AFGHANISTAN
Kabul, Taliban differ on talks
State Minister for Peace Affairs Abdul Salam Rahimi yesterday said the government would hold its first-ever direct talks with the Taliban within two weeks, but the insurgents quickly denied any such meeting was planned. Rahimi said that a 15-member government delegation would meet with the Taliban in Europe, without elaborating, but Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said “there has been no agreement on such a meeting and that has not been coordinated with Taliban.”
SYRIA
IS claims suicide attack
The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed six soldiers in Daraa Province. The group said it was responsible for a “suicide operation” on Saturday, during which one of its fighters sprayed soldiers with machine-gun fire before detonating an “explosive vest.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said six soldiers were killed and several other people wounded. It said a bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up at a military checkpoint.
MYANMAR
Landslide kills 13 at mine
At least 13 jade mine workers and security guards were yesterday killed in a landslide, authorities said, as rescuers frantically searched for more victims. The fire services department said on Facebook that the accident happened in the early morning in Hpakant township in the north. “We have sent two injured men and the dead bodies of 13 men” to a local hospital, the department said. A police officer on the scene said that the upper part of a mine collapsed and fell about 200m onto those sleeping below. Heavy rains pounded the area over the past week, the officer said.
NIGERIA
WHO secures Ebola funds
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus on Saturday said a shortage in funding to halt the spread of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was finally being filled. Tedros told a summit meeting in Abuja that several countries had renewed pledges of financial aid after the Ebola outbreak was declared an international emergency earlier this month. “Especially in the last couple of weeks there is renewed commitment to finance the shortages we were facing,” he said. The support raised hopes the epidemic could be restrained, he said.
AUSTRALIA
Abortion to be decriminalized
Abortion could soon be decriminalized nationwide, with the last holdout state set to consider a new law this week that would remove terminations from the criminal code. Under legislation dating back to 1900, women in New South Wales who have abortions and their doctors can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. The procedure is only considered legal if the doctor believes the woman’s physical or mental health is in danger.
VIETNAM
Rhino horns seized
Fifty-five pieces of rhino horn were found encased in plaster at an airport in Hanoi, authorities said yesterday. The 125kg haul of rhino horn discovered at Noi Bai airport on Thursday was found after the carefully disguised shipment aroused suspicion. Police used rods to break the casts apart. “It took half a day to break them open,” a security source said. It was not immediately clear which African country the shipment originated from.
ISRAEL
Missile inteceptor tested
The Ministry of Defense and the US successfully carried out tests of a ballistic missile interceptor that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said provides protection against potential threats from Iran. The tests of the Arrow-3 system were carried out in Alaska and it successfully intercepted targets above the atmosphere, the ministry said in a statement. “The flight tests were conducted in Alaska in order to test capabilities that may not be tested in Israel,” it said. Netanyahu said “today Israel has the ability to act against ballistic missiles that could be launched against us from Iran or anywhere else.”
ITALY
US teens arrested in murder
Two US teenagers who were classmates at a California high school spent a second night in a Rome jail on Saturday after they were interrogated for hours about their alleged roles in the murder of a policeman on Friday. Investigators on Saturday said in written statements that the pair had confessed to their roles in the grisly slaying. Authorities identified the two as Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and said they were born in San Francisco. Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, a member of the Carabinieri paramilitary corps, was stabbed eight times, allegedly by Elder, leaving him bleeding on a street close to the teens’ hotel near Rome’s Tiber River. The 35-year-old officer had just returned to duty a few days earlier from his honeymoon. Investigators said Cerciello Rega and another Carabinieri officer were in plainclothes when they confronted the Americans about 3am on Friday in the wake of a drug deal gone wrong.
MEXICO
Honduras job pact inked
A scheme to create 20,000 jobs in Honduras has been agreed between Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants toward the US. The two men met on Saturday in Veracruz to sign an agreement to extend a development program to Honduras, which includes a tree-planting scheme. Called “Sowing Life,” the scheme pays farmers a small monthly stipend to plant trees and crops. Mexico City signed a deal with El Salvador last month to introduce the same project there.
UNITED STATES
Minnie Mouse’s voice dies
Russi Taylor, Disney’s official voice of Minnie Mouse for more than three decades, has died, the company announced on Saturday. She was 75. “Minnie Mouse lost her voice with the passing of Russi Taylor,” Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive of The Walt Disney Co, said in a statement. “We take comfort in the knowledge that her work will continue to entertain and inspire for generations to come.” Taylor died in Glendale, California, on Friday, the company said. In 1991, she married Wayne Allwine, who had been the voice of Mickey Mouse since 1977. He died in 2009. Taylor was the voice of other Disney characters, as well as Strawberry Shortcake and Pebbles Flintstone.
UNITED STATES
Police, FBI hunt for toddler
The Medford Police Department in Oregon and the FBI are searching for a two-year-old boy whose parents were involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Montana. Aiden Salcido is the son of Daniel Salcido and Hannah Janiak, who were found dead on Wednesday in Kalispell, after police stopped them following a chase because they had felony burglary warrants for their arrest.
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