AUSTRALIA
A$6m reward for serial killer
Police yesterday offered a record A$6 million (US$4.7 million) in rewards to catch the serial killer or killers behind the murders of six Melbourne women in the 1980s. The women, ranging in age from 14 to 73, disappeared in separate incidents as they traveled on foot around Melbourne over an 18-month period from 1980 to 1981. Their remains were found in scrubland in several locations on the outskirts of the city. Victoria state police announced six rewards of A$1 million each for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was behind the murders. The A$6 million was the largest reward amount ever offered by the department, it said.
CHINA
Myanmar ‘guarding peace’
A Communist Party official yesterday said that China supports Myanmar in “safeguarding peace and stability” and will not join other nations in condemning it for what many consider a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims. Party International Department Vice Minister Guo Yezhou (郭業洲) told reporters that Beijing condemned “violent and terror acts,” in an apparent reference to attacks by Rohingya rebels on Myanmar security forces. Beijing has long had close ties to Myanmar’s military leaders who ran the nation for decades, and Guo emphasized “friendly relations” between China’s communists and political parties in Myanmar on China’s southern border. He said those ties are based on the principle of non-interference and that China believes Myanmar’s government and people are “capable of handling” the situation.
LEBANON
Four arrested over Dali
Police have arrested four people who were trying to sell a stolen painting believed to be by Spanish artist Salvador Dali, a police official said. Colonel Joseph Mussallam on Friday said that the four detained are a Lebanese and three Syrians who were trying to sell the 1954 painting known as Portrait of Mrs Reeves to a Lebanese woman living in France for US$5 million. Mussallam said a detained Syrian told authorities he bought the painting from an Iraqi and kept it for 12 years before trying to sell through a Lebanese agent.
BRAZIL
Student shoots 2 in school
A 14-year-old student on Friday opened fire inside a classroom in the central city of Goiania, killing two classmates and wounding four, police said. Lieutenant Colonel Marcelo Granja of the Goiania police department said the shooting occurred at Colegio Goyases, an upscale private school. The teen was taken into custody. Granja said that the shooter is the son of a police officer who used his father’s .40 caliber pistol. A student who escaped the shooting unhurt told the G1 news portal that the suspect was bullied and called “stinky” because he never used deodorant. The student said that during a break between lessons, the shooter pulled out the gun from inside his backpack and started shooting at random.
PERU
Medical marijuana legalized
Peru has become the latest Latin American nation to allow the medicinal use of marijuana. The conservative congress late on Thursday approved legislation by a 67 to five vote allowing the plant to be produced, imported and sold. Lawmakers praised the move as a way to improve the lives of thousands of patients looking to better their quality of life.
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