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.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing