MEXICO
Gangster dies after siege
A Guatemalan gang leader who was freed from custody in a bloody hospital attack last year died on Thursday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound after being located and surrounded by police in Mexico City. Police spokesman Pablo Castillo confirmed the death of Anderson Daniel Cabrera, alias “Little Boy,” after agents acting on intelligence laid siege to a home where he was around midnight. Castillo said Cabrera became aware of the police presence hours later, fired at officers and asked for his partner and eight-year-old son to be allowed to exit. “When they left ... a shot was heard [and] on entering we saw his body,” Castillo said. Cabrera was a leader of the feared Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13. He had been sentenced to 162 years in prison for murder, murder conspiracy and extortion, and was facing further prosecution on other charges.
UNITED STATES
Free Snapcrap app released
A 24-year-old has created a free app to make it easier for people to report poop and used needles on the famously dirty streets of San Francisco. Sean Miller moved to San Francisco from Vermont after college last year and said he was astonished by the amount of public grime. His “Snapcrap” app was released over the weekend for iOS users. He said downloads are in the “few hundreds.” Miller, who lives and works downtown, passes on the photos to the city’s Public Works Department. San Francisco already has a 311 app to report feces and trash, as well as potholes and graffiti. There were more than 24,300 requests last year for human waste cleanup. Miller said he plans to work with the city to improve a very San Francisco problem.
UNITED STATES
‘Suge’ Knight gets 28 years
Marion “Suge” Knight was sentenced on Thursday to 28 years in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in a case that completed the former rap music mogul’s downfall from his heyday as one of the biggest — and most feared — names in the music industry. Knight, 53, will likely live out most, if not the rest, of his life in a California prison. He showed no emotion in court as relatives of Terry Carter, the man he killed, described their loved one as a devoted family man and peacemaker. Carter was killed after Knight and one of his longtime rivals, Cle “Bone” Sloan, started fighting outside a Compton burger stand in January 2015. Knight was upset about his portrayal in an N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, on which Sloan was serving as a consultant. Knight clipped Sloan with his pickup truck, seriously injuring him, before speeding through the parking lot and running over Carter and fleeing.
UNITED STATES
Evans hangs up Cap’s shield
Chris Evans has wrapped his final performance as Captain America. Evans on Thursday tweeted that his last shooting day on Avengers 4 was an “emotional day.” The 37-year-old actor thanked his colleagues and fans for his eight years as Captain America, saying it “has been an honor.” Evans first joined the Marvel cast in 2010. He has starred in three Captain America films, including 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, as well as numerous team-up films. The actor previously suggested he would soon depart the role. Earlier this year, Evans told the New York Times he wanted to “get off the train before they push you off.”
SOUTH KOREA
Ex-president Lee jailed
Former president Lee Myung-bak was yesterday jailed for 15 years for corruption, becoming the latest ex-leader to be sent to prison. The 76-year-old CEO-turned-president, who served from 2008 to 2013, was found guilty on charges including bribery and embezzlement and ordered to pay a fine of 13 billion won (US$11.51 million) by the Seoul Central District Court. “Bringing everything into consideration, heavy punishment for the accused is inevitable,” a judge said during the trial. The court found that Lee was the de facto owner of DAS Corp — a controversial auto parts company which he claimed was his brother’s — which he used to create slush funds of about 24 billion won. He was also found guilty of accepting nearly 6 billion won from Samsung Electronics in return for a presidential pardon for its chairman, Lee Kun-hee.
AUSTRALIA
Scouts apologize to victims
Scouts Australia yesterday apologized to victims of child sex abuse within the organization that recently joined a national compensation program. Scouts Australia Chief Commissioner Phil Harrison said the apology was part of the group’s commitment to acknowledge and address the harm that some of its members have suffered. “Scouting sincerely hopes that the apology will help those who suffered through their time in Scouting, as well as their families who have also been affected,” Harrison said in a statement. “The apology is a genuine and heartfelt admission that, for some young people, their time in Scouting was a negative experience. For this, we are truly sorry.” Harrison said that Scouts Australia had listened to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, survivors’ groups and survivors who have said that an apology might help with healing.
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
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