IRAN
Jailed Briton in psych ward
Jailed British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been transferred from prison to a hospital psychiatric ward, the Free Nazanin Campaign, which is led by her husband Richard Ratcliffe, said yesterday. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was moved from Tehran’s Evin Prison to the psychiatric ward of Imam Khomeini Hospital, the group said in a statement. She was arrested in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in jail after being convicted of plotting to overthrow the government. Her family has been unable to establish the treatment or length of stay.
SPAIN
Cocaine under toupee seized
A Colombian man was detained at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport after half a kilo of cocaine was found hidden under an over-sized toupee, police said on Tuesday. Arriving on a flight from Bogota, the man attracted police attention as he looked nervous and had a disproportionately large hairpiece under his hat. They found a package stuck to his head with about 30,000 euros (US$33,636) of cocaine.
UNITED STATES
R. Kelly denied bail
A federal judge has ordered R&B singer R. Kelly held in a Chicago jail without bond on sex crime charges. US District Judge Harry Leinenweber handed down the ruling on Tuesday after Kelly was arrested last week and charged in Chicago and New York City with sex crimes, including having sex with minors and trying to cover it up. Kelly, wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles, did not speak except to say: “Yes sir” when the judge asked if he understood the charges. His attorney, Steve Greenberg, submitted a not guilty plea. Prosecutors argued that Kelly would be an extreme risk if released, especially to minors, and that he might flee.
SOUTH AFRICA
Johnny Clegg dies aged 66
Legendary singer Johnny Clegg, who blended Zulu rhythms with Western styles and defied apartheid segregation, died on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer, his manager said. “Johnny passed away [with] his family this afternoon after a four-and-a-half-year battle with cancer,” manager Roddy Quinn told SABC news. “Johnny leaves deep footprints in the hearts of every person that considers him/herself to be an African. He showed us what it was to assimilate to and embrace other cultures without losing your identity.” Clegg mastered the Zulu language and culture and high kicks of Zulu dance, forming multi-racial bands in defiance of the segregationist laws of the apartheid-era government, which censored his work.
VENEZUELA
Maduro-rant musician freed
Authorities have released a young musician who was jailed six weeks ago after taking to social media to vent her frustration against President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Karen Palacios blasted the government in a message that went viral after losing her job as top clarinetist in the National Philharmonic. Her mother says a week later two strangers appeared at their home saying that the 25-year-old was needed for an interview at the presidential palace, but she was instead locked up at a military prison and accused of breaching the nation’s hate law. Rights groups condemned Palacios’ arrest as an example of a deteriorating human rights situation.
‘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