UNITED STATES
Family fight turns fatal
A man who got into an argument with his estranged wife and her family over his children was arrested on Sunday over a house-to-house shooting rampage in rural Mississippi that left eight people dead, including his mother-in-law and a sheriff’s deputy. “I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done,” a handcuffed Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper. The gunfire erupted on Saturday night at Godbolt’s in-laws’ home in Bogue Chitto after the deputy arrived in response to a domestic disturbance call and spread to two houses in nearby Brookhaven. Godbolt was hospitalized in good condition with a gunshot wound, although it was not clear who shot him. Godbolt’s stepfather-in-law, Vincent Mitchell, said that Godbolt’s wife and their two children had been staying at his Bogue Chitto home for about three weeks after she left her husband because of domestic violence. Mitchell said he escaped along with Godbolt’s wife, but three others were killed: His wife, her sister and one of the wife’s daughters. After fleeing his in-laws’ house, Godbolt killed four more people at two other homes, authorities said.
FRANCE
Mayor pans feminist festival
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Sunday called for a black feminist festival in the city to be banned, saying it was “prohibited to white people.” The first edition of the Nyansapo Festival, due to run from July 28 to 30 bills itself as “an event rooted in blackfeminism, activism, and on [a] European scale.” Four-fifths of the festival area would be set aside as a “non-mixed” space “for black women,” its Web site said. Another space would be a “non-mixed” area “for black people” regardless of gender. Another space would be “open to all.” The English version of the site does not use the word “non-mixed,” but “reserved.” “I am asking for this festival to be banned,” Hidalgo said, adding that she also reserved the right “to prosecute the organizers for discrimination.”
MEXICO
Healer to run for president
A council of indigenous groups backed by Zapatista rebels on Sunday selected a Nahua woman as the country’s first indigenous female presidential candidate. The Indigenous Governance Council picked Maria de Jesus Patricio to run in next year’s election, issuing a statement saying that “we will seek to put her name on the ballot.” Because the council is not a registered political party, it might need signatures to get Patricio on the ballot. The council called for an “anti-capitalist and honest” government. “We don’t seek to administer power; we seek to dismantle it,” it said. Local media described Patricio as a traditional healer from the western state of Jalisco.
UNITED STATES
Canoe crosses equator
A traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe on an around-the-world journey reached a milestone by crossing the equator on its way back to Hawaii. Hawaii News Now reported that the Hokulea crossed the equator on Friday, after it left Tahiti. “It’s a pretty huge deal,” Pua Lincoln Maielua, the boat’s apprentice navigator, told Hawaii News Now. “To be in this space and be able to confirm where we are based on what we’re seeing in the sky … has been gratifying.” Hawaii News Now said crew members have been at sea for 10 days since they left Tahiti. The Hokulea is scheduled to return to Hawaii on June 17. Crew members are sailing without modern navigation equipment and have traveled through at least five oceans.
UNITED KINGDOM
More BA flight delays
Travelers on British Airways (BA) and its sister airlines in Spain yesterday faced a third day of delays and cancelations, mainly on short-haul flights in Europe, after the company suffered a colossal information technolody failure over the weekend. Data from flight tracker FlightAware.com showed BA’s sister airlines in Spain, Iberia and Air Nostrum, canceled more than 320 flights yesterday, while BA canceled 27 flights and had 58 more delayed. Passengers, many of whom had spent the night at London’s Heathrow Airport, faced frustrating waits to learn if and when they could fly out.
JAPAN
Poll backs military mention
Poll results released yesterday show that about half of the nation supports a constitutional revision that would clarify the legality of the Self-Defense Forces, a new approach Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is proposing as his party struggles to gain public support for a change. The existence of the Self-Defense Forces is not spelled out in Article 9 of the constitution. A Nikkei Shimbun poll found 51 percent of 1,595 respondents supported including a reference in Article 9, while 36 percent were opposed.
CHINA
Protest over G7 statement
Beijing has urged the G7 to “stop making irresponsible remarks” after the G7 summit expressed concern about the situation in the East and South China seas. In their closing communique in Italy on Saturday, G7 leaders said they “remain concerned about the situation” in the two seas and are “strongly opposed to any unilateral actions that could increase tensions.” The text also urges “all parties to pursue demilitarization of disputed features.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday was quoted by state media as saying on Sunday that it was “strongly dissatisfied at the G7 summit gesticulating over the issues of the East and South China seas under the guise of international law.” Ministry spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said Beijing hopes the G7 and other countries will “stop making irresponsible remarks and play a constructive role for regional peace and stability.”
SOUTH AFRICA
Zuma survives motion
President Jacob Zuma on Sunday was able to defeat a no-confidence motion against him at a meeting of top officials of the African National Congress (ANC), News24 reported on its Web site. Zuma is facing mounting pressure against him from within the ANC as well as opposition parties and civil society since he axed former finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, triggering credit rating downgrades that have hurt the economy. Citing two unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee, News24 said Zuma had survived a heated committee meeting that lasted late into the night. Zuma is scheduled to step down from the ANC helm in December, although his term as president runs until 2019.
MYANMAR
Facebook ban draws ire
Netizens were in uproar yesterday after Facebook seemingly banned people from posting the word kalar, often used as a slur against Muslims. Dozens of users reported being temporarily barred from the site after posting the term, which is frequently used as an insult for the country’s Muslim minority. Some said they were blocked after writing other words that include the same sound in the Burmese alphabet.
CHINA
Knife attacker kills two
A knife attacker on Sunday afternoon killed two people and injured 18 in a rampage along a roadway in Guizhou Province, state media reported. The man, aged 30 and believed to be suffering from mental health problems, is in police custody after the assault, Xinhua news agency reported. Two of the 20 injured people taken to a hospital died, the Zhenning County Public Security Bureau said, while the remaining 18 were in stable condition as of yesterday. Prior to the attack, Chen attempted to set fire to a gas station, state broadcaster Central China Television reported.
INDIA
Video leads to three arrests
Three men have been arrested after video emerged showing them assaulting two women in broad daylight last week as a dozen others looked on and ignored their screams for help, police said yesterday. The blurry video aired on television showed the men groping and pushing the women in a remote village in Rampur District of Uttar Pradesh state as onlookers laughed and filmed the assault, later posting it on social media.
INDIA
Cow sale ban sparks protest
The government has banned the sale of cows and buffalo for slaughter in a move to protect animals considered holy by many Hindus. State governments and companies have criticized the ban as a blow to beef and leather exports that would also leave hundreds of thousands jobless and deprive millions of Christians, Muslims and poor Hindus of cheap protein. The rules that took effect on Friday require that cattle traders pledge that any cows or buffalo sold are not intended for slaughter. Eleven of the nation’s 29 states are objecting, with at least one planning a challenge in court.
‘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
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