BRAZIL
Writer Rubem Alves dies
Writer, philosopher and theologian Rubem Alves died on Saturday aged 80 after a short illness, local media reported. Alves died in hospital in Campinas from multiple organ failure 10 days after he was admitted for respiratory failure brought on by pneumonia, according to Globo television and CBN radio. The writer of about 160 widely translated works on education and psychology, Alves received a doctorate from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1968. Alves, an exponent of liberation theology — an interpretation of Christianity through the eyes of the suffering of the poor and marginalized — had numerous works published in English, among them What is Religion? and A Theology of Hope. He also wrote a number of children’s books.
BRAZIL
World Cup protesters jailed
A judge in Rio de Janeiro on Friday ordered 23 people jailed for “violence” during ant-World Cup protests, including those arrested before the Argentina-Germany final. Judge Flavio Itabaiana de Oliveira Nicolau said the decision was made because of “the danger the accused pose to the public.” Of the 23, two of those jailed are accused of the death of a TV camerman who was killed when he was struck by a flare. Minutes before the final, police launched tear gas and stun grenades to disperse about 300 anti-Wold Cup protesters who tried to march toward Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium. However, World Cup protests on the whole were much smaller than the mass protests that rocked Brazil during last year’s Confederations Cup.
PUERTO RICO
Police rescue 12 migrants
Police say they have rescued 12 Haitian migrants who were found on an island just west of the US territory. Authorities on Friday said that six of them were taken to the hospital and treated for dehydration and cuts. The group was found on Desecheo Island. The number of Haitian migrants trying to reach the territory from the Dominican Republic has increased in recent years, with many being abandoned on nearby uninhabited islands. US Customs and Border Protection said agents have detained 582 Haitian migrants and prosecuted 11 smugglers in the past 10 months alone.
UNITED STATES
Fugitive returned from Nepal
A New Mexico man who fled sex abuse and kidnapping charges 14 years ago returned to the state on Saturday following his capture in Nepal, the FBI said. Neil Stammer, 47, arrived in the afternoon at the Albuquerque International Sunport, FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said. Stammer will be booked on outstanding warrants at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center, according to Albuquerque police. The owner of a local magic shop and a juggler, Stammer was arrested in 1999 on allegations of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, kidnapping, intimidation of a witness, battery and criminal sexual contact of a minor. Stammer was allowed to bond out before his arraignment, authorities said. The former Albuquerque resident already had an arrest warrant for failing to appear at his arraignment. A federal arrest warrant was issued in June 2000 for Stammer for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, authorities said. The FBI and investigators from multiple jurisdictions used investigative photographs to determine that Stammer had used a fraudulent passport to enter Nepal, Fisher said. He briefly escaped prison in Kathmandu, but was recaptured by Nepalese authorities. Stammer had been living there since 2006 under a different name. He is expected to face state charges.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
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