UNITED KINGDOM
Hall facing further charges
Former BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall, currently in prison serving 30 months for sexual offenses, was on Wednesday charged with a further 15 rapes and one count of indecent assault against two girls. The new charges relate to girls aged between 11 and 16, and were allegedly committed near Manchester in northwest England between 1976 and 1981. The 83-year-old will appear in court on Nov. 8. “Following a careful review, we have decided that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Stuart Hall for 16 alleged sexual offenses against two girls and that it is in the public interest to do so,” Nazir Afzal of the Crown Prosecution Service said. Hall was on Tuesday stripped of his Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) award — two steps below a knighthood — which he was given last year for his services to broadcasting and charity.
UNITED STATES
Cops kill teen with toy gun
California sheriff’s deputies have shot and killed a 13-year-old boy after repeatedly telling him to drop what turned out to be a toy gun, officials and family members said. Two deputies saw the boy walking with what appeared to be a high-powered weapon on Tuesday, Lieutenant Dennis O’Leary said. The replica gun resembled an AK-47, according to a photograph released by the sheriff’s office. Deputies learned after the shooting that it was not an actual firearm, O’Leary said. Rodrigo Lopez identified the boy as his son, Andy, to a newspaper and said the teen was carrying a toy gun that belonged to a friend. It was not clear whether the teen pointed the replica assault rifle at the deputies or made any type of threatening gesture. O’Leary said the deputies fired several rounds from their handguns immediately after issuing the orders to drop the rifle. A neighbor in the area, Brian Zastrow, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat he heard seven shots. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene.
MEXICO
We are not killers: clowns
Leaders of clowns gathered for a convention in Mexico City say they are saddened by the fact that a killer disguised himself as a clown to kill a drug lord last week, but they denied that the killer was a real clown, saying they know their colleagues would not do it. Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix was shot to death in the Baja beach resort of Los Cabos by a gunman wearing a clown costume on Friday last week. He was the eldest brother of Mexico’s once-feared Arellano Felix drug clan. However, clown convention organizer Tomas Morales said clowns have suffered the theft of their vehicles, makeup and costumes, which thieves then sometimes use to commit robberies. The clowns gathered on Wednesday to hold a 15-minute laugh-a-thon against violence in Mexico.
UNITED STATES
Second teacher murdered
A young woman was found dead on Wednesday, the second teacher in the US alleged to have been murdered by a young student in less than 48 hours, officials said. Colleen Ritzer, 24, a mathematics teacher at Danvers High School in Massachusetts, was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to return home or answer her mobile phone. Philip Chism, 14, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with assaulting, beating and murdering her. He was ordered held without bail and would be tried as an adult, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said. Police discovered blood in the second-floor bathroom of Danvers High School and found her body in nearby woods, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said.
NORTH KOREA
Nuke test site work finished
The country has built two tunnel entrances at its nuclear test site in a sign it plans more of its internationally condemned detonations, a US think tank said on Wednesday. Satellite images taken on Sept. 27 shows progress in excavation work and the presence of two new entrances to tunnels at the Punggye-ri site, Johns Hopkins University’s US-Korea Institute said. The research group said it had no reason to suspect an imminent test, but that the work showed clear intentions to advance North Korea’s nuclear program. “These ongoing activities as well as upgrades to the site’s support areas indicate North Korea is preparing to conduct additional detonations in the future as part of its nuclear weapons development program,” researcher Nick Hansen blogged on 38 North.
CHINA
Regulator speaks on arrest
The media regulator has vowed to protect “lawful reporting rights,” state media said, in a rare official intervention over press freedom after a journalist was detained by police. Chen Yongzhou, a journalist with the New Express tabloid based in Guangzhou, was held on Friday by police on “suspicion of damaging business reputation” after he wrote 15 articles on “financial problems” at Zoomlion, a partly state-owned construction machinery manufacturer. The New Express on Wednesday ran a full-page editorial on its front page to call for Chen’s release, in a rare example of media defying authorities that drew an outpouring of sympathy and support online and among its press peers. The General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film and Television (GAPPRFT) said it was “highly concerned” by Chen’s detention, the China Press and Publishing Journal, which is run by the agency, reported late Wednesday. The agency has “coordinated with relevant authorities” to ensure the case was handled “in a just and appropriate manner,” the report said.
CHINA
Wall collapses, kills children
A brick wall collapsed onto children at a school in the southwest, hitting six youngsters and killing two of them, an official said yesterday. The incident happened around lunchtime on Wednesday at a primary school in Zhenxiong County in Yunnan Province. The wall that collapsed was free-standing and not part of the main school building, Song Yufeng of the county government’s propaganda department said. He said too much coal had been piled up on one side of the wall, pushing the wall over. The six children were around 12 years old, Song said.
INDIA
Singer Manna Dey dies
Famed playback singer Manna Dey, who recorded nearly 4,000 songs and can be heard in scores of Bollywood films, died in a Bangalore hospital early yesterday. He was 94. Dey was hospitalized in May and was being treated for a kidney infection when his organs failed, said K. Vasuki, an official of the Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences. Dey’s mastery in singing classical music-based songs enthralled millions of music lovers. He started his singing career in 1942. He sang mainly in Hindi and Bengali and his peak period was 1953 to 1980. He can be heard on scores of Bollywood films and their soundtracks, and his stage shows were very popular. His death was being mourned by millions of fans. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan tweeted his condolences, saying: “Strange how we connect events of our life with his songs.” The government honored Dey with the top civilian Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
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