UNITED STATES
Actor R. Lee Ermey dies
Actor and retired Marine R. Lee Ermey, 74, best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, has died, his manager said on Sunday. The Golden Globe nominee Ermey died from complications of pneumonia, manager Bill Rogin said. Born in Emporia, Kansas, in 1944, Ermey bagged his first acting role while studying drama at the University of Manila in the Philippines, landing a part as a helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now (1979). He went on to appear in about 60 films, often in military-related roles. Ermey also lent his voice to the likes of the Toy Story films, as the gung ho plastic soldier Sarge, and The Simpsons.
PHILIPPINES
EU critic barred from entry
The government on Sunday barred entry to an EU party official critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drugs crackdown. Italian Giacomo Filibeck was detained by border police upon his arrival at Cebu airport on Sunday and deported for engaging in “illegal political activities,” his party said. Filibeck, deputy secretary-general of the Party of European Socialists, flew to the Philippines at the invitation of opposition party Akbayan to attend a congress. He had been part of a delegation of European politicians who conducted a fact-finding mission in the nation in October last year, which denounced the “extra-judicial killings” of thousands of people in Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown. “This is a gag order to all and sundry that you cannot look into the human rights situation in the Philippines,” Akbayan congressman Tom Villarin said. Filibeck’s party denounced his deportation, adding it had informed EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini of the incident.
UNITED STATES
Pence’s adviser quits
A new national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence stepped down on Sunday, only two days after being officially named to the job, after a behind-the-scenes White House argument hit the headlines, a White House official said. Pence’s office on Friday announced that Lerner, a senior aide to Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley, would become Pence’s top adviser on foreign policy issues. President Donald Trump had been upset, the White House official said, when he was told in error that Lerner was a so-called “Never Trumper” — a term that describes anti-Trump Republicans. Lerner had backed Republican Senator Marco Rubio during the primary race to pick the party’s candidate ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Pence phoned Trump and cleared up the tension, the official said.
AUSTRALIA
Surfer survives shark attack
A surfer mauled by a shark yesterday managed to swim to shore despite serious injuries to both of his legs, an official and a witness said. The man was surfing at Gracetown at about 8am when he was attacked, St John Ambulance spokesman Dennis Bertoldo said. He was treated on the beach by paramedics before he was flown by helicopter 250km to a hospital in Perth, Bertoldo said. The hospital described the victim’s condition as stable. He is in his 30s. Surf photographer Peter Jovic watched the attack from the beach and likened it to the live broadcast of a shark attack in South Africa in 2015. Former champion surfer Mick Fanning escaped unscathed when a great white attacked his board as he waited to catch a wave.
‘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