TURKEY
Ship hits historic home
A cargo ship crashed into a historic mansion on Istanbul’s Bosporus strait on Saturday, severely damaging the building. The official Anadolu news agency said a malfunction disabled the rudder of the 225m Maltese-flagged cargo ship, causing it to lose control. Videos showed the large ship sailing straight toward the shore before plowing into the red seaside mansion of Hekimbasi Salih Efendi, which dates back to the 18th century. No one was injured.
Photo: AP / DHA-Depo Photos
UNITED STATES
Trump Tower fire kills one
One man died late on Saturday and four firefighters were injured after a blaze erupted on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in New York City, officials said. The New York Police Department said 67-year-old Todd Brassner, an art dealer, was found “unconscious and unresponsive” when officers arrived at the scene. “This was a very difficult fire. As you can imagine, the apartment is quite large, we are 50 stories up. The rest of the building had a considerable amount of smoke,” the New York City Fire Department said. It said the four firefighters had “non-life threatening” injuries.
VATICAN CITY
Former envoy arrested
The Vatican on Saturday said that a monsignor who was a former advisor at its US embassy in Washington has been arrested on suspicion of watching child sex abuse. It said an arrest warrant had been issued for Carlo Alberto Capella, which was carried out by the Vatican Gendarmerie. “The accused is being detained in a cell in the barracks of the Gendarmerie Corps, available to the judicial authorities,” the statement said. Capella was recalled from Washington in September last year. The US Department of State had notified the Vatican the preceding month of a possible violation of child pornography laws by a member of its diplomatic corps in Washington. The US made “an official request” for the man’s diplomatic immunity to be lifted, but the Vatican refused, a US official said on condition of anonymity.
VATICAN CITY
Early-bird special offered
The Vatican Museums are offering an early-bird special. The museums famed for Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel and other masterpieces has posted on its Web site a new guided itinerary that starts at 6am and finishes with a light breakfast of croissants, juice and coffee. A video shows a small group of visitors accompanying the museum’s key-bearer as he opens doors and gates with a huge ring of dozens of keys, switching on the lights along corridors as the tour progresses. The tour lasts about an hour and can be booked at visitespeciali.musei(@)scv.va.
UNITED STATES
Maine town seeks record
Residents in the town of Sinclair, Maine, on Saturday said they think they have created the world’s largest ice carousel on a frozen lake with ice 72.6cm thick. About 100 volunteers last month used augurs to bore more than 1,300 holes, along with chain saws and other equipment, and then cut a circle in the ice that is 130m in diameter. They then waited for warmer weather to get it spinning, using four outboard boat motors to get it rotating on Saturday.
CAMBODIA
Japan inks US$90m deal
Japan yesterday signed a grant and loan agreement with Phnom Penh totaling more than US$90 million, despite concerns from the international community over Prime Minister Hun Sen’s crackdown on government critics ahead of a July general election. Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono and Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn signed the US$4.6 million grant and US$86 million loan, for economic and electricity transmission projects in Phnom Penh. Hun Sen praised Japan for its financial assistance, but lashed out at critics. “While Japan, a friend, is providing assistance to Cambodia, some bad people can poison the news as bad as they did,” Hun Sen said on Facebook. During a meeting with Hun Sen, Kono said Japan would help the Southeast Asian country become an upper middle-income country by 2030, Hun Sen’s aide Eang Sophalleth said.
CHINA
Media appeal to US sectors
State media yesterday called on industrial and commercial sectors in the US to rally against US President Donald Trump’s plans for an additional US$100 billion in tariffs against Chinese goods. “We call on the international business community, including the United States industrial and commercial circles, to take prompt and effective measures and urge the US government to correct its errors,” the People’s Daily said. It also said that Chinese enterprises and industry would band together to support any government action against the tariffs.
AUSTRALIA
Bushfire burns out of control
Record-breaking temperatures and fierce winds have left fire services struggling to contain a bushfire south of Adelaide, and residents are being urged to flee their homes or enact their bushfire survival plans. The Country Fire Service has issued a watch and act warning for Inman Valley — near Stockwell and Kemmiss Hill road — saying lives could be threatened as the out-of-control fire moves north. The fire began yesterday morning and was still uncontrolled by afternoon. “If you are not prepared, leave now,” the service said.
SAUDI ARABIA
Corruption probe begins
The public prosecutor has begun investigations and opening arguments in the corruption cases of princes, top officials and businessmen who were detained late last year, an official yesterday told pan-Arab newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat. Most of them were released after being exonerated or reaching financial settlements with the government, but 56 people who had not reached settlements remained in custody and could face trial, the government said late in January.
CHINA
Academic accused of abuse
Top universities have cut ties with a professor following outrage on social media after details were shared online of an alleged sexual assault that has been linked to a student’s suicide almost 20 years ago, according to state media. A person claiming to be the student’s classmate last week accused Shen Yang (沈陽), a language professor, of the assault and called for a re-examination of the case. The alleged victim died in 1998. Peking University, where Shen taught until 2011, said it served Shen a disciplinary warning based on a police report at the time, but is now re-examining the case. The School of Liberal Arts at Nanjing University and Shanghai Normal University, where Shen holds current roles, both cut ties with him on Saturday, Xinhua said.
‘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