FRANCE
Macron plotters arrested
Security agents on Tuesday arrested six people on suspicion of plotting to attack President Emmanuel Macron, a judicial official said. Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation of alleged criminal terrorist association, they said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence agents detained the six suspects in three scattered regions: one in the Alps, another in Brittany and four near the Belgian border in Moselle. Authorities said the six were between the ages of 22 and 62 and included one woman. Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner told reporters they are believed to be far-right activists. Authorities feared “concrete threats” from the group, Castaner said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Faulty lights delay flights
Heathrow Airport early yesterday warned of delays, as it investigated a problem with runway lighting that has already disrupted services by British Airways. While a contingency plan has been activated and both runways are now operational, passengers should check the status of their flights before heading to the airport, Heathrow said in a statement. The airport said engineers were tackling a technical issue with the lighting system. “We apologize for any impact this might have on our passengers,” Heathrow said in its statement. On its Web site, British Airways said it planned to operate a full schedule yesterday, although there were to be some delays.
UNITED STATES
Spacecraft approaches sun
A NASA spacecraft has made its first close approach to the sun, just two-and-a-half months after liftoff. The Parker Solar Probe on Monday night flew within 24 million kilometers of the sun’s surface. Its speed topped 342,000kph relative to the sun, as it penetrated the corona. No spacecraft has ever gotten so close to our star. NASA said it would not re-establish contact until Parker is far enough from the sun to avoid radio interference. The observations could unlock some of the sun’s mysteries. Assuming it survives the harsh solar environment, the spacecraft would make 23 even closer approaches over the next seven years. The next is in April.
UNITED STATES
Charges pending in choking
A jury in Texas yesterday began deliberations on sentencing for a man convicted in the strangulation death of a man who he and his wife, a sheriff’s deputy, confronted outside a Houston-area restaurant. Terry Thompson faces up to life in prison after being convicted on Monday for killing 24-year-old John Hernandez in May last year. Prosecutors said he kept Hernandez in a choke hold, even after he stopped resisting. Thompson’s attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense after being punched in the face. His first trial in June ended in a mistrial.
ECUADOR
IV for ex-VP hunger striker
Medical workers were evaluating former vice president Jorge Glas following a health scare after more than two weeks on a hunger strike, authorities said late on Tuesday. The government announced that Glas is stable, but would be transported to a medical facility where he can receive intravenous (IV) fluids and electrolytes. Glas last year was sentenced to six years in prison after his conviction on charges he orchestrated a plot to receive millions in bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
NORTH KOREA
Meeting with US delayed
Meetings between officials and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo planned for later this week have been postponed, in a new sign of tension as the regime seeks sanctions relief before taking key disarmament steps. US Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that meetings with Kim Yong-chol scheduled for tomorrow in New York City would take place at “a later date,” without citing a reason. Pompeo had predicted “real progress” as recently as Sunday. “I’m confident that we’ll advance the ball again this week when I’m in New York City,” he told CBS television’s Face the Nation.
SOUTH KOREA
Wartime labor row persists
Japan should avoid aggravating historical tensions in a diplomatic row over Koreans forced to work for Japanese firms during World War II, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned. Japan denounced as “unthinkable” the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp must compensate four South Koreans for forced labor during the war. Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono on Sunday said that “it would be difficult for any country to do anything with the South Korean government” if a court can reverse Seoul’s agreements made under international law. Kono’s remarks threatened to add fuel to the controversy, the ministry said in Seoul late on Tuesday.
INDIA
Record set with Diwali lamps
The city of Ayodhya on Tuesday broke a Guinness World Record by lighting 300,150 earthen lamps and keeping them burning for at least 45 minutes on the banks of the Saryu River as part of the annual celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook attended the event after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a four-day visit. Her presence was significant because of a Korean legend that a princess from Ayodhya traveled to Korea in AD48 and married a king. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was given a certificate certifying the record by Guinness officials who had monitored the attempt with drone cameras.
RUSSIA
Star director tried for fraud
Acclaimed stage and screen director Kirill Serebrennikov yesterday appeared in court on embezzlement charges seen by supporters as part of a crackdown on artistic independence under President Vladimir Putin. The 49-year-old, who smashed taboos and revolutionized the nation’s art scene in the past few years, appeared in the first open hearing of his controversial case after spending a year under house arrest. The enfant terrible of the stage wore black jeans and purple sneakers as he arrived in Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court. He fell afoul of conservatives for his daring productions, including one with frontal nudity.
CAMEROON
Child hostages released
All 78 children and a driver kidnapped in the southwest were released yesterday, but a principal and one teacher are still being held by the armed men that took them, a priest conducting negotiations said. “Praise God that 78 children and the driver have been released. The principal and one teacher are still with the kidnappers. Let us keep praying,” said Samuel Fonki, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, two days after they were taken into the bush by armed men.
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
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