JAPAN
American quizzed over head
Police are questioning a US citizen in custody after a severed head was found in an Osaka apartment he was renting, public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Co (NHK) reported yesterday. Police believe the head, found in a suitcase, is likely to belong to a 27-year-old local woman who went missing after visiting another apartment in Osaka Prefecture with the man earlier this month, NHK said. The 26-year-old man from New York was arrested last week after she was reported missing by her family. He has reportedly denied the allegations. Body parts other than the head have not been found.
UNITED KINGDOM
Red Cross reports cases
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has joined the list of prominent charities that have uncovered sexual misconduct among its staff. Director-General Yves Daccord says 21 staff members have resigned or been fired since 2015 after violating policy by paying for sexual services. Two others did not have their contracts renewed because of suspected sexual misconduct. “This behavior is a betrayal of the people and the communities we are there to serve,” he said. Daccord said because of the decentralized nature of the sprawling aid agency, which has more than 17,000 employees worldwide, it is possible that other incidents were not reported or properly handled.
UNITED STATES
HFPA probes Fraser’s claim
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) says it is investigating actor Brendan Fraser’s claim that its former president, Philip Berk, groped him in 2003. Fraser, 49, best known for his role in The Mummy trilogy, made the accusation in an interview with GQ magazine. A statement from the association, which puts on the Golden Globes, says the interview “includes alleged information that the HFPA was previously unaware of” and is looking into the accusation.
ITALY
Police monitor rival rallies
Tens of thousands of people marched in rival far-right and anti-fascist demonstrations on Saturday, with isolated clashes flaring as tensions threatened to boil over ahead of next weekend’s election. The government deployed 5,000 police out to keep order during more than 119 protests that were held, the Ministry of the Interior said. A campaign rally in Milan led by Matteo Salvini, the head of anti-immigration group The League, attracted between 15,000 and 20,000 people, according to police, while organizers said turnout was closer to 50,000.
INDIA
Sridevi Kapoor dies at 54
Actress Sridevi Kapoor, Bollywood’s first female superstar, died in Dubai after cardiac arrest, media reported yesterday. She was 54. Sridevi is survived by her husband — producer Boney Kapoor — and daughters Jhanvi and Khushi. She was in Dubai to attend a family wedding and died late on Saturday. In a career spanning five decades, Sridevi acted in 300 films and was in 2013 awarded the Padma Shri, the nation’s fourth-highest civilian honor.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘Notting Hill’ actress dies
Emma Chambers, known for her roles in The Vicar of Dibley television series and the movie Notting Hill, has died at 53. Her agent John Grant on Saturday said that Chambers had died of natural causes on Wednesday evening. Actor Hugh Grant said his Notting Hill colleague was “a hilarious and very warm person and of course a brilliant actress.”
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion