UNITED STATES
Tirade conviction overturned
A Connecticut woman who hurled a variety of insults at a grocery store manager was protected by constitutional free speech rights and is to be acquitted of a misdemeanor charge, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday. Nina Baccala was arrested in her hometown of Vernon in 2013 after subjecting a Stop & Shop assistant manager to a profanity-laced tirade. Prosecutors said she became enraged when the manager told her it was too late to process a Western Union money transfer. Baccala called the manager “fat” and “ugly,” in addition to profane names, prosecutors said. Baccala, 44, was convicted of breach of peace and sentenced to 25 days in jail. She appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the name calling and insults did not fall within the “fighting words” exemption to constitutional free speech rights. All seven justices on the state Supreme Court agreed the conviction should be overturned. Four voted in favor of acquittal, while three said there should be a new trial.
UNITED STATES
Frida Kahlo fans gather
With unibrows and flowers in their hair, more than 1,000 people came to a Dallas museum dressed as Frida Kahlo as part of an attempt to set a record. The Dallas Museum of Art said more than 5,000 people attended the celebration on Thursday night marking the 110th birthday of the artist. The museum, which partnered with the Latino Center for Leadership Development for the attempt, said evidence would be submitted to Guinness World Records next week and the review process will take up to 12 weeks. Participants were asked to create a unibrow, put flowers in their hair, wear a red or pink shawl and a flower-printed dress. The museum is currently featuring an exhibition called Mexico 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde.
UNITED STATES
Greenpeace ‘RESIST’ Trump
Greenpeace advocates unfurled a huge banner across the facade of a Trump hotel in Chicago on Friday, calling it an act of defiance against the US president’s environmental policies. The banner fluttering across the front of the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago had the word “RESIST” across the top, along with the Greenpeace logo. The word “defend” was superimposed over a picture of the Earth on the enormous flag. News reports said seven people were arrested and the banner taken down. A statement sent by Greenpeace to supporters by e-mail, said the group took the action “to show this administration that the people of Chicago — and people all over the country — will continue to RESIST Trump’s attacks on our clean air and water, and defend our communities and the planet.”
UNITED STATES
Inattentive smoker charged
A Maine man accused of playing video games and smoking pot while his naked toddlers wandered outside has been charged with child endangerment. Investigators say 35-year-old Christopher Peare, of Lyman, told them he had no idea his two and three-year-old daughters had crawled out a window and gone missing for 90 minutes on Thursday night. The mother of the children was not at home. Officials said the children were checked out at a hospital and sent to relatives’ homes while Peare was booked at the York County Jail. Peare was charged with the same crime in 2012 involving a different child in Sanford, state troopers said. It was unclear if he had a lawyer.
‘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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in