BRAZIL
Violent LGBT deaths spike
Violent deaths of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have hit an all-time high following a sudden spike last year, new research revealed. At least 445 LGBT people died as victims of homophobia last year — a 30 percent increase from 2016, according to LGBT watchdog group Grupo Gay de Bahia. The victims — 387 murders and 58 suicides — include Dandara dos Santos, a transsexual woman who was beaten to death in the northeastern city of Fortaleza in March last year. A video of her being beaten and kicked circulated on social media with her torturers calling her homophobic slurs. The country is one of the world’s most violent, with a record 62,000 homicides in 2016, but authors of the research have said the deaths were directly related to homophobia. Luiz Mott, an anthropologist and president of Grupo Gay de Bahia, said the rising violence owed much to the prominence of ultraconservative politicians, many of whom are linked to the powerful evangelical caucus in congress.
MEXICO
Journalists robbed
Assailants have robbed cameras and cellphones from journalists covering a campaign tour by the country’s indigenous presidential candidate. Maria de Jesus Patricio, known as “MariChuy,” is being supported by the National Indigenous Congress in her bid to get on the July 1 ballot as an independent candidate. The group wrote in its Twitter account that reporters following the candidate in a convoy were on Sunday stopped by armed assailants in two vehicles on a road in Michoacan State. The assailants threatened and robbed the journalists, the group said.
UNITED STATES
Jack Whitten dies aged 78
Painter and sculptor Jack Whitten has died at the age of 78, his gallery announced on Sunday. The black artist was known for continually evolving over his five-decade career — from painting to sculpture and from figurative to abstract. Born in Bessemer, Alabama, on Dec. 5, 1939, he grew up in the segregationist south of the country, where he was an activist in the civil rights struggle, before moving to New York in 1960. His early work evoked the racism experienced by African-Americans, but it was his abstract pieces that won greater renown in the art world, particularly in his later years. Determined to constantly push his own limits, he left the brush to work with razor blades, Afro-combs or household squeegees.
SOUTH KOREA
Bribe allegations probed
Prosecutors yesterday raided the house and office of former president Lee Myung-bak’s brother, reports said, probing allegations that the former head of state took bribes from the national spy agency during his term. Lee Sang-deuk, 82 — who was seen as highly influential during his younger brother’s time in office — is suspected of receiving hundreds of millions of won from the National Intelligence Service, Yonhap news agency reported. Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office searched the elder brother’s home and office, and confiscated documents and hard drives, Yonhap said. Lee Sang-deuk, a former lawmaker, was found guilty of corruption in a separate case in 2013 and served 14 months in jail. The raid comes as part of a widening probe into illicit transfers of funds between the presidential office and the spy agency during the administrations of Lee and his ousted successor, Park Geun-hye, both of them conservatives.
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