UNITED STATES
Margot Kidder dies aged 69
Actress Margot Kidder, best known for playing Lois Lane in the Superman films in the 1970s and 1980s, has died at age 69, a funeral home said on Monday. The Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, Montana, said on its Web site that Kidder passed away on Sunday at her home in the town. The cause of death was not given and her manager did not return a request for comment. Canadian-born Kidder appeared in more than 70 movies and TV shows. She was unable to work for two years after a serious car crash in 1990 and eventually became bankrupt. Six years later, she had a mental health breakdown and disappeared for four days, spending time homeless. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
ECUADOR
Finance minister replaced
President Lenin Moreno on Monday replaced the country’s finance minister for the second time in as many months, amid economic woes that have prompted major cuts to the state apparatus. The president, who on Thursday next week is to complete his first of four years in office, named business leader Richard Martinez as minister of economy and finance, the National Secretariat of Communications said. “My goal and that of my team is to guarantee the sustainability of public finances and promote economic growth to generate jobs,” Martinez said on Twitter.
NORWAY
Group sets collection goal
Europe’s bottled water producers yesterday set a goal of raising collection rates of plastic bottles from 60 percent to 90 percent by 2025 to improve recycling and cut pollution. “Our packaging today is part of the unacceptable phenomenon of littering alongside other discarded items,” the European Federation of Bottled Waters said in a statement. The federation, which represents national associations and several major companies, said the new industry goal was to collect 90 percent of all polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles by 2025 as an average across the EU. Almost 60 percent of PET bottles are now collected for recycling, although with big national variations.
UNITED STATES
Teachers paying for supplies
Nearly all public-school teachers report digging into their pockets to pay for school supplies, spending nearly US$480 per year, far more than the federal US$250 tax deduction available to teachers. The findings by the National Center of Education Statistics released yesterday came as teachers across the country are walking out of classrooms to protest low pay and to demand pay raises. About 94 percent of public-school teachers said they spent their own money on notebooks, pens and other supplies in the 2014-2015 school year without reimbursement, the study found. The average amount spent was US$479.
UNITED STATES
Mom denies abuse of kids
A California woman has denied her husband abused their 10 children, who were removed from their home after authorities said they had puncture wounds, burns and other injuries. Fairfield resident Ina Rogers on Monday told reporters that she called authorities in March after her 12-year-old son did not come home. Nine other children were found living in what police call squalid and unsafe conditions. The children were removed from their home on March 31. Authorities said the children’s father, 29-year-old Jonathan Allen, has pleaded not guilty to torture and child cruelty charges. Rogers said the home only looked messy because she tore it apart searching for her son.
‘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