ISRAEL
Hospitals demand payment
A health official on Sunday said that hospitals would stop treating Syrian patients in nonemergency cases beginning next week unless the government fully reimburses the hospitals for years of medical treatments to those wounded in the Syrian civil war. The Ministry of Health said that since 2013, four hospitals have treated 2,278 Syrians, many of whom had war wounds requiring significant surgery. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in December that he wanted to expand medical assistance to wounded Syrians, but Orly Weinstein, who heads the ministry’s division of government medical centers, told the prime minister’s office that the government had only partially reimbursed hospitals for the treatments and that the hospitals could no longer bear the financial burden.
UNITED STATES
Bill Paxton dies at 61
Actor Bill Paxton, best known for his roles in blockbusters such as Apollo 13 and Titanic, has died at the age of 61, a family representative said on Sunday. The versatile Texas-born actor was a familiar face on movie screens, with a string of memorable credits. “It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Bill Paxton has passed away due to complications from surgery,” a statement from a family representative said. “Bill began his career in Hollywood working on films in the art department and went on to have an illustrious career spanning four decades as a beloved and prolific actor and filmmaker.”
UNITED STATES
Navy nominee withdraws
President Donald Trump’s choice to be Navy secretary, businessman Philip Bilden, on Sunday said he was withdrawing from consideration for the post, citing concerns about privacy and separating himself from his business interests. Bilden’s withdrawal raises similar issues to that of Vincent Viola, Trump’s nominee for Army secretary who stepped aside earlier this month. Bilden was an intelligence officer in the Army Reserve from 1986 to 1996. He moved to Hong Kong to set up an Asian presence for private equity firm HarbourVest Partners, from which he recently retired after 25 years.
UNITED STATES
Hero happy to risk life
A Kansas man wounded when he intervened in a bar room shooting that killed an Indian engineer and injured another on Sunday said he was glad he risked his life in an incident authorities are investigating as a possible hate crime. Ian Grillot, 24, was struck in the hand and chest at the bar in Olathe, Kansas, when suspect Adam Purinton opened fire on Wednesday evening. Purinton, a 51-year-old white navy veteran, was to make an initial appearance in Johnson County District Court yesterday to face charges of murder and attempted murder. “I was more than happy to risk my life to save the lives of others. There was families, there was kids inside,” Grillot said in a video released by the University of Kansas Health System.
UNITED STATES
Aquarium to breed penguins
A Niagara Falls aquarium is expanding so it can breed and protect the threatened Humboldt penguin. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said work had begun on a US$3.3 million project to create a new penguin exhibit at the Aquarium of Niagara. The exhibit and gallery are to include a rock beach modeled after the coast of Peru and an interactive classroom for visitors. The aquarium is to seek accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to expand its penguin colony and restart a breeding program.
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
‘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
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