BELIZE
McAfee denies killing man
Software company founder John McAfee has denied he killed a neighbor in Belize, but said he would not turn himself in for questioning because he feared a police anti-gang unit wanted to kill him. McAfee said in a telephone interview that he was in hiding with a young woman somewhere in Belize. He said he was unarmed and has been changing locations frequently to stay one step ahead of police. Belize police said they wanted to question McAfee, who they describe as a “person of interest” in the slaying of fellow American Gregory Viant Faull. Faull was shot dead over the weekend on the Caribbean island where both men lived. McAfee said that Faull was an “annoyance,” but he denies killing him.
MEXICO
Bullets found on roof
Employees of a Mexico City movie theater where a 10-year-old boy died from being hit in the head by a bullet fired from outside the building have found 16 spent bullets on the roof on different dates, prosecutors said on Wednesday. A statement said an employee turned in the 16 bullets and told investigators it was common to find spent bullets and bullet holes on the roof around holidays. The employee told police that on the day the child was shot his manager told him to check the roof, prosecutors said. The statement did not indicate what the employee found. A ballistics expert said on Tuesday that the boy was hit by a 9mm bullet and that a second 9mm bullet was found on the theater’s roof.
AMERICAN SAMOA
Shark fishing to be banned
American Samoa is banning shark fishing in its waters in hopes of stopping the population’s decline. American Samoa is among a number of Pacific islands to record a dramatic drop in shark numbers. Sharks are often harvested for their fins, which typically end up in restaurants as shark-fin soup. The rules taking effect this week make it illegal to catch or possess sharks within 3 nautical miles (5.5km) of the shoreline. The ban extends to three species of reef fish. Doug Fenner, who monitors sharks for the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, said the rules cover most of the territory’s coral reefs and would prevent shark trafficking. The protections are the most powerful in the US, Fenner said.
URUGUAY
Liberal drugs bill presented
Uruguayans will be able to grow marijuana at home or in clubs, but the state will be in charge of the trade from cultivation to sale under a government-led legalization bill presented in Congress on Wednesday. The use of cannabis and other drugs is already legal, but the sale and cultivation of drugs is not. Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla fighter, said the proposed law would help undermine smuggling gangs and fight petty crime in a region hit by drugs-related violence. Critics say it risks luring more Uruguayans to harder drugs. The bill, which the government hopes will become law early next year, says the state would be responsible for managing and regulating the marijuana trade from cultivation to distribution. It would give the country some of the world’s most permissive legislation on drugs. Households would be allowed to have up to six plants, or as much as 480g of marijuana, the bill presented for discussion by the congressional committee showed. Cannabis consumers would be allowed to buy a maximum 40g each month under the bill, which also sets out regulations for smoking clubs with up to 15 members, 90 plants and annual production of up to 7.2kg.
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
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