UNITED NATIONS
Burundi sparks concern
The Security Council on Wednesday expressed alarm over reports of torture and extrajudicial killings in Burundi and about an increasing number of refugees fleeing the east African nation, now totaling more than 416,000. A presidential statement approved on Wednesday reiterated the council’s intention to pursue sanctions against people inside and outside the country “who threaten the peace and security of Burundi.” The council said it remains “deeply concerned” at the political situation and the government’s failure to implement a resolution adopted last year calling for the deployment of 228 UN police and human rights monitors. The government has also refused to allow the African Union to send 5,000 peacekeepers. The nation has been plagued by sporadic violence since April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term led to street protests.
UNITED STATES
McCain eyeing return
Senator John McCain said he hates the healthy diet his wife and daughter are forcing on him as he fights an aggressive form of brain cancer, but expects to return to the Senate next month. McCain made the remarks on Wednesday in his first extended interview with Arizona media since his diagnosis last month. Speaking on KFYI radio’s The Mike Broomhead Show, the Republican said he is facing a tough challenge, but he is feeling good and getting the best possible treatment. He said the best thing to do when facing adversity is to stay busy, and he plans to do just that during this month’s congressional recess. McCain began chemotherapy and radiation treatment for glioblastoma on Monday. He told Broomhead he is “the luckiest person you’ll every have on your show.”
UNITED STATES
Quake disrupts power
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake on Wednesday in central Oklahoma disrupted electric power to hundreds of customers. The US Geological Survey initially reported that a magnitude 4.4 tremor was detected at 9:56pm about 6km east-northeast of Edmond — about 25km northeast of Oklahoma City — before revising it down to 4.2. Edmond officials said two electric substations were knocked out, darkening the northeastern part of the city and leaving about 1,900 customers without power. Electricity was later restored to both substations, and the city said all customers should have their power back. The police department said on its Twitter page that no significant damage was reported.
UNITED STATES
No monsters here: officer
A four-year-old Colorado girl enlisted some professional help to ensure her new home was monster-free. Sidney Fahrenbruch met Longmont police Officer David Bonday at a barbecue and invited him over to scour some nooks and crannies shortly after her family moved into the house last month. Sidney’s mom, Megan, said her daughter does not really buy into the idea of monsters, but the aspiring policewoman smelled an opportunity to hang out with an officer. She even wore her own police uniform for the hunt, which turned up zero bogeymen. In a video taken by Sidney’s mom, Bonday tells the girl she is “super brave,” as she peers under her sofa and its cushions with the officer’s flashlight for any offending beasts. When asked by a reporter what she’d do if she saw a monster, Sidney replied: “I’d punch it in the face,” her mom said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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