PICKING UP THE PIECES
Obama urges vote solution
US President Barack Obama on Sunday urged the rival candidates in Afghanistan’s disputed election to come to an agreement on a national unity government to end the crisis over the vote. Both presidential candidates claim to have won the June 14 election, triggering a political stalemate and rising ethnic tension as NATO combat troops withdraw after 13 years of fighting the Taliban. In telephone calls with both candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, Obama “emphasized the importance of concluding a deal on the national unity government as soon as possible in the interest of shoring up international support for Afghanistan and preserving Afghan stability,” the White House said.
PHILIPPINES
Turtle poaching trial delayed
A pre-trial hearing for nine Chinese fishermen charged with poaching sea turtles at a disputed South China Sea shoal has been postponed again because of problems finding a qualified interpreter, court and diplomatic officials said yesterday. The Chinese were arrested in May and authorities seized their boat that was allegedly filled with more than 500 endangered giant turtles at the Half Moon Shoal (Banyue Shoal, 半月暗沙) in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims. The fishermen have pleaded not guilty to charges of violating two provisions of the fisheries code, including illegally harvesting 555 endangered turtles, before a special environmental court in western Palawan Province, which lies closest to Half Moon Shoal. Two other Chinese arrested in May were found to be minors and deported. Judge Ambrosio de Luna postponed the pre-trial hearing until an interpreter from Manila arrives, his clerk-of-court Hazel Mae Alaska said.
UNITED STATES
Gay marriage laws in court
For the first time since it declared California’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional, the US federal appeals court in San Francisco is readying to hear arguments over same-sex weddings in a political and legal climate vastly different from when it overturned Proposition 8 in 2012. State and US federal court judges have been striking down bans in more than a dozen states at a rapid rate since a landmark US Supreme Court ruling last year. Washington, DC, and 19 states now allow gay marriages. Now, three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — all appointed by Democrats and one who wrote the opinion overturning Proposition 8 — were to hear arguments yesterday on gay marriage bans in Idaho, Nevada and Hawaii. “It seemed like such an uphill battle when I started,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “I really couldn’t imagine then that we would be where we are now.”
NICARAGUA
Meteorite misses everyone
The government says a loud boom heard overnight on Saturday by residents of the capital was made by a small meteorite that left a crater in a wooded area near the city’s airport. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said on Sunday that a committee formed by the government to study the event confirmed that it was a “relatively small” meteorite that “appears to have come off an asteroid that was passing close to Earth.” Murillo said Nicaragua would ask international experts to help local scientists in determining what happened. The crater left by the meteorite had a radius of 12m and a depth of 5m, Humberto Saballos of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies said. He said it is still not clear whether the meteorite disintegrated or was buried.
UNITED STATES
Simone Battle found dead
Girl group singer Simone Battle was found dead in her West Hollywood home, authorities said on Saturday. Battle, 25, gained notoriety through performances on the television show X Factor. Her five-member band, G.R.L. — originally a reboot of the Pussycat Dolls — had been signed by mega-hitmaker Dr Luke. Battle was found at home on Friday, according to Los Angeles County Coroner’s Department Lieutenant David Smith. No further details were released. An autopsy was expected on Sunday. In a written statement, G.R.L.’s record companies RCA and Kemosabe called Battle an exceptional young talent and human being.
UNITED STATES
Bruce Morton dies at 83
Veteran CBS newsman Bruce Morton, 83, died on Friday from complications of cancer, his daughter, Sarah Morton, said. Morton, who later worked at CNN, gained a reputation as a solid reporter of expansive breadth and expertise, with special gifts as a writer. He covered most of the major news events of the era, including the Vietnam War, the space program, racial unrest, the assassinations of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F. Kennedy, and the Watergate scandal. He won six Emmy Awards for his work at CBS News, including one for his coverage of the trial of US Army Lieutenant William Calley for crimes related to the massacre at My Lai in Vietnam. He also won a Peabody Award in 1976 for his “incisive writing” on The CBS Morning News and shared a Polk Award for CBS’ coverage of the protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
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