BRAZIL
Bolsonaro to visit China
President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday said he would visit China this year, indicating he was more open to a nation he once accused of being an economic predator trying to “buy” Brazil. “I confirmed with the ambassador that I will travel to China this year,” he told reporters after a meeting in Brasilia with Chinese Ambassador to Brazil Yang Wanming (楊萬明). State news agency Agencia Brasil later said that the trip would take place in the second half of the year, without specifying a date. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit for a summit of BRICS countries on a date to be agreed later, Yang said. China is Brazil’s main trading partner and represented 27.8 percent of its exports last year.
MALAWI
Albino violence to be probed
President Peter Mutharika on Friday appointed a commission of inquiry to probe a spate of attacks, abductions and killings of people with albinism. The panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Robert Chinangwa, is to submit its report to Mutharika by April 30, the president’s office said. The announcement came after mounting criticism of Mutharika for his response to the attacks. The Association of People With Albinism has been staging a vigil in Lilongwe and said it would contact foreign embassies to seek refuge. About 200 people with albinism and 500 sympathizers marched to the presidential office on Wednesday.
UNITED STATES
‘Airwolf’ star Vincent dies
Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, the Airwolf star whose sleek good looks belied a troubled personal life, has died at 73. A death certificate showed that Vincent died of cardiac arrest on Feb. 10 in Asheville, North Carolina. The certificate signed by a doctor said he died of natural causes. It was not clear why it took several weeks for news of the death to surface before it was reported on Friday by TMZ. Born in 1945 in Denver, Colorado, Vincent starred in such films as 1972’s The Mechanic and 1978’s Hooper, in which he played a stuntman opposite Burt Reynolds. Perhaps his best-known role was in the TV action-adventure series Airwolf, which lasted for several seasons after launching in 1984. However, his surfer-like demeanor was overshadowed at times by his troubled personal life. He pleaded guilty in 1997 to a drunk driving accident that left him with a broken neck. He was also charged in 1980s barroom brawls, receiving probation in one and an acquittal in another. In a separate case, he was acquitted in 1986 of hitting a woman.
UNITED STATES
Goat voted town mayor
In a divided US where politics seems increasingly to get people’s goat, a small town in Vermont has taken the concept to heart by this week electing one as mayor. The leading human official in Fair Haven, Town Manager Joseph Gunter, hoped the election could serve as a bit of a lesson in democracy. In Tuesday’s poll, Lincoln the goat was victorious over 15 other animal candidates. When Gunter read in a newspaper that the village of Omena, Michigan, had made Sweet Tart the cat its “top” official, he got the idea to organize a similar election to raise funds for building a playground. Lincoln’s 13 votes were enough for him to squeak past Sammie the dog. The goat is to represent the town’s major festivals during its one-year mandate. Although the fundraising effort only generated about US$100, Gunter is not bleating, because he said the election was also “a good way to get the kids involved in local government.”
MALAYSIA
Jail for Mohammed remarks
A person was sentenced to more than 10 years in jail and three others were charged over insults against Islam and the Prophet Mohammed on social media, police said yesterday. The sentence is believed to be the harshest such penalty on record in the Muslim-majority country, where concerns over racial and religious tensions have grown over the past few months. Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement that the person, who was not identified, had pleaded guilty to 10 charges of misusing communications networks. The offence carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail, a fine of up to 50,000 ringgit (US$12,232) or both. Another social media user has also pleaded guilty and a sentencing hearing is to be held tomorrow. Two others have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail. On Thursday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Religious Affairs Mujahid Yusof Rawa said that the Islamic Affairs Department had set up a unit to monitor writings and communications insulting Islam and Mohammed.
JAPAN
Oldest woman honored
A 116-year-old woman who loves playing the board game Othello was yesterday honored as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records. The organization officially recognized Kane Tanaka in a ceremony at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka. Her family and the mayor were present to celebrate. Tanaka was born on Jan. 2, 1903, the seventh among eight children. She married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, and they had four children and adopted another child. She is usually up by 6am and enjoys studying mathematics.
THAILAND
US wins transgender pageant
US contestant Jazell Barbie Royale was crowned “Miss International Queen” on Friday at a beauty pageant for transgender women, becoming the first person of color to win the competition since it started in 2004. Royale buried her face in her hands, spread her arms in victory and welled up with tears when news of the victory was announced in the seaside city of Pattaya. The community leader and HIV activist edged out 19 other candidates from around the world, including Brazil, Peru and several Asian countries. She said she hoped her triumph inspired other people of color around the world who might say “if she can do it, I’m coming to Miss International Queen next year and I’m going to compete.”
SYRIA
British teen’s son dead
The baby son of Shamima Begum, a British-born teenager who left London to join the Islamic State group, has died in Syria, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Friday. SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali confirmed the death, but declined to specify how or when it happened. He previously denied that the baby had died in a Twitter post that has since been deleted. Begum, 19, gave birth last month in a refugee camp in northeast Syria. She traveled from east London to Syria in 2015 and said that she had previously given birth to two other children. They are said to have also died, apparently from illness and malnutrition. The UK stripped Begum of her citizenship last month, although the government hinted that her son might be treated differently. The International Rescue Committee on Friday said that 12,000 women and children had arrived at the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp since Wednesday. Since December last year, at least 100 people have died en route or shortly after arriving, mostly children under five, the committee said.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in