FRANCE
Sarkozy said to face trial
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy is to face trial over the allegedly fraudulent financing of his doomed 2012 bid for re-election, a legal source said yesterday. The prosecution claims Sarkozy greatly exceeded a spending limit of 22.5 million euros (US$24 million) by using false billing from a public relations firm called Bygmalion. The source said one of two judges in charge of the case, Serge Tournaire, had decided on Friday that the case should go to trial after the failure of Sarkozy’s legal efforts to prevent it in December. Bygmalion executives from the company have acknowledged the existence of fraud and false accounting and the trial will focus on whether Sarkozy himself was aware or taking decisions about it.
INDIA
Nobel winner’s home robbed
Thieves broke into the New Delhi home of 2014 Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi and stole a replica of his prize medal, police said yesterday. “We have launched an investigation to nab the culprits,” New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baniya said. Other gifts and certificates besides the replica were also stolen, said Rakesh Senger, director of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the movement started by the children’s rights activist, who is traveling overseas to attend a conference. He could not immediately be reached for comment. Satyarthi’s Nobel medal has been on display in a museum at the palace of President Pranab Mukherjee, after the laureate decided to dedicate the medal to the nation in 2015.
INDIA
Court declares victims dead
Three fishermen believed to be the first victims of the Mumbai attacks have been declared dead by the civil court in the western state of Gujarat — more than eight years after the assault that killed more than 160 people. The ruling means the men’s families can finally be granted death certificates for their loved ones, whose bodies were never found. Five fishermen were aboard a trawler off the coast of Gujarat in November 2008 when it was hijacked by gunmen later identified as the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks. The captain was found dead inside the trawler, but the bodies of the four others were never located.
MYANMAR
Monk found with meth stash
A Buddhist monk has been arrested after authorities found more than 4 million methamphetamine pills in his car and in his monastery. Police officer Maung Maung Yin said the monk was stopped on Sunday as he drove in northern Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh. Authorities had been tipped off that the monk was carrying an illegal haul. Yin said an anti-drug task force found 400,000 pills in the monk’s car. A subsequent search of his monastery turned up 4.2 million pills along with a grenade and ammunition. Police were still questioning him yesterday.
UNITED STATES
Naked man steals taxi
A naked man stole a taxi and recklessly drove through a crowded park in a posh section of Philadelphia, police said. The man attacked a woman who was getting out of a cab on Monday afternoon, they said. The taxi driver said that when he got out to help the woman, the man undressed and stole his cab. The suspect drove through Rittenhouse Square, hit three parked cars and crashed into a curb before being apprehended. He was taken to a hospital. His condition is unknown. The woman who was attacked is recovering, police said.
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