VATICAN
Holy See rebukes cardinal
The Vatican has chastised retired Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), who accused the Holy See of “selling out” to Beijing for reportedly promoting bishops endorsed by the Chinese government. The cardinal suggested in his statement that the pope was not kept informed of actions he does not approve, a charge Vatican spokesman Greg Burke denied on Tuesday. “The pope is in constant contact with his collaborators, in particular in the Secretariat of State, on Chinese issues,” Burke said in a statement, adding that Francis was informed “faithfully and in detail.” However, Burke did not comment on the alleged Vatican requests to the underground bishops.
COSTA RICA
Christian candidate leading
A conservative Christian congressman best known for his opposition to gay rights remains the favorite in next month’s presidential election, a poll released on Tuesday night showed. Fabricio Alvarado, a 43-year-old ex-television host, led in several runoff scenarios in the poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday by OPol Consultores. Election experts say a second round runoff is likely as no candidate is expected to win at least 40 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election. A run-off featuring the top two vote-getters would take place in early April. In a hypothetical match-up against Antonio Alvarez of the National Liberation Party, Alvarado would win with 37 percent support compared with Alvarez’s 34 percent, the poll showed.
UNITED STATES
Helicopter crash kills three
A helicopter on Tuesday crashed into a southern California home shortly after takeoff, killing three people and injuring two others, officials said. The four-seat Robinson R44 went down in a gated community in Newport Beach, about 72km southeast of Los Angeles. Four people were on board the helicopter. One of the killed or injured people was a bystander on the ground outside the house, authorities said. The injured were taken to hospitals, but there was no immediate word on their condition.
UNITED STATES
‘Glee’ star Salling dies
Mark Salling, one of the stars of the Fox musical comedy Glee, has died of a possible suicide at age 35, a few weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles on child pornography charges. Salling’s lawyer, Michael Proctor, said the actor died on Tuesday. He did not reveal the cause of death. A law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly said Salling was found hanging in a riverbed area in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles. The official said the actor’s death was being investigated as a suicide. Salling pleaded guilty in December to possession of thousands of images of child pornography. He was scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.
ISRAEL
Group fights Lorde boycott
A local legal rights group says it is suing two New Zealanders it credits with convincing pop singer Lorde to cancel her June concert in the nation. Shurat HaDin yesterday said it filed the suit in a Jerusalem court on behalf of three concert ticketholders. The group says the lawsuit intends to give “real consequences to those who selectively target Israel and seek to impose an unjust and illegal boycott against the Jewish state.” The three ticketholders are seeking about US$13,000 in damages. The two New Zealanders — one Jewish, one Palestinian — had appealed to Lorde in an open letter to “join the artistic boycott of Israel.”
AUSTRALIA
Crashed plane off course
A seaplane that crashed in Sydney on New Year’s Eve killing six people, including the CEO of British catering company Compass Group PLC, was off course, but the cause of the crash remains undetermined, investigators said yesterday. In its preliminary report, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the plane was about 1km off the standard course before the pilot turned the plane sharply right. Shortly afterward, the plane nose-dived into the Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney. The bureau said there was no evidence of a collision or bird strike and there was no sign of any problem with the controls.
AFGHANISTAN
Quake kills child, injures 10
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake yesterday struck the northeast, killing a child and injuring several people in Badakhshan Province as well as in neighboring Pakistan, officials said. The quake struck 270km northeast of Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains, at a depth of 180km, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said. A baby girl was killed and 10 people were injured when roofs of mud-walled houses collapsed in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, district deputy chief Shabbir Megnal said. There were no immediate reports of any serious damage in Afghanistan.
RUSSIA
Bear paw smugglers seized
A group of local and Chinese smugglers were arrested over the weekend near the border with China in possession of a tonne of bear paws as well as tiger, deer and frog parts, an animal protection group said on Tuesday. The smugglers were arrested with 870 of the bear paws “and the remains of at least four Siberian tigers” in their three vehicles, said the Amur Tiger Center. They also had bear teeth, deer tails and penises and other animal parts as well as arms and ammunition and an amount of amber, center said. The smugglers were headed for China when they were stopped near frozen Lake Khanka on the border.
NEW ZEALAND
Over 80 on sunken ferry
More than 80 people were aboard the ferry MV Butiraoi that sank almost two weeks ago in the Pacific Ocean, officials confirmed yesterday, as a senior Kiribati lawmaker called for an independent inquiry into the vessel’s disappearance. A multinational rescue operation is scouring vast swathes of ocean for survivors, but only seven people have been found alive so far and hopes are fading of locating any more. Initial estimates of how many people were on the Butiraoi when it went missing ranged from 35 to more than 100, but officials said the numbers were slowly becoming clearer. “Kiribati authorities have confirmed that about 80 passengers plus crew of likely about five were on the ferry,” Rescue Coordination Centre NZ said in a statement.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney ferry renamed
A Sydney Harbor ferry christened Ferry McFerryface three months ago has been renamed after a political squabble. New South Wales Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said in November last year that McFerryface came second place in a competition after the now-famous choice, Boaty McBoatface. However, Constance yesterday said that McFerry was only a temporary name to entertain children during the summer and the ferry had been permanently renamed after children’s author May Gibbs. “Over the summer period, we decided ‘let’s have a bit of fun with the kids with Ferry McFerryface’ and now I’ve named the ferry May Gibbs,’’ he said.
‘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
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