GERMANY
Escaped cobra captured
A deadly cobra that escaped last week was captured on Friday after five days on the loose. The monocled cobra was sighted at the entrance to a basement, and a snake expert trapped the animal, a local official said. The more than 1m-long serpent had escaped on Sunday last week, sparking panic among nearby residents in the western town of Herne. Four houses were temporarily evacuated and their inhabitants told to keep windows closed and avoid long grass and dense vegetation. Emergency services had tried to track the cobra by spreading flour in the buildings under surveillance in the hope it would leave a trail.
BRAZIL
Bolsonaro shuns Bic pens
President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday said he would stop using disposable pens made by France’s Bic to sign official documents as a diplomatic spat continues over fires in the Amazon basin. “A pen [of the Brazilian brand] Compactor and no more Bic, will work,” Bolsonaro said, confirming remarks he made during a live broadcast on Facebook a day earlier. Bolsonaro on Thursday said he would stop using Bic “because it is French.” The presidential office declined to comment when asked by reporters if Bolsonaro was serious or joking.
UNITED STATES
Kennedy assassin stabbed
Sirhan Sirhan, imprisoned for more than 50 years for the 1968 assassination of senator Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized on Friday after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at a San Diego prison. A statement from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the stabbing occurred in the afternoon at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. “Officers responded quickly, and found an inmate with stab wound injuries, it said. He was transported to an outside hospital for medical care and is currently in stable condition,” the statement said.
SPAIN
Listeria claims third victim
A man died after eating tainted meat, the third fatality in a listeria outbreak that has also seen five pregnant women lose their babies due to the food-borne bacteria, health authorities said on Friday. More than 200 people have been infected with the common bacteria, which pose a serious threat to elderly people, pregnant women or those with serious health conditions. The source of the outbreak, which was declared on Aug. 15, came from of pork product stuffed with garlic and other condiments sold under the commercial name “la Mecha.” The delicacy is made by the company Magrudis, based in Seville. Its factory has since been closed and its products recalled from shops.
UNITED STATES
Sea lions could be culled
More than 1,100 sea lions could be killed annually along a stretch of the Columbia River to boost faltering populations of salmon and steelhead. Billions of dollars have been spent in Idaho, Oregon and Washington to save 13 species of Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act. The National Marine Fisheries Service on Friday said it is taking public comments on the plan requested by the states and Native American tribes. About 900 California sea lions and 250 Steller sea lions could be killed each year under the plan along a nearly 480km stretch of the river. Experts have said sea lions there are exclusively preying on salmon and steelhead.
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
‘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