UNITED STATES
‘Groper’ blames Trump
A man arrested for allegedly groping a woman’s breasts on a plane told police that President Donald Trump says it is all right to touch women’s private parts. Trump once bragged that he could touch women’s genitals and get away with it because he is famous. On a Southwest Airlines flight on Sunday from Houston, Texas, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, the unnamed woman was dozing when she was awakened by a hand reaching from the seat behind her and touching her right breast, according to a complaint filed in the District Court in New Mexico. The suspect, Bruce Alexander, 49, was handcuffed and put in a police car after the plane landed.
UNITED STATES
Xbox prompts confession
A man serving a life sentence in the death of his estranged wife led authorities to where he buried her body in Michigan eight years ago in exchange for an Xbox, authorities said. Doug Stewart, 29, will also be allowed to participate in some prison programs, the Sturgis Journal reported. On Monday, he took detectives to a wooded area in Kalamazoo County where he had buried Venus Stewart, 32. He had left two stumps at the site as a landmark. “I knew I couldn’t forget where she was,” he told WWMT-TV.
MEXICO
Hurricane Willa weakens
Hurricane Willa’s fierce winds began to ease as the powerful storm barreled inland early yesterday, leaving power outages and toppled trees on the coast, but no deaths, an official said. “Rapid weakening should begin soon,” the National Hurricane Center said late on Tuesday, as the eye of the storm moved toward the capital of Durango State. “It was really strong,” said Cecilia Crespo, a police spokeswoman in Escuinapa, a seaside town near to where the storm plowed inland. “It knocked down trees, lamps, poles, walls,” she added.
UNITED STATES
Amazon touts tool for ICE
Amazon.com in June pitched its facial recognition technology — which can identify people from surveillance footage using image databases — as a tool for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), showing that the firm continued to push the software to law enforcement agencies as criticism swirled from company staff and civil liberties groups. News that the technology is being considered by federal immigration officials was reported earlier on Tuesday by The Daily Beast. ICE has no current contract with Amazon, agency spokesman Matthew Bourke wrote in an e-mail. “ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations has used facial recognition in the past... and the component will continue to explore cutting-edge technology to compliment criminal investigations going forward,” Bourke said.
UNITED STATES
O’Connor reveals dementia
Retired US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the high court, on Tuesday announced that she is battling dementia — and probably Alzheimer’s disease. O’Connor, 88, said that as her condition has progressed, it means she is “no longer able to participate in public life” which — since her retirement 12 years ago — has focused on civics education. “While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings in my life,” she said. O’Connor was nominated to the court by then-president Ronald Reagan and she took her seat in September 1981.
AUSTRALIA
Senior charged with assault
A 102-year-old man has been charged with aggravated indecent assault against a 92-year-old woman at an old people’s home in Sydney, police said yesterday. Police declined to give details of the alleged crime, but said the incident took place at about lunchtime on Tuesday and was reported to police. Officers arrived on the scene and took the man into custody. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison. He was granted bail pending a court appearance on Nov. 20.
JAPAN
Sausage raises virus fears
A simple package of sausages shows how the outbreak of African swine fever in China is roiling meat producers and markets in Asia. About 1.5kg of sausage infected with the virus was discovered in the luggage of a Chinese tourist at an airport in Hokkaido, Japan, early this month. That prompted the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries this week to warn farmers and anyone involved in the industry against overseas travel as well as impose stricter quarantine measures across the nation.
PAKISTAN
IMF bailout still sought
The government still plans to seek a bailout from the IMF despite a Saudi Arabian offer of a US$6 billion rescue package, the Pakistani Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “Yes, we are going ahead into program negotiations with the IMF” in the first week of next month, ministry spokesman Noor Ahmed said. The country on Tuesday announced that Saudi Arabia had agreed to give it US$3 billion in foreign-currency support for a year and a further loan worth US$3 billion in deferred payments for oil imports to help stave off an account crisis. Prime Minister Imran Khan this week said that the country was seeking help from “friendly nations,” which is usually a reference to close allies Saudi Arabia and China, to go with any IMF program.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Hyperloop track to be built
A US company plans to start building an ultrafast hyperloop track for Abu Dhabi’s transport system in the third quarter of next year, it said yesterday. Hyperloops use magnets to levitate pods inside an airless tube, creating conditions in which the pods can shuttle people and freight at speeds of up to 1,200kph. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies said in a statement that design and engineering firm Dar Al-Handasah had invested in the US-based business and would be the lead designer on the project. Dubai is backing rival Virgin Hyperloop One to build a futuristic transport system.
SAUDI ARABIA
Boycotting banks welcomed
The central bank governor said the kingdom would not penalize foreign banks that boycotted an investment conference in Riyadh, because of the fallout from the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey, speaking in an interview with al-Arabiya TV yesterday, said that institutions that pulled out of the conference could still apply for and obtain banking licenses to operate in the kingdom. “We, at the central bank, deal in a completely professional manner, whether with local or international banks,” al-Kholifey said when asked if the banks that decided not to participate in the event would be penalized. Many Western banks and other companies, fearful of losing business from the kingdom, sent lower-level executives to the event even as their top people stayed away.
‘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