INDIA
Building collapse kills 15
Rescuers using backhoes and shovels searched for survivors yesterday under a massive pile of broken concrete and dust left when a residential building under construction collapsed, killing at least 15 workers. Authorities suspected dozens more may have been trapped under the rubble, but were still trying to determine how many workers were on the site when the five-story structure crumpled on Saturday afternoon in the state of Goa. Witnesses reported seeing at least 40 laborers. At least 10 people were pulled out alive overnight, but the chance of finding survivors was dwindling. By yesterday morning the death toll had reached 15. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar pledged to crack down on those responsible. Police began investigating both the building company and city officials who approved the building’s construction on a patch of marshland in Canacona.
FRANCE
Drowned teen’s mom sues
A couple who in 2012 passed by a drunk 19-year-old student who was later found drowned are now being sued by the student’s mother — a former police officer — for failing to provide assistance. Sylvie Zecca said she wanted to make an “example” of the young couple for allegedly breaching a law which requires persons to provide assistance to someone in danger. Her son, Vincent Zecca, went missing after a boozy night in Bordeaux in March 2012. His body was pulled from the Garonne River three weeks later. Police determined he drowned accidentally after drunkenly slipping into the river. Zecca said she had been given access to the police file and decided to sue a young couple who told investigators they had come upon her “very drunk, near comatose” son and “instead of helping him, laughed at him, filmed him with a smartphone and let him leave.”
FRANCE
Custody row ends in deaths
A man jumped out of the window of his ninth-floor apartment with his three-year-old son after torching the child’s mother, police said on Saturday. The tragedy occurred on Friday in Chenove near the Burgundy city of Dijon. The 25-year-old father was killed on the spot, the toddler died of his wounds soon after and the mother was fighting for her life in hospital with severe burns, prosecutor Marie-Christine Tarrare said. Investigators and relatives said the man doused his former partner with a flammable liquid and set her alight after a row erupted over the child’s custody.
UNITED KINGDOM
Viking treasure discovered
A Celtic treasure looted by the Vikings more than 1,000 years ago has been discovered in the storerooms of the British Museum in London. An ornate, gilded disc brooch dating from the eighth or ninth century is being described as a “staggering find.” It had been concealed in a lump of organic material excavated from a Viking burial site in Lilleberge, Norway, by a British archeologist in the 1880s and acquired by the British Museum in 1891.
UNITED KINGDOM
Jet with printed parts flies
A Tornado fighter jet fitted with metal components created on a 3D printer undertook a successful test flight last month, defense company BAE Systems said yesterday. The plane was equipped with a 3D-printed protective cover for the cockpit radio, a protective guard for the landing gear and support struts on the air intake door, the firm said. It said some of the parts cost less than ￡100 (US$165) to make and had the potential to save hundreds of thousands of pounds.
RUSSIA
Putin plays ice hockey
A day after a run on the Sochi ski slopes, President Vladimir Putin on Saturday roped in his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for a friendly match against former ice hockey champions at the host city of next month’s Winter Olympics. The two presidents’ team won the game against stars, including Soviet-era champion Alexander Yakushev, as Putin chalked up yet another action stunt to his name. Putin has burnished a hardman image by ensuring that his leisure activities such as fishing and horse-riding bare-chested and flying do not go unnoticed by the media.
UNITED STATES
Film producer Zaentz dies
Film producer Saul Zaentz, winner of best picture Oscars for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus and The English Patient, has died at age 92, US media reported on Saturday. Zaentz died due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease at his home in San Francisco on Friday, his nephew Paul Zaentz told the Los Angeles Times. Zaentz, who began in the music business before moving into films, was known for producing highbrow movies, and even ran his independent film production company from Berkeley — near San Francisco — to keep a distance from Hollywood. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) won five Oscars, including best director for Milos Forman. Zaentz and Forman teamed up again for Amadeus (1984) about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The movie won eight Oscars, including best picture, best director and best actor for F. Murray Abraham. The English Patient (1996) won nine Oscars, including best picture and best director.
UNITED STATES
Pedophile minister ‘addicted’
A former Lutheran minister from North Carolina says he suffered from sex addiction when he molested young girls during a 2009 mission trip to Haiti. The Charlotte Observer reported on Friday that Larry Michael Bollinger recounted in US District Court in Charlotte his years of frequenting adult book stores and prostitutes during his 33 years as a minister at various churches. Federal prosecutors accused Bollinger of traveling to Haiti for illicit sexual conduct with two minor girls, one 11 and the other 12. He pleaded guilty last year. A spokesman for the Lazarus Project said Bollinger had worked as a mission coordinator at the Christian charity for a several years before his dismissal.
UNITED STATES
Cuomo proposes medical pot
New York would become the 21st state to allow medical use of marijuana under an initiative New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will unveil this week. Cuomo plans to use administrative powers rather than legislative action to allow a limited number of hospitals to dispense marijuana for certain ailments. He will formally announce his plans in his state of the state speech on Wednesday. The New York Times first reported Cuomo’s plan on Saturday. It represents an about-face by Cuomo, who had previously opposed medical marijuana.
UNITED STATES
Seagal mulls governor run
Former action-movie star Steven Seagal says he is considering a run for Arizona governor. The Marked for Death actor told KNXV-TV that he is considering a shot at the state’s highest office and has had a talk about the bid with the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in the country, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Seagal made the comments while talking about his newly released reality series Steven Seagal — Lawman: Maricopa County.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS