NORTH KOREA
Bus accident kills Chinese
A bus crash has killed 32 Chinese tourists and four locals, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Two other Chinese were injured in Sunday’s accident south of Pyongyang, a ministry spokesman said, who gave few other details except to say that China was investigating the cause of the accident and had deployed a team, including medical experts, “to assist with the emergency rescue and treatment operations.” China Global Television Network earlier tweeted that more than 30 people died when a tour bus fell from a bridge, but the tweet was later deleted. The network showed images of a large overturned vehicle, with light rain falling on rescue vehicles at night and doctors attending to a patient.
UNITED KINGDOM
Second boy for royal family
Prince William’s wife, the Dutchess of Cambridge, yesterday gave birth to a baby boy, the couple’s third child, Kensington Palace said. The boy, their second son, weighed 3.83kg and William was present at his birth. “The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news,” the palace said. “Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.”
NICARAGUA
Ortega drops pension plan
President Daniel Ortega on Sunday withdrew changes to the social security system that had triggered more than a week of wider anti-government protests and looting and led to at least 26 deaths. Ortega said in a message to the nation that the social security board of directors had canceled the changes implemented on April 16 aimed at shoring up the social security system by reducing benefits and increasing taxes. A day earlier, he had said that he was willing to negotiate on the reforms, but only with business leaders.
PARAGUAY
Abdo wins presidential poll
The son of a former dictator’s top aide on Sunday won the presidential election. Mario Abdo Benitez of the governing Colorado Party had 46.5 percent of the votes, with 96 percent of 21,000 polling stations reporting, electoral officials said. Efrain Alegre of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party finished second with 42.7 percent of the ballots. Eight other candidates finished far out of the running. The election was closer than the 20-point edge that opinion polls had given Abdo going into the election. Abdo’s five-year term is to begin on Aug. 15.
AUSTRALIA
Boy goes on Bali solo jaunt
A 12-year-old Sydney boy stole his parents’ credit card, tricked his grandmother into giving him his passport and flew to Bali on his own after a family argument. The boy was told he could not go to Bali by his mother, but managed to book himself flights — after researching an airline that allowed 12-year-olds to fly unaccompanied — a hotel room and to leave the country unimpeded. Telling his family he was going to school, he took a train to the airport and boarded a flight for Perth, then another for Indonesia. He was only quizzed once, at Perth airport, when staff asked him for identification to prove he was over 12. He checked into a hotel in Bali by telling staff he was waiting for his sister to arrive. After his school reported him absent, his family scrambled to find out where he was. His mother flew to Bali to collect him. She said he does not like hearing the word “no.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was