ICELAND
Chinese hikers found dead
Two young Chinese nationals have been found dead near the wreckage of an airplane that crashed in 1973, a popular tourist spot in the country’s south, police said on Friday. The young man and woman, both in their 20s, were discovered on Thursday after police received reports that a woman’s body had been found on the Solheimasandur plain, near the footpath leading to the fuselage of the old US military transport plane. The body of the young man was found a short distance from the woman, police said in a statement. “We have had very bad and cold weather on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday, and it is most likely that they died from exposure,” police Chief Superintendent Oddur Arnason said.
SPAIN
Force gets female chief
The country on Friday appointed a woman to head its oldest police force, the Guardia Civil, for the first time in the agency’s 175-year history. The Ministry of the Interior said in a statement that it had appointed Maria Gamez, formerly the central government representative in the southern province of Malaga, as the “first woman” a the helm of the 80,000-strong force. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in office since June 2018, has made feminism and the promotion of women to positions of power a cornerstone of his policies.
UNITED STATES
Four killed in shooting
Four people were killed and another wounded in a shooting at a home in Utah on Friday night, with the suspect taken into custody, police and media reported. The attack took place in the small town of Grantsville, on the outskirts of the state capital, Salt Lake City. “Officers arrived, they did clear the residence and were able to locate the four deceased,” Grantsville police officer Rhonda Fields said. Police were working to notify relatives and the fifth victim was being treated in hospital, Fields said. She did not confirm media reports that the attacker and victims were all from the same family.
UNITED STATES
Disney to rename Fox
Disney is to rename 20th Century Fox to distance its film studio from the assets of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, US media reported on Friday. The entertainment conglomerate last year acquired most of the assets of 21st Century Fox group, including the film house, while former owner Murdoch and his shareholders kept several TV channels, including Fox News. Variety magazine reported that Disney decided to rename its subsidiary to remove all links with Fox due to the conservative image of Murdoch and his Fox News channel. Disney’s decision is a symbolic step for one of Hollywood’s founding studios, which began production in 1914 and merged with 20th Century Pictures in 1935.
GREECE
Official Web sites targeted
Turkish hackers on Friday claimed to have hijacked for more than 90 minutes the official Web sites of the parliament, the foreign affairs and economy ministries, as well as the country’s stock exchange. The hacker group said on Twitter that “Greece is threatening Turkey in the Aegean Sea and in the eastern Mediterranean. And now it’s threatening the conference on Libya.” The hacking came as Libyan General Khalifa Haftar held talks in Athens, two days ahead of a peace conference in Berlin, which he and the head of UN-recognized Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are expected to attend. Ankara is providing military support for the government of Sarraj.
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