ITALY
Berlusconi acquitted
An appeals court on Friday acquitted former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in a sex-for-hire case, reversing a lower court conviction that had carried a seven-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban on holding political office. The prosecution alleged that Berlusconi had paid for sex with underage Moroccan prostitute Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heartstealer, and then used his influence to cover it up. Berlusconi denied the charges, saying the case was politically motivated. The acquittal was announced just as Berlusconi was leaving a facility for Alzheimer’s patients where he is performing community service for a separate conviction.
CHINA
Highway blast claims 38
At least 38 people were killed when a van carrying inflammable liquid hit a bus on a highway in central China early yesterday, state media reported. The collision in Hunan Province triggered a fire and explosion which destroyed five vehicles, the Xinhua news agency said. Another five people were injured in the accident, which occurred at about 3am, Xinhua said, citing police. The fire was finally put out by about 8am. The double-decker long-distance bus, with capacity for 53 occupants, was traveling between China’s Fujian Province and Guizhou in the southwest when the crash occurred. Senior work safety and transport ministry officials and police were heading to the site to investigate, Xinhua said.
GERMANY
Buses crash, killing nine
Several buses crashed on a highway near the eastern city of Dresden, leaving nine people dead and 43 injured, police said yesterday. The crash, which happened at about 2am, involved a Polish bus, a Ukrainian bus and a Polish minibus, Dresden police said. According to a preliminary investigation, the Polish bus hit the rear of the Ukrainian bus and then broke through the median barrier, crashing into the oncoming minibus. Six of those killed were Polish citizens. public broadcaster MDR reported that most of those who died were in the minibus. The injured people were taken to hospitals in Dresden and Radebeul, police said.
UNITED STATES
Police identify remains
Officials have confirmed that the mummified remains of a woman found in the garage of a suburban Detroit home in March were those of the woman who lived there alone. Authorities this week notified the relatives of Pia Farrenkopf that she had been positively identified using DNA testing, the Detroit Free Press reported. Oakland County deputy medical examiner Bernardino Pacris said the cause and manner of death could not be determined because the body was mummified. Investigators said in March that they believed the remains were Farrenkopf’s, a self-employed financial troubleshooter who would have turned 50 this year. A message posted on Tuesday on a Facebook page set up by a relative said arrangements were being made to lay the remains to rest. Her body was found in the rear seat of her Jeep, inside the garage of her Pontiac home. Officials said she could have been dead for more than five years and that there was no evidence of foul play. They sought help from dentists who might have treated Farrenkopf, but could not secure the necessary records. Oakland County authorities say Farrenkopf paid her mortgage and other bills through a checking account that once had a balance of US$54,000. The money ran out last year, and the Pontiac home went into foreclosure.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing
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