ITALY
Man admits to killing sister
A man has admitted strangling his sister, chopping her body into parts and dumping them in communal trash cans in an upmarket area of Rome, local media reported on Wednesday. The man, identified as Maurizio Diotallevi, 62, confessed to the grisly crime after 10 hours of interrogation over the death of his sister, Nicoletta, 59, newspaper Corriere della Sera and other outlets reported, citing police sources. The two reportedly shared an apartment and are believed to have quarreled over money.
UNITED KINGDOM
Big Ben plans to be revised
Parliament officials on Wednesday said that they would review plans to silence Big Ben during four years of repairs after senior politicians criticized the lengthy muting of the beloved bell. When the repairs were announced last year, officials said the massive bell in parliament’s clock tower would be silenced for several months. However, this week they said the ringing pause would last until 2021. Prime Minister Theresa May said “it can’t be right for Big Ben to be silent for four years.” The 13.7 tonne bell has sounded the time almost uninterrupted since 1859, but it is scheduled to fall silent on Monday so repairs can be carried out on the Victorian clock and the Elizabeth Tower.
UNITED STATES
Park denies KKK request
Stone Mountain Park in Georgia has denied the Ku Klux Klan’s (KKK) request to burn a cross at the top of the mountain, where the second incarnation of the group was founded in 1915. Joey Hobbs, of the Sacred Knights’ Ku Klux Klan, submitted a permit application request for 20 people to attend a cross burning on top of the mountain, which has long been tied to the group. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association this week denied the request for an Oct. 21 cross burning and said in a statement that it “condemns the beliefs and actions of the Ku Klux Klan and believes the denial of this public assembly request is in the best interest of all parties.”
UNITED STATES
Suspect fell to death: police
A suspected car thief died after falling from a loading crane over the Port of Los Angeles. City fire officials said the man on Wednesday night fell about 50m to his death. It was not clear whether he jumped or fell. The man was spotted driving a sport utility vehicle that was reported stolen from a San Bernardino car dealership, police said. They gave chase and ended up at the port, where the unidentified man ditched the car and began climbing the crane, police said, adding that he climbed past the stairs and onto sections with no railing high above the ground and the ocean. Once perched at the top, the man took off his clothes and shoes, police said, adding that they waited below for him, worried that if they approached he might slip or jump.
CANADA
Ring found on ‘lucky’ carrot
A woman who lost her engagement ring 13 years ago while weeding her garden on the family farm is again wearing it proudly after her daughter-in-law pulled it from the ground on a misshapen carrot. Mary Grams, 84, on Wednesday said she cannot believe the lucky carrot actually grew through and around the diamond ring she had long given up hope of finding. Grams said she never told her husband, Norman, that she lost the ring, but told her son. Her husband died five years ago. Colleen Daley found the ring while harvesting carrots at the farm near Armena, Alberta, where Grams used to live.
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