UNITED STATES
Woman flushes pet hamster
A Florida woman said an airline told her to flush her hamster down a toilet at the airport because the emotional support rodent was not allowed to fly with her. Spirit Airlines Inc denies telling Belen Aldecosea to flush the hamster named Pebbles. She said she did flush Pebbles, after running out of other options. The Miami Herald said that before Aldecosea flew she twice called Spirit Airlines to ensure she could bring her pet dwarf hamster. No problem, the airline told her. However, Spirit refused to allow the animal on the flight at the airport. The 21-year-old told the paper that she flushed Pebbles.
DENMARK
Charity finds US$6,167 in coat
A volunteer in a secondhand charity shop has found nearly 50,000 kroner (US$6,167) in the pocket of a coat he was preparing to put on sale. Jens Erik Christensen told regional daily Dagbladet Ringsted og Sjaellandske that the woman’s coat was in a bag with other clothes left in the DanChurchSocial shop’s container. Christensen said that he was checking the coat’s buttons, zippers and pockets when he noticed a bulge in one pocket and found the bills. He said he was “a bit surprised,” but did not hesitate to call the police so they could investigate who owned the coat before donating it.
CANADA
Remains of six people found
Police on Thursday said they found the remains of at least six people on the grounds of a north Toronto home where a 66-year-old man charged in a series of killings worked as a landscaper. Bruce McArthur was arrested last month and charged with murdering five men who disappeared over several years from a part of Toronto that has for decades been the center of the city’s gay community. Police have called McArthur a serial killer, but have come under fire for denying for months, in the midst of disappearances, that someone was targeting the gay community. The search for evidence at the home has been hampered by frozen ground, police said.
SYRIA
‘The Beatles’ captured
Two British Islamic State group militants implicated in brutal acts of torture and execution have been captured by US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, the New York Times said. Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh formed part of a group of four fighters nicknamed “the Beatles” due to their British accents and are allegedly responsible for murdering approximately two dozen hostages in Syria. The group’s leader Mohammed Emwazi was killed in a 2015 airstrike. Emwazi was believed to be responsible for the gruesome beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
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