POLAND
Five die in escape room
Five teenage girls died and one man was seriously injured on Friday when a fire broke out in a room where they were playing an escape game in the city of Koszalin, officials said. “The victims of this tragedy are 15-year-old children, girls celebrating a birthday,” Minister of the Interior Joachim Brudzinski told broadcaster TVN24. Fire brigade spokesman Tomasz Kubiak could only confirm that the dead were women, telling reporters that “one man with severe burns was taken to an intensive care unit.” The injured man was thought to be 25 years old, local police told reporters. Police and fire officials said they did not yet know what started the blaze in the escape room.
PERU
Maduro urged to step down
A dozen Latin American governments and Canada on Friday delivered a blistering rebuke to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, questioning the legitimacy of his soon-to-begin second term and urging him to hand over power as the only path to restoring democracy in his crisis-wracked South American country. The sharp criticism came at a meeting in Lima of foreign ministers from countries including Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, all of which have been weighing how to confront the increasingly authoritarian Maduro while absorbing a growing exodus of Venezuelans fleeing economic chaos. In a statement, the Lima Group urged Maduro to refrain from taking the presidential oath on Thursday and instead cede power to the opposition-controlled congress until new, fairer elections can be held.
BRAZIL
Bolsonaro mulls US base
The country is open to hosting a US military base to counter Russian influence in the region, President Jair Bolsonaro said. Bolsonaro, who took office on Tuesday, is a fan of US President Donald Trump and a fierce critic of Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who has close ties with Russia. In an interview with the SBT network Thursday night, Bolsonaro said that “my approximation with the United States is economic, but it could also be warlike,” adding that the base would be “symbolic,” as US military power can reach any part of the globe.
MEXICO
Police close migrant shelter
Police on Friday took steps to close a migrant shelter in Tijuana, sparking protests from some of the dozens of US-bound people who had been staying there after traveling in a caravan from Central America. The arrival of several thousand migrants in the past few months has challenged the country’s new president to make good on pledges to protect migrants. Tijuana officials cited sanitary reasons for closing the shelter, a two-story warehouse in a zone known for crime and prostitution near the US border.
UNITED NATIONS
New envoy to be appointed
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday agreed to appoint a new envoy to Somalia after its president refused to reverse a decision to expel a representative for raising human rights concerns. Guterres on Friday spoke by telephone with Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed — his second call to the Somalian leader in three days — to once again urge him to change his mind, diplomats said. However, the president dug in his heels and said envoy Nicholas Haysom would remain persona non grata and would not be allowed to return to Somalia, they said.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
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