BRITAIN
Philip to stop royal duties
Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, will retire from royal duties this fall, Buckingham Palace said yesterday. Philip, 95, made the decision himself with the full support of the queen, the palace said in a statement. Philip, known as the Duke of Edinburgh, has had heart disease and other ailments in recent years, but has nonetheless maintained a vigorous public schedule. He seemed to be in good health on Wednesday at an appearance at Lord’s. He joked about being the world’s most experienced person when it comes to unveiling plaques. Officials said the queen, who turned 91 last month, would keep carrying out royal engagements with the support of the royal family. The palace said Philip will continue heading numerous charitable organizations, but will not play an active role attending engagements. The palace did not offer any new details about his health and there were no indications of any new problems. The statement indicated Philip will carry out previously scheduled engagements between now and August.
CUBA
Succession line-up teased
One of the highest-profile members of the ruling family said the country could be surprised by the person who succeeds her father as president. Mariela Castro’s uncle, Fidel, led the nation for a half century before he was succeeded by her father, Raul Castro. Raul Castro has said he plans to step down in February next year. International and domestic observers widely expect him to be succeeded by 57-year-old First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel. When asked on Wednesday about the succession process, Mariela Castro said: “Sometimes you’re going in one direction and suddenly you look over here and go: ‘Wow, how interesting, I hadn’t focused on this person.’” She said that “there are always surprises.”
UNITED STATES
Google shuts down spam
Google said it shut down an e-mail spam campaign that impersonated its online file service, Google Docs. According to online reports — in particular, a detailed user thread on Reddit — clicking on an e-mailed share link, purportedly from a known source, was taking users to a site that asked permission for a fake app calling itself “Google Docs” to access their accounts. If they agreed, the app would then send additional copies of the original e-mail to the users’ contacts. Earlier reports suggested the attack was a phishing scam potentially aimed at harvesting personal information and maybe even Google login credentials. However, in a statement late on Wednesday, Google said that while the campaign accessed and used contact information, no other data was apparently exposed. Google said it was able to stop the campaign in about an hour.
UNITED STATES
Exam exploit thwarted
Police said two University of Kentucky students crawled through an air duct to steal a statistics exam from their professor’s office, but were caught because he was working late. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that university police cited Henry Lynch II and Troy Kiphuth, both 21, for third-degree burglary and referred the case to Fayette County Circuit Court. University spokesman Jay Blanton told the newspaper the instructor left his office at about midnight on Tuesday to get something to eat. When he returned, two men ran from the office. One of them later returned and confessed. Police said Lynch told officers he tried stealing the exam earlier in the night, but could not find it.
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
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