PHILIPPINES
Navy chief fired over frigates
Navy commander Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado was sacked for “insubordination” after he jeopardized a 15.5 billion peso (US$308 million) project for two new warships, Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana told reporters yesterday. Mercado was abruptly removed from office on Tuesday. Lorenzana, who was sworn in as temporary navy flag commander, said he obtained permission from President Rodrigo Duterte to remove Mercado owing to the frigate project. The government last year signed a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries to build two frigates to be delivered to in 2020 and 2021. Lorenzana said the project was already several months behind schedule because the navy had failed to complete on time a “critical design review” of the ships before the contractor could start work.
VATICAN
Disgraced US cardinal dies
US Cardinal Bernard Law, a once-senior church figure forced to resign after revelations he failed to stop pedophile priests, has died after a long illness, the Vatican said yesterday. The former Boston cardinal, who lost his post in 2002, had been serving in a low-key position in a Rome basilica. Law became one of the main faces of the sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church after admitting to having failed to protect children from predator priests, despite evidence they had been molesting youngsters. John Geoghan had been moved from parish to parish, despite Law knowing he was accused of abusing up to 130 boys. It later emerged that Law and his predecessor had also known of dozens of accusations against another priest, Paul Shanley, but had allowed him to continue working closely with children.
VENEZUELA
Ex-cop claims rifle theft
A former police officer who spectacularly attacked the Supreme Court six months ago is claiming to be behind the theft this week of 26 rifles from a military armory. Oscar Perez, an ex-police helicopter pilot, said on Twitter late on Monday he led “an impeccable tactical operation in which we recovered these weapons of the people, for the people.” He posted videos he said were recorded during the robbery that occurred in Laguneta de La Montana in Miranda state. They showed him and a small group of masked men taunting what looked like a number of gagged soldiers. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a group of men wearing uniforms stole 26 Kalashnikov assault rifles, three pistols and ammunition from an army base early on Monday.
BELGIUM
‘Champagner Sorbet’ wins
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) yesterday dashed brand-jealous champagne producers’ hopes with a ruling that a sorbet sold by German discounter Aldi Sud could be labeled with the word champagne because it contained it. The five-year-old case started when Aldi Sud sold the sorbet in its German stores marketed as “Champagner Sorbet.” It contained 12 percent champagne. Industry lobbying group Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne asked a German court for an injunction to stop the sale, saying the sorbet champagne was free-riding on the quality and prestige of the real thing. The court subsequently asked the Luxembourg-based ECJ to clarify the commercial use of the EU’s protected designation of origin. The ECJ said the sorbet did not exploit this rule. “A sorbet may be sold under the name ‘Champagner Sorbet’ if it has, as one of its essential characteristics, a taste attributable primarily to champagne,” it said.
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
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
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