NETHERLANDS
Organ donor law passes
Senators on Tuesday approved a new law that makes all Dutch adult citizens potential organ donors unless they opt out. The upper house narrowly passed the law. The House of Representatives last year passed the legislation with a one-vote majority. The law’s drafter, Pia Dijkstra, said that under the new system, every person older than 18 who is not yet registered as a donor would receive a letter asking if they want to donate their organs after death. “They will be able to reply: yes, no, my next of kin will decide or a specific person will decide,” Dijkstra said in a statement. Those who do not respond to the first letter, or to a second letter six weeks later, would be considered organ donors, although they can amend their status at any time.
UNITED STATES
Trump lawyer paid porn star
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer on Tuesday told the New York Times he paid US$130,000 of his own money to a porn star who said she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Michael Cohen said that he was not reimbursed for the payment in 2016 to the actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and goes by Stormy Daniels, the newspaper said. Cohen said the payment was legal, but he declined to give details, such as why he made it. “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said.
CHINA
Woman rides through X-ray
A woman on Sunday accompanied her purse through a Dongguan train station’s luggage X-ray machine rather than part with the bag amid the Lunar New Year holiday rush, local media reported. Video from digital news platform Pear Video, linked to the Facebook page of the People’s Daily, showed a guard apparently telling the woman that, yes, small bags need to go in the machine, too. The security video shows her leaving the screen and then emerging from the device. Still X-ray images posted online showed a person in high heels kneeling among bags and other items. The woman rode through the machine because she wanted to protect her money, the Facebook post and other media reports said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Assange warrant upheld
Judge Emma Arbuthnot on Tuesday upheld an arrest warrant for Julian Assange, saying the WikiLeaks frontman should have the courage to go to court and face justice after more than five years inside Ecuador’s embassy in London. She rejected arguments by his lawyers that it is no longer in the public interest to arrest him for jumping bail in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. “He appears to consider himself above the normal rules of law and wants justice only if it goes in his favor,” she said.
PERU
Escaped twin recaptured
A prisoner who escaped from jail by swapping places with his visiting twin brother has been recaptured. The arrest of Alexander Jheferson Delgado Herrera marks the end of more than a year on the run from authorities. He had been serving a 16-year sentence for child sexual abuse and robbery when his twin brother, Giancarlo, visited in January last year. Delgado Herrera allegedly drugged Giancarlo and changed into his clothes before walking out of the prison, the BBC reported. Authorities had been monitoring Delgado Herrera for several months and captured him in Callao, the interior ministry said.
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