UNITED STATES
Texas to deploy guards
The Texas National Guard said it is preparing to deploy to the US-Mexico border in response to a call from President Donald Trump. Trump told reporters on Thursday that he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the border to help fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. That would be lower than the about 6,000 National Guard members that former president George W. Bush sent during another border security operation. Texas already has 100 Guardsmen deployed as part of an existing state mission at the border.
UNITED STATES
Teachers demand more
Oklahoma lawmakers on Friday approved an additional US$40 million for public schools, but Oklahoma Education Association president Alicia Priest said it would take more than that to end a walkout that has led to five straight days of school closures. Two bills approved by the state Senate — one taxing certain Internet sales and another expanding tribal gambling — are to be sent to Governor Mary Fallin, who will decide whether to sign the revenue-raising plans into law. Priest told teachers rallying at the Capitol that lawmakers must eliminate a capital gains tax exemption and the governor must veto a repeal of a proposed lodging tax to end the protests. “We’ve always shown a road map forward and the Legislature has had all the opportunities to make the votes and pass the funding,” Priest said. “Everything is in their corner.” Some of Oklahoma’s largest school districts have already canceled classes on Monday in anticipation of continued protests.
UNITED STATES
Student told to cover up
A Florida high-school student who did not wear a bra one day to school this week said school administrators told her to cover her nipples because they were distracting her classmates. The Bradenton Herald on Friday reported that 17-year-old Lizzy Martinez decided not to wear a bra under her long-sleeve shirt and school officials felt she became a target of other students’ stares. Martinez said the humiliation began when School Dean Violeta Velazquez called her into the office. Martinez felt like she was being bullied by fellow students, but Velazquez said there was a distraction that needed to be addressed. “She told me that I needed to put a shirt on under my long-sleeve shirt to try to tighten my breasts — to constrict them,” Martinez told the paper. “And then she asked me to move around.” Apparently the second shirt was not enough, Martinez said, because she was then sent to the nurse’s office where she was handed four bandages, two to cover each nipple, leaving the student in tears.
UNITED STATES
Pipeline plan submitted
The developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline has submitted a court-ordered spill response plan for the Lake Oahe reservoir in the Dakotas. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners submitted the 270-page plan on Monday, along with a review by an independent engineering company concluding that the pipeline complies with federal regulations. Federal Judge James Boasberg ordered the work in December last year. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe maintains it was not allowed adequate input in the plan. It last month announced its own “Clean Water Campaign” to better prepare for a spill under Oahe, from which it draws water. Tribal chairman Mike Faith said the tribe would establish water-monitoring wells, buy equipment and train a rapid response team.
‘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