MEXICO
Woman slain and cooked
The remains of a young woman who disappeared over a week ago were on Monday discovered by the authorities, who said she is believed to have been slain, dismembered and cooked on a stove. Her ex-husband is suspected in what is being investigated as a femicide. Guerrero state prosecutors said in a statement that the woman left her home in the city of Taxco the morning of Jan. 13. She later said that she would pick up her children at her ex-husband’s home in the afternoon, but was not heard from again, they said. State security spokesman Roberto Alvarez confirmed later that the woman’s “dismembered” remains had been found inside pots atop a stove. “It is presumed that she was cooked,” he said. Alvarez said the divorced husband is the chief suspect.
UNITED STATES
Driver charged with rape
California prosecutors on Monday said that an Uber driver living in the country illegally had been charged with raping, assaulting and robbing young women. San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said that Alfonso Alarcon-Nunez’s alleged victims are between 19 and 22 years old, and that three were intoxicated when they were assaulted. The 39-year-old Mexican faces 10 criminal charges, including forcible rape and first degree burglary. Dow said detectives are looking for potential witnesses and trying to determine if there are additional victims in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties northwest of Los Angeles. Alarcon-Nunez returned to the US illegally after a voluntary deportation from New Mexico in 2005, officials said.
UNITED STATES
Emergency boss to retire
The executive officer of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency is planning to retire by the end of the year. Toby Clairmont on Monday said his decision had nothing to do with the alert that mistakenly warned the public of a missile headed to Hawaii on Jan. 13. He said he decided on retirement two years ago and no one asked him to step down. Clairmont said he was at home when a worker mistakenly sent the alert.
UNITED STATES
Neil Diamond quits touring
Neil Diamond is retiring from touring after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Days shy of his 77th birthday, the rock legend is canceling his tour dates in Australia and New Zealand in March. He was on a 50th anniversary tour. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer offered his “sincerest apologies” to those who planned to go to his shows and said he still plans to write, record and work on other projects “for a long time to come.” Diamond’s numerous hits include Sweet Caroline and Love on the Rocks. Diamond turns 77 today and is to get the lifetime achievement award at Sunday’s Grammy awards.
UNITED STATES
Montecito cleanup ongoing
Authorities hope to start allowing residents to return by the end of the month to a southern California community devastated by mudslides — if they can get most utilities restored by then. Officials on Sunday said that it would be a gradual process getting residents back into homes in Montecito, where at least 21 people were killed during flash floods on Jan. 9. A 17-year-old boy and two-year-old girl remain missing. The town’s narrow streets are clogged with bulldozers and utility trucks as crews remove mud and boulders, and rebuild drainage pipes and power lines. It could be next month before the natural gas service is restored, an official said.
SOUTH AFRICA
ANC to decide if Zuma stays
The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday said it was considering whether to order President Jacob Zuma to step down as head of state. “We have not arrived at any decision that Zuma must go or Zuma must not go,” ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule told the media after a four-day meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee. He denied local media reports that Zuma’s departure was imminent. Zuma, whose scandal-plagued tenure has hurt the popularity of Africa’s oldest liberation party and the nation’s economy, has come under increasing pressure to step down since being replaced as party leader in December Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa is widely expected to follow Zuma as head of state.
SOUTH KOREA
Ex-culture minister jailed
The Supreme Court of Korea yesterday jailed former minister of culture Cho Yoon-sun for two years for her role in drawing up a blacklist of 10,000 artists seen as critical of ousted president Park Geun-hye’s government. Cho had initially been acquitted in July last year and given only a suspended sentence on a minor related charge, prompting prosecutors to appeal. The court also extended the prison term of Park’s former chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, from three years to four. Before becoming the culture minister in 2016, Cho was a policy adviser to Park, and the court said it was “reasonable” to believe she had collaborated in “attempts to stop state supports for certain artists.” Cho, who had been on bail, was immediately arrested in the courtroom.
INDONESIA
Strong quake sparks panic
A strong quake yesterday rattled the nation, sparking panic in Jakarta and ripping roads apart in the countryside. Office workers rushed outside as buildings began swaying, while riders were thrown off their motorbikes by the force of the magnitude 6 rumble. Footage broadcast on local television showed trucks swaying violently from side to side at a port in Banten Province. Pictures posted on social media showed huge cracks splitting roads and minor damage to vehicles and buildings. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
CHINA
Energy official fired
The deputy head of the National Energy Administration has been dismissed on graft charges, the National Bureau of Corruption said yesterday. The probe of Wang Xiaolin (王曉林), a former longtime executive in the state-owned coal industry, adds to a string of senior officials who have been ensnared in President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) marathon crack down on corruption. Wang is suspected of “serious discipline violations,” the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said, using the official euphemism for corruption. It said the case was handed over to prosecutors, but gave no details of the accusations against him.
SINGAPORE
Endangered turtles hatch
More than 100 turtles have hatched on a beach before being released into the sea, authorities said yesterday, in a boost for the critically endangered creatures. A nest of Hawksbill sea turtle eggs was discovered in November on Sentosa. A barrier was erected to keep the nest safe from predators, and officials carried out regular checks, Sentosa Development Corp said. On Friday, 106 eggs hatched and, after officials carried out tests, the hatchlings were sent off scurrying down the beach and into the sea.
‘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