GUATEMALA
President’s son acquitted
A court has absolved the son and brother of President Jimmy Morales in a case of alleged corruption. Prosecutors had alleged that Jose Manuel Morales Marroquin, the president’s son, and Samuel Morales, his brother, took part in purported falsification of invoices for a 2013 event that was paid for, but never carried out. The alleged scheme was supposedly for the benefit of a business belonging to Morales Marroquin’s romantic partner at the time. Monday’s ruling can be appealed by prosecutors, who did not immediately say whether they would do so.
JAPAN
Hirohito regrets war: report
Public broadcaster NHK has obtained documents showing former emperor Hirohito repeatedly felt sorry about World War II and tried, unsuccessfully, to express his feelings by using the word “remorse” in a 1952 speech, but the prime minister advised against it. The records of conversations with Hirohito spanning several years were kept by Michiji Tajima, a top Imperial Household Agency official who took office after the war. NHK obtained 18 notebooks through Tajima’s family and aired a special program last weekend. Although it is not surprising Hirohito had deep regrets about the war, the documents highlight how painfully strong such emotions had been. The Imperial Household Agency declined to comment on the report.
SPAIN
Afghan envoy mugged
Afghan Ambassador Humayoon Rasaw was mugged late on Sunday in Barcelona, police and diplomatic sources said on Monday, the latest in a string of high-profile crimes in the city. The assailants attacked Rasaw on a street in the town center, throwing him to the ground to steal his watch, a police spokeswoman said. The ambassador, who was in Barcelona for celebrations marking Afghanistan’s National Day, suffered a leg injury, but “is fine,” a source at the Afghan embassy in Madrid said.
MALAYSIA
Islamic preacher apologizes
Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik yesterday apologized for making racially sensitive remarks, a day after he was questioned by police for 10 hours over the comments. Naik, who faces charges of money laundering and hate speech in India, has come under fire for comments that pitted the nation’s ethnic and religious minorities against the predominantly Muslim Malay majority. Police on Monday questioned him about a speech earlier this month in which he said Hindus in Malaysia had “100 times more rights” than the Muslim minority in India, and that Malaysian Chinese were guests of the country. “It was never my intention to upset any individual or community,” he said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Nurses told English only
Seven Puerto Rican healthcare workers said supervisors at a Florida government-run clinic told them to stop speaking Spanish among themselves or they would get fired. The women work at the Florida Department of Health clinic in Haines City. A Monday statement from the community group La Mesa Boricua de Florida said the group filed a human resources complaint and wrote a letter to the department. The workers said the job required they be bilingual because of the Hispanic patients. Nurse Mairyli Miranda said she and her coworkers speak in English with non-Spanish-speaking patients and staff, but choose their native language to talk to one another. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘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
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
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