UNITED STATES
Three bombs in two weeks
Three package bombs left on doorsteps in suburban neighborhoods have exploded in less than two weeks in Austin, Texas, killing two people and wounding two others. Police say the bombings are likely linked. Two occurred on Monday and one on March 2. All the victims were minorities, and investigators are looking into whether race was a factor, but they backed off initial suggestions that hate crimes could be a core cause. The attacks unfolded as tens of thousands of visitors arrived for the busiest days of South By Southwest. The festival did not appear related to the incidents.
UNITED STATES
Another storm bears down
A nor’easter packing a powerful snowy punch bore down on the northeast yesterday, closing schools, snarling travel and threatening to knock out power to thousands of homes and businesses. Winter storm warnings were in effect from Connecticut to Maine, the National Weather Service said, adding that cities could see as much as 46cm of snow, far more than that dumped by the last two storms this month. “We’re gearing up for a major storm,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told a news conference on Monday. “We haven’t seen this type of storm since 2015... It seems like this one is going to be a big one.” In New York, snow could fall at a rate of up to 7.6cm an hour, making travel treacherous, the agency said, adding that winds are expected to reach 105kph.
UNITED STATES
Grandson wins body battle
A grandson of cult leader Charles Manson has won the bizarre court battle for the killer’s corpse. A Kern County Superior Court commissioner on Monday ruled that Jason Freeman of Florida can collect the remains. Manson’s body has been on ice since he died in November last year. The fight for Manson’s remains was waged between Freeman, a man who claims he was fathered by Manson and a pen pal who collects so-called Manson memorabilia.
UNITED STATES
Passengers jump from flight
A Dallas-bound flight made an emergency landing at Albuquerque International Sunport, sending panicked passengers leaping from a wing onto the tarmac after crew members screamed at them to get away from the aircraft, passengers and officials said. About an hour after takeoff, the crew noticed an unusual smell, Southwest Airlines said in a statement. Passengers said they could feel heat from the vents shortly before the crew said the plane was going to make an emergency landing. The Albuquerque Fire Department said on Twitter that two people were taken to hospitals. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
UNITED STATES
IHOP server draws anger
A server at an Auburn, Maine, IHOP restaurant on Sunday asked a group of black teenagers to pay upfront for their meal, prompting the manager to issue a public apology. “This is the first time it happened, and that will be the last time,” manager Melvin Escobar told the Sun Journal. The incident came to Escobar’s attention after a young man from Monmouth posted about it on Facebook. Escobar said he believes the server’s actions were not racially motivated, but she was worried the kids would duck out on the US$100 bill, as the restaurant recently had some problems with teenagers walking out without paying.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in