COLOMBIA
Three bodies found in river
Three bodies were recovered on Wednesday after a ship that set out from Venezuela went down in the Orinoco River, authorities said, with seven people still missing. A navy unit located the bodies of two Venezuelan men and a woman whose identity was still being confirmed. The boat capsized with 18 people onboard due to rapidly rising water caused by heavy rains, and just as another boat came to the rescue, a civil defense spokesman said. Eight people were rescued on Tuesday. Seasonal variations in river levels often are significant and it is not unusual for swells to tip over small boats.
INDONESIA
Man kills snake on train
A man who used his bare hands to kill a snake that was discovered slithering on a busy commuter train has become an Internet hero. The train made an emergency stop after the reptile was spotted lurking on a baggage rack in a carriage headed to Jakarta from Bogor, south of the capital. Smartphone footage, which quickly went viral, showed the bespectacled man casually snatch the snake’s tail and then smash its head on the floor in a violent whipping motion. The creature was apparently killed instantly as shocked spectators — including a baton-wielding security officer — kept their distance. The unidentified man, wearing a backpack, then tossed the limp body of the snake, which appeared to be about 1m long, out the door to waiting security staff. It is not clear what kind of serpent it was, nor whether it was venomous. No injuries to passengers were reported. Train operator KCI said the reptile is thought to have slithered out from a passenger’s bag. “We regret the incident and apologize to train travelers who were disturbed by it,” spokeswoman Eva Chairunnisa said.
JAPAN
Capsized ship’s crew found
The crew of a trawler found capsized in remote Pacific waters have been located safe and well in the Philippines, the US Coast Guard said yesterday. The abandoned Gyotoku Maru No. 1 was found drifting 350km southwest of Palau on Monday after it send an emergency signal. With no word on the fate of the seven-man crew — five Indonesians and two Japanese — a major international search effort was launched. The coast guard said the trawler had collided with another fishing vessel, which then rescued the stricken sailors and took them to the Philippines. “We’re incredibly relieved these men are safe and back on dry land,” search coordinator Lieutenant Commander Josh Empen said. Empen thanked those involved in the search, which included vessels from Japan and Palau, as well as US ships and airplanes based in Guam.
UNITED STATES
Celebrity mementos on sale
Handwritten lyrics by Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson, and rapper Tupac Shakur’s original death certificate are just some of more than 1,100 celebrity memorabilia items being sold in an online auction. Several dozen letters Shakur wrote while in prison to a friend are also up for sale. The handwritten lyrics being sold are for Like A Rolling Stone first released by Dylan in 1965, and for Jackson’s 1982 Billie Jean. Other top lots include a human skull signed by surrealist artist Salvador Dali. The estimated prices of the lots vary from several hundred to tens of thousands of US dollars. The auction is being held until Friday next week.
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
‘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