CANADA
Defense minister apologizes
Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan apologized in Parliament on Monday for claiming to have been the “architect” of the country’s largest battle in Afghanistan. Sajjan repeatedly said sorry for what he called a “mistake” while being grilled by opposition lawmakers about his remark last month during a speech in India. The battle involving Canada’s Operation Medusa was planned and executed in 2006 by Major General David Fraser, who was responsible for all NATO forces in southern Afghanistan. At the time of the operation, Sajjan was a major in Afghanistan, a much lower rank.
BRAZIL
Indigenous tribe attacked
More than a dozen members of an indigenous tribe were injured in a dispute over land in the north, including at least one whose hands were hacked off, according to reports from indigenous rights groups on Monday. The Indigenous Missionary Council said members of the Gamela community were leaving land recently reclaimed from cattle ranchers in Maranhao State when they were attacked on Sunday afternoon by dozens of men armed with guns, knives and clubs. No deaths were reported. Three remained hospitalized in the state capital, Sao Luis, with severe bullet wounds from the violence, according to the council and the Pastoral Land Commission.
UNITED STATES
Hearse full of dope found
Border Patrol agents working an immigration checkpoint in southern Arizona said they stopped a hearse last weekend and found 30kg of marijuana inside a mahogany coffin. The multiple bricks of marijuana had an estimated street value of more than US$33,000, Border Patrol officials said on Monday. The hearse carrying the casket was stopped on Saturday evening on State Route 80 near Tombstone. Agents said the driver — a 28-year-old US citizen — gave inconsistent information and a canine unit was brought in to check the hearse. Drug-smelling dogs alerted agents despite several bags of manure that had been placed inside the casket in an attempt to conceal the marijuana odor.
UNITED KINGDOM
Missing surfer found
A surfer who went missing off the coast of Scotland has been found 21km from land after spending more than 30 hours in the water, coast guard officials said on Monday. The man, named by the BBC as 22-year-old Matthew Bryce from Glasgow, was reported missing after he set off to go surfing on Sunday morning from a beach near Campbeltown off the Scottish west coast, sparking a large search operation. He was finally located on Monday evening, still with his surfboard after being spotted by a rescue helicopter.
UNITED STATES
Jailers charged over death
A US jury on Monday recommended that seven jail employees be charged for cutting off water for seven days to an inmate who later died of dehydration. After deliberating for about two hours, the six jurors concluded that there was “probable cause” to charge the seven jail officers, NBC TV affiliate WTMJ reported. The death of Terrill Thomas, 38, dates to April 24 last year, in a Milwaukee County jail, where he was in a mental health unit. Thomas was deprived of water because the guards wanted to punish him for his behavior, according to testimony heard by the jurors. The man was held at the jail for opening fire on the highway and in the air in a casino, seriously injuring one person.
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
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