministry of Justice on Wednesday said it was assisting the French “in the identification of certain suspects as of their latest movements,” without giving further details.
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