UNITED STATES
Thurman hits at Weinstein
Uma Thurman has wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving — everyone except disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. In a cryptic Instagram post on Thursday, the actress wished her followers a happy Thanksgiving, but added: “Except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators.” She said she was “glad it’s going slowly — you don’t deserve a bullet.” Dozens of actresses have alleged that Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them, including Rose McGowan and Asia Argento. However, Thurman has said she is waiting to speak when she is less angry. She played in the Weinstein-produced movies Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction.
MEXICO
Two mayors killed in a week
A municipal mayor in the violent eastern state of Veracruz was killed on Friday, local authorities said, just four days after a mayor-elect was murdered in the same state. Ixhuatlan de Madero Mayor Victor Manuel Espinoza, whose city is located about 270km northeast of Mexico City “was killed with four others, including his wife” in the attack, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Authorities did not provide details concerning a possible motive for the attack, which occurred on Friday night on a dirt road in a neighboring municipality near the state capital of Xalapa.
JAPAN
N Korean washes ashore
The coast guard on Saturday found the body of a man and parts of a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea on the coast of one of Japan’s outlying islands, an official said. The coast guard made the discovery at about 6:30am on Sado island, a coast guard official said, declining to give his name. The guard also found a pack of cigarettes with Korean writing on it and other personal belongings with Korean written on them near the body, the official said. The cause of death is still unknown, the official said.
TURKEY
Istanbul bans LGBT event
A district governorship in Istanbul on Friday banned a film screening event related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues, the day before it was due to start, citing risks to public safety. “The LGBT+ themed meeting, march, film screening and interview events that will take place on Nov. 25 in Beyoglu district will not be allowed in order to secure public order and safety, to protect the rights and freedom of other people and to prevent crime,” the Beyoglu Governor’s Office said. It said in a statement that applications for the events had not been submitted. Following the announcement, a statement from the venue where the film and interviews were due to take place said they had been postponed.
UNITED STATES
Would-be assassin charged
A Texas woman is accused of last year sending homemade bombs to then-US president Barack Obama and Texas Governor Greg Abbott that could have killed or maimed the men, prosecutors said. Julia Poff, 46, mailed the devices in October last year, along with a third package that she sent to the Social Security Administration, according to an indictment. Of the three packages, only Abbott opened his. It did not detonate because “he did not open it as designed,” court documents said. Investigators traced Poff to the package sent to Obama because of cat hair found under an address label, according to a court document from a Nov. 17 detention hearing.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The