RUSSIA
Killer’s accomplice hunted
Authorities on the Crimean Peninsula were searching for a possible accomplice of the student who carried out a shooting and bomb attack on a vocational school, killing 20 people and wounding more than 50 others, an official said yesterday. An 18-year-old student, who later killed himself, was initially believed to be the only one to have been involved in the carnage at the Kerch Polytechnic College on Wednesday. Authorities have not provided a motive for the shooting, and teachers and classmates described the attacker as a shy man who had few friends, but Republic of Crimea Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov told news agencies that it is possible that the attacker, identified as Vyacheslav Roslyakov, had an accomplice. “The point is to find out who was coaching him for this crime,” he said.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Exports unsustainable
The South Pacific nation is felling its tropical forests at nearly 20 times a sustainable rate, research by an environmental group said, driven by insatiable Chinese demand for its lumber. Export volumes of the archipelago’s single largest export commodity jumped more than 20 percent to just over 3 million cubic meters last year, central bank figures showed. Environmental and rights group Global Witness said that this was more than 19 times higher than sustainable levels, and if continued could denude the nation and soon exhaust the single biggest contributor to its economic growth. Global Witness also found that the overwhelming majority of the lumber was sent to China.
NORWAY
Apology to ‘German girls’
The nation on Wednesday officially apologized for the “shameful treatment” of women targeted for reprisals for their intimate relations with German soldiers during the nation’s occupation in World War II. Between 30,000 and 50,000 women, commonly labeled “German girls,” were involved with occupying troops during the war, according to estimates from the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minorities Studies. As well as public humiliation, many of the woman were subject to reprisals by officials after the 1945 liberation from Nazi occupation, including illegal arrests and detentions, job dismissals, and even being expelled and stripped of their nationality. “Young Norwegian girls and woman who had relations with German soldiers, or were suspected of having them, were victims of shameful treatment,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said. “Today, in the name of the government, I want to offer my apologies.”
UNITED STATES
Girl bakes grandpa cookies
A teenage girl in California allegedly baked her grandfather’s ashes into cookies and handed them out to her school friends, local media reported on Wednesday. The student is said to have given her baked goods to at least nine students, the Los Angeles Times said, citing police in Davis. Some ate the cookies without knowing about the macabre extra ingredient and were horrified, Lieutenant Paul Doroshov said. In a bizarre twist, others among the Da Vinci Charter Academy students were fully aware and ate the cookies anyway, Doroshov told the newspaper. Student Andy Knox told TV station KCRA he was on his way into class when the unidentified young baker offered him one of her treats, saying they contained a “special ingredient.” “I thought that she put drugs in it or something. So I asked her if like: ‘Is this a weed cookie or something?’” he said. “And she said: ‘No.’ She said it was her grandpa’s ashes and then she kind of laughed, and I was really, I was kind of horrified.”
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