THAILAND
Power line aids cave rescue
Electricians extended a power line into a flooded cave in northern Thailand to help the search and rescue efforts for 12 boys and their soccer coach stranded three nights in the sprawling caverns and cut off by rising water. Rescuers led by elite navy divers were forced to suspend their search on Monday night due to flooding, but were to resume yesterday. Officials said the power line would provide lights and ventilation for the rescuers and could help pump out water.
JAPAN
Man stabs policeman
Two people, including a policeman, were killed yesterday in Japan, when a man stabbed the officer and grabbed his gun in a rare violent crime, officials said. The attacker had stabbed the officer with what appeared to be a knife at a police station in central Toyama Prefecture, then grabbed his gun and fled the scene, a police spokesman said. “But police caught the man afterwards,” the spokesman said, adding that the officer, 46-year-old Kenichi Inaizumi, was confirmed dead at a hospital. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirmed that two people died in the incident, but the identity of the second victim was not immediately known. Police said the attacker and Shinichi Nakamura, a 69-year-old security guard, were also injured in the incident. According to public broadcaster NHK, the attacker shot Nakamura.
UNITED KINGDOM
Heathrow runway passed
British MPs on Monday overwhelmingly approved long-awaited plans to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest airport, after decades of debate over its potential impact. Lawmakers, by a wide margin of 296 votes, backed expansion proposals agreed earlier this month by Prime Minister Theresa May’s government, overcoming vehement opposition from MPs with constituencies nearby where residents fear increased pollution and noise. The government argues that the £14 billion (US$18.5 billion) plan would provide a major boost to Britain’s post-Brexit economy and could create up to 114,000 local jobs by 2030.
UNITED STATES
Bases to house migrants
President Donald Trump’s administration has chosen an army base and an air force base in Texas to house detained migrants swept up in the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration, several defense officials said on Monday. The Pentagon had been asked to be prepared to shelter as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children, it said last week. Under the arrangement, the Defense Department would provide the land but the operations would be run by other agencies.
UNITED STATES
Locklear attacks police, EMT
Actress Heather Locklear has been arrested on suspicion of fighting with first responders for the second time this year, authorities said on Monday. Locklear appeared extremely intoxicated when deputies arrived at her Southern California home at about 11pm on Sunday to investigate a dispute between her and either family members or friends, Ventura County Sheriff’s Captain Garo Kuredjian said. Locklear kicked one of the deputies then kicked a paramedic who was called to evaluate her because of her intoxication, Kuredjian said. Locklear was released Monday morning on US$20,000 bail. The 56-year-old was among the biggest television stars of the 1980s and 1990s, with roles on Dynasty, T.J. Hooker and Melrose Place.
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
‘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