UNITED KINGDOM
‘Brexit bill’ to be ready
The government is going to submit its proposals on how to settle its financial obligations to the EU before an EU Council meeting next month, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said yesterday. Prime Minister Theresa May was told on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock Brexit talks, as the EU repeated a deadline of early next month for her to move on the divorce bill. “We will make our proposals to the European Union in time for the council,” Hammond told the BBC. She signaled again that she would increase an initial offer that is estimated at about 20 billion euros (US$24 billion), about a third of what Brussels wants.
CHILE
Pinera favored to win
Billionaire businessman and former president Sebastian Pinera is heavily favored to win yesterday’s election amid hopes that he can resuscitate a flagging economy, but polls suggest he will not get enough votes to avoid a runoff. The Harvard-educated entrepreneur is proposing to cut taxes on businesses to promote growth and promises to launch a US$14 billion, four-year spending plan that includes fresh investments in infrastructure. Pinera, 67, is expected to be aided by lower turnout, as voting was made voluntary rather than mandatory in 2012. Opinion polls give Pinera a wide margin over his nearest competitor, Senator Alejandro Guillier, but not enough for him to win outright. Six other candidates are also running for the presidency. The elections also choose 155 members of the lower House of Congress and 23 seats are up for grabs in the Senate.
EGYPT
Arab foreign ministers meet
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations held an emergency meeting in Cairo for yesterday to discuss confronting Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah, who they said are interfering in their internal affairs. The meeting was convened at the request of Saudi Arabia with support from the United Arab Emerites, Bahrain and Kuwait, the state-run Middle East News Agency said. The state-owned newspaper al-Ahram cited an Arab diplomatic source saying the meeting might refer the matter to the UN Security Council.
BRAZIL
Tycoon sentenced to prison
Prosecutors say the mining tycoon who founded a massive outdoor art park has been convicted of money laundering and sentenced to more than nine years in prison. Prosecutors alleged that US$98.5 million in donations and loans meant for the Inhotim art park Minas Gerais state were rerouted to pay expenses at mining and steel companies owned by Bernardo Paz. The park is one of the most important art centers in Latin America, and park officials said in a statement that it has no connection to Paz’s companies. A judge handed down the conviction earlier this year, but prosecutors only publicized it last week. Paz’s attorneys said they have already filed an appeal.
UNITED STATES
David Cassidy needs liver
Partridge Family star David Cassidy has been hospitalized in Florida with multiple organ failure. Publicist JoAnn Geffen said Cassidy was in a Fort Lauderdale-area hospital with liver and kidney failure, surrounded by family. Geffen says there is nothing “imminent” about his condition, and doctors are hoping to “keep him as well as they can until they can find another liver.” The 67-year-old former teen idol said earlier this year that he was struggling with memory loss and that he was ending his 50-year career.
CHINA
Building fire kills 19
A fire at a building advertising low-cost rental apartments in a southern Beijing suburb killed 19 people and injured eight others, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Firefighters put out the fire at Xinjian Village in Daxing District by 9pm on Saturday, three hours after it was reported, Xinhua said. Photographs released by Xinhua showed firefighters outside a two-story concrete building with a red signboard advertising units with attached bathrooms, hot water, kitchens, heating and other basic amenities. Such units are commonly rented cheaply to migrant workers.
CHINA
PLA launches informant site
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) yesterday launched a Web site inviting the public to report leaks and fake news, as well as illegal online activities by military personnel, the latest step in a push to ensure Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control over the Internet. The new Web site is an effort to implement the guiding spirit of the CCP’s 19th National Congress and will help maintain a “clear internet space” surrounding the military, according to 81.cn, the military’s official news portal. Chinese are encouraged to use the platform to report online content that attacks the military’s absolute leadership and distorts the history of the military and the party, the Web site said.
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban prison raided
Local and foreign special forces yesterday raided a Taliban prison in Helmand Province and rescued at least 30 people, army and provincial officials said. Those rescued in the raid in Nawzad District included four children under the age of 12 and two policemen, the officials said. Twenty of the people had been arrested by the Taliban in connection with helping the government or were family members of the army and police.
JAPAN
US destroyer hit by tug boat
A US warship has been damaged after a tug boat drifted into the destroyer during a drill off Japan, the US Navy said. The guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold was participating in a scheduled towing exercise in Sagami Bay on Saturday when the Japanese tug lost propulsion, according to the US 7th Fleet. “No one was injured on either vessel and Benfold sustained minimal damage, including scrapes on its side, pending a full damage assessment,” a statement from the fleet said late on Saturday, adding that the warship remained at sea under its own power. “The Japanese commercial tug is being towed by another vessel to a port in Yokosuka,” southwest of Tokyo, it said.
SRI LANKA
Town put under lockdown
Troops yesterday patrolled a coastal town where nearly 90 homes were damaged and cars set alight in violence between the island’s Sinhalese and Muslim communities. A brawl over a traffic accident on Gintota, about 110km south of the capital, Colombo, on Thursday descended into clashes between mobs. The army and navy were deployed to reinforce local police as the situation spiraled over the weekend with at least five people hospitalized and close to 90 buildings damaged in the rioting. The town remained tense and under lockdown throughout Saturday evening, but at dawn a curfew imposed on previous days was lifted. “We have called for a complete report about damages and all the victims will be compensated by the state,” Home Minister Vajira Abeywardena told reporters.
‘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