CANADA
Quebec requests military aid
Quebec Province on Thursday called on the armed forces for help after a violent storm cut nearly all communication links with a group of islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Only rare satellite telephones were able to connect Iles-de-la-Madeleine and its 13,000 residents with the mainland after two fiber optic sea cables were severed, Quebec emergency services said. There were major power outages and the local airport control tower had broken down, leading to the call for army help. “It’s the type of request that one makes when provincial government capacity is exceeded,” Quebec Minister of Public Security Genevieve Guilbault told reporters. On Twitter she added that a Canadian military plane would be ready to help yesterday morning. Almost 2,000 of 7,000 homes on the islands — located north of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia — lost power in the winds, which reached 130kph, the Hydro-Quebec power company said. Electrical and other specialist repair teams were expected to have arrived with the military yesterday.
UNITED STATES
Girl gets letters of support
A Muslim girl in Massachusetts has received hundreds of letters of support after receiving threatening notes at her elementary school. The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said that it had received more than 500 notes from across the country for the 10-year-old. The girl, who officials have not named publicly, is in fifth grade at Hemenway Elementary School in Framingham. School officials said that the girl found two threatening notes in her classroom storage bin earlier this month. The council encouraged people to send letters to the girl to “counteract the hateful message.”
UNITED STATES
Mystery ballot in Alaska
Control of the Alaska state government, at least for the next two years, could hinge on a mystery ballot that an election worker found on a table in a voting precinct on election day. The uncounted ballot could break a tie in an Alaska House of Representatives race. A decision on whether to count it was expected yesterday. The elections office said that the ballot appeared to be marked for Democrat Kathryn Dodge. If Republican Bart LeBon wins, his party would control the state House, Senate and governor’s office. If Dodge wins, it would set off a mad dash between the parties to build a caucus of at least 21 members needed for a majority in the House. Officials were investigating the ballot before deciding whether to count it. A recount was scheduled for yesterday.
UNITED STATES
CNN axes contributor
CNN on Thursday said that it had severed ties with a contributor after he made controversial comments pertaining to Israel and Palestine at a UN event. “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a spokesperson said in a brief statement published on the TV channel’s Web site. Hill, who is a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, one day earlier called to “free Palestine from the river to the sea” — a proposal that some have linked to the Hamas militant movement. He made the remarks while speaking at a meeting at the UN held for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. “My reference to ‘river to the sea’ was not a call to destroy anything or anyone,” Hill wrote on Twitter. “It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza,” he tweeted. “The speech very clearly and specifically said those things.”
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