UNITED STATES
Hearst heir dies at 77
John Randolph Hearst Jr, a grandson of media titan William Randolph Hearst and heir to the family fortune, has died, the Hearst Corp said on Saturday. He was 77. Hearst died on Friday in New York City, the Hearst Corp said in a statement on its Web site. The cause of death was not disclosed. John “Bunky” Hearst spent most of his career at the company his grandfather founded. Besides serving on the board, he was a trustee of The Hearst Family Trust and a director of the Hearst Foundations. He also worked for Hearst publications, including as a news photographer for the New York Daily Mirror in the 1950s and as an editor for Motor Boating & Sailing magazine. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1989, but several months later, he married 50-year-old Barbara Hearst. The marriage lasted until 2004, when Barbara Hearst filed for divorce, accusing him of constructive abandonment and cruel and inhumane treatment.
CANADA
Protester found dead
A woman at the Occupy Vancouver camp died on Saturday after being discovered in an “unresponsive” condition, police say. The cause of death has not been determined, but there is no evidence to indicate foul play, police said. The woman in her 20s was found in a tent by another protester. Paramedics took her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, Vancouver police said in a statement. Lauren Gill, an organizer at the camp, said the woman apparently died of a drug overdose. She said the death highlights the need for more addiction services because drugs were such a big issue in the city.
COLOMBIA
Landslide leaves many dead
A landslide caused by heavy rains left 14 people dead and dozens more missing in the northwest on Saturday, a Red Cross official said. Cesar Uruena, a Red Cross rescue director, said the landslide buried more than 14 homes in the city of Manizales in Caldas state, 165km northwest of Bogota. Rescuers have reports of 14 people dead and 13 injured, Uruena said. “We are talking about an average of 60 people missing. This could be a bit speculative, but the number is high,” Uruena said by telephone. Caldas emergency services director Sandra Lopez said heavy rains pounded the area the night before and caused a part of a mountain to collapse onto the houses.
MEXICO
Eight killed at game
Gunmen who killed eight people and wounded seven at a pickup volleyball game in Sinaloa state were targeting the men at the game, authorities said on Saturday. Sinaloa prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said while it had not been ruled out that the volleyball players and spectators were caught in a crossfire, witnesses have told authorities the assailants arrived with two people with covered faces who pointed out to the gunmen who to shoot. “The attackers knew perfectly well who they were going to kill,” Higuera said, adding that the shooting appears to be part of a conflict between rival groups. No motive has been given for Friday’s attack in Culiacan, but Sinaloa is the home of the powerful Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Elsewhere, federal police arrested a suspected local chief of the La Familia cartel in Chalco, Mexico state. A statement from the Public Security Secretariat said the suspect, Hector Russel Rodriguez Baez, alias “El Toro,” headed one of La Familia’s most violent cells. Rodriguez was allegedly in charge of drug sales and extortion in the area, and was involved in at least 20 murders, the statement said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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