UNITED STATES
‘Time’ seeks fakes’ removal
Time magazine has asked that fake covers bearing the image of President Donald Trump be removed from his golf clubs. The Washington Post on Tuesday reported that a framed Time cover featuring Trump and the headline “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” [sic], seen hanging at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, was faked. The cover was reportedly on display at four other golf clubs owned by the president. The image, dated March 1, 2009, had never run in the magazine in any format, a Time spokeswoman said. The real March edition featured actor Kate Winslet. “I can confirm that this is not a real Time cover,” Kerri Chyka of Time told the Washington Post. The newspaper said Time had asked the Trump organization to remove the covers from display.
UNITED STATES
No plans for tour: Cosby
Bill Cosby on Tuesday said he has no plans to hold town hall events to discuss sexual assault, days after his spokesman suggested the comedian planned a series of public talks to educate men about how to avoid false accusations. Cosby’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, first put forward the idea for the town hall talks in an interview with a Birmingham, Alabama, TV station last week, five days after Cosby’s sex assault trial ended in a hung jury. The proposal drew immediate criticism from a lawyer representing some of the dozens of women who have leveled sex assault accusations at the 79-year-old entertainer.
UNITED STATES
Palin sues ‘New York Times’
Former vice presidential nominee and Alaska governor Sarah Palin is accusing the New York Times of defamation over an editorial that linked one of her political action committee ads to the mass shooting that severely wounded then-representative Gabby Giffords. In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Palin’s lawyers said the New York Times “violated the law and its own policies” when it accused her of inciting the 2011 attack that killed six people. The lawsuit refers to a June editorial in the New York Times on the shooting of Representative Steve Scalise. The editorial was later corrected.
UNITED STATES
Podesta talks to committee
Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton’s former campaign chairman on Tuesday met with a House committee investigating Russia’s interference in last year’s presidential election. John Podesta spoke with members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence behind closed doors. He told reporters afterward he was “happy to cooperate,” but could not say what questions he had been asked or detail his answers. The hacking of Podesta’s personal e-mail account and the release of those e-mails by WikiLeaks during the late stages of the campaign is one focus of the committee’s investigation.
UNITED STATES
NYC castle to be restored
An iconic castle in New York City’s Central Park is set to undergo a US$6 million restoration this fall. NY1 TV reported that Belvedere Castle, a 19th century centerpiece of the park and one of its most visited sites, is to be cleaned and waterproofed later this year. The Central Park Conservancy said it would install a new drainage system and rejuvenate the original wood designs of the castle’s pavilions. Chief landscape architect Christopher Nolan said the castle was last restored in 1983.
SPAIN
Six IS suspects arrested
Police yesterday arrested six suspected members of the Islamic State group, four in Spain and one each in Britain and Germany, the Ministry of the Interior said. A ministry statement said the man arrested in Britain was a Salafist imam who led the group and who was sought by several countries. The 44-year-old imam was detained in Birmingham at Spain’s request. The four arrests in Spain occurred in Mallorca, where the cell was allegedly based. The person arrested in Germany maintained contact with the cell and helped make propaganda videos. No names or nationalities of the six were released. The ministry said the cell held regular meetings to recruit new members and actively promoted Islamic State armed activities on social media. It said its increasing radicalization and willingness to commit jihad attacks led police in the three countries to make the arrests.
AUSTRALIA
Kangaroo killing shocks
A kangaroo dressed in leopard-print has been found shot dead on a roadside tied to a chair and holding a bottle of booze, sparking outrage over the killing. The animal, wearing a patterned shawl and propped up with the ouzo drink in its lifeless arms, was discovered in Melbourne’s northeast by a passerby. “The kangaroo had been shot at least three times, prior to it being arranged in the chair,” Victoria state Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning senior investigator Mike Sverns said. “This is appalling and immoral behavior.” Appealing for information on the suspects in the shooting, Sverns said that killing protected native wildlife was a serious offense with fines of up to A$36,500 (US$28,000) or 24 months’ imprisonment. Investigators suspect the animal was killed at a different location and moved to the roadside.
SPAIN
Death due to ‘poor English’
A regional court in Cantabria on Tuesday said that a bungee jumping instructor’s poor English might have led a 17-year-old Dutch woman to jump to her death without being connected by a rope to a viaduct two years ago. It said that the instructor’s order of “no jump,” instead of “don’t jump,” might have been understood by the victim as “now jump.” The instructor is under investigation for negligent homicide. The death occurred at the 32m-high Cabezon de la Sal viaduct in August 2015. The court said bungee jumping was prohibited on the viaduct and that the woman lacked parental permission to practice the sport. Neither the woman nor the instructor was named. The court said that a trial in the case had yet to be ordered.
CHINA
Coin-tosser avoids jail
An 80-year-old passenger who threw coins at the engine of a plane at a Shanghai airport for good luck will not face police action, the People’s Daily said yesterday. The woman delayed the China Southern Airlines flight on Tuesday for nearly six hours after she tossed nine coins at the engine from the tarmac while boarding, with one nestling inside. Police at Shanghai Pudong International Airport said the woman, surnamed Qiu, was a devout Buddhist and believed the coin offering would ensure her safety on the flight to Guangzhou. She was taken away by police after a fellow passenger reported the bizarre incident. However, the newspaper, citing police, said that while she had broken the law and would normally serve five days behind bars, she is exempted because she is aged over 70.
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