THAILAND
Man gets 20 for royal insult
A man was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday for uploading audio clips that insulted royal family members, his lawyer said. Tara, whose last name was withheld to protect his relatives, was convicted on six counts of lese majeste, according to his lawyer, Yaowalak Anuphan, and iLaw, a group that tracks royal defamation cases. He was detained in January 2015 for posting audio clips produced by “DJ Banpodj,” an underground podcast host known for fiery criticism of the monarchy. Later that year police claimed to have arrested the DJ and nearly a dozen others allegedly linked to the “Banpodj Network.” “Tara would take the links and upload the clips to his own Web site,” Yingcheep Atchanont from iLaw said. A Bangkok military court official confirmed the sentencing.
NEW ZEALAND
Politician quits over fraud
A Green Party co-leader has resigned three weeks after confessing she committed welfare fraud as a struggling young mother more than 20 years ago. Metiria Turei yesterday said the scrutiny on her family following her disclosure had become unbearable and she worried she was hindering her party’s chances six weeks ahead of an election. Polls indicate support for the Green Party has plummeted since Turei’s confession and the appointment last week of Jacinda Ardern as opposition leader. The Green Party is the nation’s third-largest party, with 12 seats in the 119-seat parliament. Turei made the confession as part of an attempt to energize debate about the difficulties of living on welfare. The Green Party will now run its campaign with a single leader, James Shaw.
INDIA
Killer elephant faces culling
An elephant that has killed 15 people over a months-long rampage could be shot within days if it is not brought under control, an official said yesterday. Wildlife rangers and hunters assembled in Jharkhand after another victim was trampled to death on Tuesday evening, the state’s chief forest and wildlife conservator L.R. Singh said. The elephant crushed four victims in Bihar state in March before crossing into neighboring Jharkhand and killing 11 more. “Villagers are living in fear, especially the Paharia tribe that lives on the upper hillier regions where the elephant roams. Something must be done,” Singh said. “We have a team of experts and hunters here with us. We are brainstorming a solution... one of them is to shoot the animal, but that’s the last resort and we will take a call in a day or two.”
CHINA
‘Auntie gang’ jailed
Members of an “auntie gang” of debt collectors have been jailed over a reign of gray terror in which they menaced victims and even stripped naked to get them to cough up, state media said on Tuesday. Fourteen of the senior enforcers received jail sentences of up to 11 years after being convicted of “organizing, leading and participating in gangster-like organisations, and for their provocative and disturbing behavior,” Beijing News said. About 30 women with an average age of 50 — some of whom had met while engaging in the common elderly pastime of dancing in public squares — took part in the scheme in Shangqiu, Henan Province. The sentences were handed down last month after a four-year spree in which the accused — hired by a property developer and firms that wanted debts paid — used strong-arm tactics to collect the money or forced people from their homes to make way for big construction projects.
VENEZUELA
Man killed at airport
A traveler on Tuesday was shot to death at the ticket counter of the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas. An airport security video circulating on social media shows another man with a handbag walk past a group of bystanders and shoot at the victim before fleeing on foot. Authorities said they were investigating, but gave no details other than to say the victim was from the Dominican Republic. Local media reported the dead man was a lawyer and was waiting for a connecting flight to the western city of Maracaibo after arriving from the Dominican Republic. An employee of local airline La Venezolana was also shot in the arm.
UNITED STATES
Baby whale visits California
Southern California beachgoers have gotten up close and personal with a baby whale. A gray whale about 4.57m to 5.48m long cruised into Dana Point Harbor on Tuesday morning. It swam into a shallow children’s area called Baby Beach and circled a pier. Kayakers got within a few meters of the animal, which at one point swam under paddleboarders. Dave Anderson, who runs whale watching tours out of the harbor, said the whale appeared to be a skinny juvenile who was foraging in the mud. It was probably the same whale that was spotted on Monday farther south in a Carlsbad lagoon, Anderson said. The whale eventually left the harbor. Anderson said it might be moving up the coast and could find its way to Oregon.
UNITED STATES
Mormon leader ousted
The Mormon church on Tuesday excommunicated one of its senior leaders without providing a reason for the rare dismissal. The removal of James Hamula as a “general authority” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the first time a top leader had been ousted in nearly 30 years, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement that the decision was taken “following church disciplinary action,” but added it “will not discuss the proceedings of a disciplinary council.” The statement alluded to a sermon that said: “The desired result is that the person will make whatever changes are necessary to return fully and completely to be able to receive the marvelous blessings of the church.”
UNITED STATES
DNA left in toilet
A man accused of burglarizing a southern California home took a bathroom break and left DNA evidence in the toilet that led to his arrest, an investigator said on Tuesday. The suspect “did his business and didn’t flush it” during a break-in in October last year in the city of Thousand Oaks, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office detective Tim Lohman said. That allowed investigators to collect evidence to conduct a DNA profile. It matched another profile in a national database and detectives tracked down the suspect at his home in nearby Ventura. Andrew David Jensen was arrested on July 28 on suspicion of first-degree residential burglary, a felony.
YEMEN
Blood bank lacks funds
The national blood bank might be forced to close due to a lack of money after an international medical charity ended two years of support, National Blood Transfusion Center director Adnan al-Hakimi said. The crisis emerged after Medecins Sans Frontieres informed the bank it was suspending its aid. However, the WHO said it was trying to help by sending further supplies.
‘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