UNITED STATES
Keystone vote looms
The US Senate braced for yesterday’s cliffhanger vote on whether to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, with President Barack Obama signaling that he might veto the controversial bill. Congressional Republicans have long pushed the Obama administration to lift its hold on the US$5.3 billion project, which remains under extended review about six years after it was submitted. The pipeline, which would bring oil from tar sands in the Canadian province of Alberta to refineries on the US Gulf coast, easily passed the House of Representatives last week.
UNITED NATIONS
African birthrates lauded
Fewer babies could mean an “economic miracle” for sub-Saharan Africa, with gains of US$500 billion a year over three decades for the region, the UN Population Fund said yesterday. The State of World Population report said a total of 59 nations were poised for a “demographic dividend” when the working-age population outnumbers the rest due to declining fertility rates. The agency said these nations — almost all in Africa — could follow the example of East Asian economies like South Korea, whose rise since the 1970s was helped by demographics.
HONDURAS
Family pleads for sisters
The family of the reigning Miss Honduras pleaded with police on Monday to find their teenage daughter, who was abducted just days before she was set to fly to London for the Miss World contest. Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, and her sister Sofia Trinidad have not been heard from since they vanished on Thursday outside the northern city of Santa Barbara, and all signs are that the siblings have been kidnapped. “Days have gone by and we have not heard a thing. The police have to know something,” said a tearful Teresa Munoz, their mother. The sisters disappeared after attending a birthday party for Sofia’s boyfriend.
UNITED STATES
Second USC killer gets life
The second of two men convicted of murder in the 2012 shooting deaths of two University of Southern California (USC) graduate students from China was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Javier Bolden was found guilty last month of first-degree murder for the slayings of 23-year-old engineering students Qu Ming (瞿銘) and Wu Ying (吳穎), who were gunned down in a botched robbery attempt as they sat together in a car parked outside Wu’s rented home, a few blocks from campus. Bolden, 22, received two consecutive life terms without parole eligibility for the USC killings in April 2012, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. Bolden’s accomplice, 21-year-old Byran Barnes, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in February after pleading guilty to murder and admitting he was the actual shooter. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for the two men.
UNITED KINGDOM
Hammer attacker sentenced
A judge on Monday handed out a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years in prison for a thief who brutally attacked three sisters from the United Arab Emirates in a London hotel room with a claw hammer. Drug addict Philip Spence, 33, attacked the tourists as they slept with their children at the four-star Cumberland Hotel on April 6, in an incident that raised concern about the safety of visitors from the Gulf.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
‘KAMPAI’: It is said that people in Japan began brewing rice about 2,000 years ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol Traditional Japanese knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and shochu distilled spirits were approved on Wednesday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the UN cultural body said It is believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way about two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol. By about 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association said. The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are
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