MEXICO
University shooting kills two
Mexico City officials said at least two people have died in a shooting on Friday following a dispute on the vast National Autonomous University campus. The university said the two people involved were not part of the university community, but has not identified them. The city prosecutor’s office said two men aged 20 and 29 died at a hospital after the incident, which occurred near the university’s Department of Accounting and Administration. Both institutions have said they are investigating. The university has about 350,000 students, although many of them attend school at sites outside the main campus, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
UNITED STATES
Brown to subsidize actors
Brown University on Friday announced that it would provide scholarships to cover tuition for all master’s degree students studying acting and directing. The Ivy League university in Rhode Island said it wants to ease student debt, diversify the pool of actors and directors in training, encourage innovation in the arts and ultimately redefine whose stories are told on stage. The university is to begin providing the funds in the 2018-2019 academic year for students in the Brown/Trinity Repertory Company master of fine arts programs in acting and directing. The university anticipates 40 to 50 students will receive the scholarships, which would also be extended to future students. Patricia Ybarra, chair of Brown’s theater arts and performance studies department, said even successful artists often cannot repay debt, which deters students from low and middle-income families from applying to master of fine arts programs.
UNITED STATES
Chase kicked in self-defense
A New York man said he kicked actor Chevy Chase in self-defense after the comedian climbed into a vehicle and tried to punch him during a profanity-laced traffic dispute. Chase told police he was cut off by another driver on Feb. 9. Thinking his car might be damaged, he said he followed the car across the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, with both drivers pulling over in South Nyack. A passenger in the truck, Michael Landrio, told the New York Post that the former Saturday Night Live star got into their vehicle and tried to punch him. Landrio said that is when he kicked Chase, sending him flying. A spokeswoman for Chase said the actor did not get into the vehicle and did not try to attack Landrio. Landrio was charged with harassment. Chase was not charged.
UNITED STATES
Retiree wins sweepstakes
A Pennsylvania retiree has won US$1 million up-front and US$5,000 per week for the rest of her life through the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. Members of the marketing company’s Prize Patrol on Friday surprised 72-year-old Jo-Ann Snyder at her home in Wilkes-Barre with oversized checks, flowers and balloons. Snyder said she and her husband, Michael Snyder, a part-time mechanic, can now fulfill their dream of traveling US Route 66 from Chicago to California. Jo-Ann Snyder is to get to choose an heir who will also get US$5,000 per week for the rest of their life. The retired optical company worker had only one gripe during the excitement: She said it would have been nice to have some advance notice so she could have done her hair.
‘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