UNITED STATES
NRA sues to block bill
Soon after Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a school-safety bill that puts new restrictions on guns, the National Rifle Association (NRA) filed a federal lawsuit to block it. Three weeks of pressure from relatives and students slain in the in the Feb. 14 Parkland, Florida, school massacre provided momentum for the legislation. The governor said the bill balances individual rights with need for public safety. The new law raises the age to buy rifles from 18 to 21, extends a three-day waiting period to include long guns and bans bump stocks. The NRA said the age limit is unfair to law abiding 18-to-20-year-olds.
UNITED STATES
Breadfruit whiskey distilled
A Virginia distillery is seeking approval to become the first commercial distiller of whiskey made from breadfruit. The company hopes using the tropical food will help the economy of hurricane-devastated St Croix. The Virginian-Pilot said Chesapeake Bay Distillery owner Chris Richeson last month completed the distillation process using breadfruit and is awaiting government approval for labeling to sell it. He said a former Virginia chef who is now a restaurateur in the Virgin Islands, Todd Manley, contacted him about crafting the spirit. Breadfruit is a food staple in the Caribbean that has been touted as a “superfood.” Richeson said the whiskey raises the profile of breadfruit and provides “value-added agricultural products for St Croix.”
MEXICO
Hippo ‘Tyson’ roams loose
Authorities said they are worried about a hippopotamus that is roaming loose in a swampy area of southern Mexico. Nobody knows where the animal came from, but hippos are not native to the country. The hippo appears to have been living in a pair of ponds near Las Chopas, Veracruz. The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said that experts are looking for the best way to trap and move the three-year-old, 600kg mammal. The hippo was first spotted by local media near a garbage dump in January. Residents of the town have come to love the animal so much they have nicknamed it “Tyson.”
UNITED STATES
Horse spooked on dance floor
Florida partiers who packed a Miami Beach nightclub on Thursday night were keen to see an actual party animal — a snow-white horse complete with a half-naked model as its rider. However, in events apparently unforeseen, the horse became spooked on the dance floor, throwing off its rider and making a break for it as partygoers screamed in fear. Mokai Lounge in South Beach is now saddled with a police investigation — and the wrath of social media users. The bar’s page on reviewing site Yelp has been shut down following a flood of posts outraged over the horsing around.
UNITED STATES
Doctor jailed over kickbacks
Jerrold Rosenberg, a doctor who admitted he accepted financial kickbacks for prescribing a highly addictive opioid spray was on Friday sentenced to 51 months in prison. Prosecutors said the Rosenberg bullied patients who complained about the effects of the fentanyl spray Subsys, telling one to “stop crying, you’re acting like a child.” He received US$188,000 in kickbacks. Two patients survived after overdosing. Rosenberg’s lawyer disputes the number of people hurt and said there is no evidence the overdoses were caused by Rosenberg’s prescriptions.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
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