CYPRUS
Police chief apologizes
New police chief Kypros Michailides yesterday apologized to the families of seven foreign women and girls who an army captain has confessed to killing. Michailides said at a ceremony to mark his appointment that he offered the apology because police had failed to protect the victims. He said those who failed would be held accountable. President Nicos Anastasiades fired Michaelides’ predecessor over the “negligence” of some officers. Police have been accused of failing to properly investigate initial missing persons’ reports. On Sunday, search crews found a small suitcase that authorities believe contained the remains of an eight-year-old girl.
UNITED STATES
Viewers spot coffee cup
Game of Thrones fans got a taste of the modern world when viewers spotted a takeout coffee cup on the table during a celebration in which the actors drank from goblets and horns. The characters Daenerys and Jon did not react to the out-of-place cup in Sunday’s episode. Many viewers said that the show should have caught the gaffe, which turned into a meme on Monday. HBO poked fun at the oversight: “The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”
UNITED STATES
Cohen goes to prison
Michael Cohen on Monday took a last swipe at President Donald Trump while reporting to federal prison to start a three-year sentence for crimes including tax evasion and campaign finance violations related to hush-money payments made to protect his former boss. “I hope that when I rejoin my family and friends that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies at the helm of our country,” Cohen told reporters outside his Manhattan apartment. “There still remains much to be told, and I look forward to the day where I can share the truth.” Cohen, 52, then stumbled through a crush of media, ignoring shouted questions and got into a waiting Cadillac Escalade, which drove him to jail 115km northwest of New York City.
UNITED STATES
Legislator berates protester
A Democratic Pennsylvania state lawmaker has drawn criticism for recording himself berating a female demonstrator at length outside an abortion clinic in Philadelphia, calling her an “old white lady” and her protest “grotesque.” State Representative Brian Sims posted an eight-minute-plus video on social media that showed him peppering the woman with questions and criticism. As she studiously ignored him, Sims told viewers the woman had been confronting the people who were walking into the clinic. “Get your camera out of my face,” she told Sims after about four minutes of confrontation. State Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio said the video shows extremism and hypocrisy.
UNITED STATES
Widow sues billionaire
The widow of an auto racing instructor is suing a Mexican billionaire and his teenage son over the man’s death last month in a training crash. The Palm Beach Post said the wife of Peter London is suing Carlos Peralta Quintero and his 18-year-old son, Nicolas Peralta Quintero, for the April 16 crash at Palm Beach International Raceway. The lawsuit says London was teaching the younger Peralta in the young man’s 2013 Lamborghini Avendator when it crashed into a concrete barrier. London died, while Nicolas Peralta suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Rebels pick PM challenger
Lawmakers have chosen a former finance minister critical of a multibillion-dollar natural gas project to challenge Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. Rebel lawmakers, many from O’Neill’s party, announced that they had selected James Marape — who resigned from the Cabinet last week — as their alternate prime minister. O’Neill is expected to face a vote of no confidence tentatively scheduled for Thursday next week. Marape has been a vocal critic of a vast liquefied natural gas project backed by Total and ExxonMobil that is worth US$13 billion. The project would almost double gas exports, but local communities have complained about not benefiting from similar deals in the past.
AUSTRALIA
PM egged on campaign trail
The campaign trail yesterday became a little more raucous when a protester tried — but failed — to crack an egg on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s head. The attacker’s egg, thrown from close range, appeared to bounce off the politician at a Country Women’s Association event in New South Wales. The woman was wrestled away by Morrison’s security detail and could later be seen leaving the venue holding an egg carton. In the fracas, an older woman was bundled over, and Morrison — who is trailing in the polls ahead of the vote on Saturday next week — had to help her up.
JAPAN
Rugby fans doubt beer supply
When hosting an international rugby tournament and welcoming thirsty fans from around the world, the last thing you want to do is run out of beer. That is the message from Rugby World Cup bosses to Japanese hosts as they gear up for the global showcase that launches on Sept. 20. Japan is the first Asian country to host the Cup and might be unfamiliar with rugby culture, organizers said, including a healthy thirst for beer — before, during and after the action on the pitch. About 2 million liters of beer were downed at stadiums and nearby areas during the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Brewer Kirin, which produces Heineken in Japan, said it would review ticket sales and other data to make sure that there is enough beer flowing. “This will be a great opportunity to showcase our products to the world,” Kirin spokeswoman Naomi Sasaki said. “We want our guests to really enjoy the quality of Japanese beers.”
MALAYSIA
US returns some 1MDB funds
The government yesterday said that the US had returned about US$57 million in funds recovered from 1MDB assets in the “first installment” of funds to be repatriated under a US kleptocracy asset recovery initiative. The repatriated US$57 million was forfeited from Hollywood film production company Red Granite Pictures, which is linked to former prime minister Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz, the office of Attorney General Tommy Thomas said. The US is in the process of remitting another US$139 million, pending the sale of a Manhattan property linked to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (劉特佐), also known as Jho Low, the office said.
BAHRAIN
PM reaches out to Qatari emir
Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has telephoned Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan in a rare contact between Doha and the countries boycotting it. State media acknowledged the call between the country’s longest-serving prime minister and Qatar’s emir in a report yesterday. It described the call as “restricted” to Ramadan greetings.
‘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