CHINA
Ex-Shanghai official jailed
The former health commission deputy director in Shanghai has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after being found guilty of taking bribes, corruption and embezzlement, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Former Shanghai Commission of Health and Family Planning deputy director Huang Fengping (黃峰平)was arrested in December 2013 amid a government crackdown on corruption in the health service. Xinhua, quoting the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court, said Huang was found to have embezzled 70,000 yuan (US$11,200) of public property and taken monetary bribes amounting to 3.1 million yuan.
SENEGAL
Hissene Habre faces trial
A court has decided to try former Chadian president Hissene Habre on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture. The Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese Courts made the announcement on Friday evening in response to the findings of a 19-month investigation into alleged crimes committed during Habre’s presidency, which lasted from 1982 to 1990. Habre lived a life of luxurious exile in Senegal for more than 20 years until June 2013, when paramilitary police officers stormed one of his two homes in the capital, Dakar, and took him into custody. The trial is expected to begin in May or June.
MEXICO
Train-bus toll hits 20
The number of confirmed dead from a collision between a passenger bus and a freight train in the north of the nation has been raised to 20, officials said on Saturday. Authorities in the state of Nuevo Leon said 16 dead were taken to facilities there after Friday’s crash, and officials in neighboring Tamaulipas said four fatalities were at a hospital in that state. The cause of the accident at a grade crossing is still under investigation. It happened in the Tamaulipas town of Anahuac, which is near the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas. The train was operated by the Transporte Frontera line on a route from Nuevo Laredo to Coahuila. Officials said the bus was traveling from Nuevo Laredo toward Nueva Rosita in Coahuila.
SPAIN
Airport boar-ding problems
The national airport authority on Saturday said that a wild boar broke through a perimeter fence at Madrid Barajas Airport, briefly closing runways and delaying two landings. The beast set off security alarms late on Friday. The incident delayed an incoming flight from London for 20 minutes and a domestic flight from A Coruna by 10 minutes, the airport authority’s statement said. The hole was repaired.
CROATIA
‘Pot-eye’ the Sailor?
A man is appealing his conviction on charges of promoting drug use after he used Facebook to depict the main character of Popeye the Sailor Man imbibing an alternative to his trademark spinach. Stjepan Pavlekovic, a 49-year-old unemployed geologist, posted a picture of Popeye in front of a marijuana plant, with pot leaves tattooed on his forearms, and a pipe giving off green smoke. He also posted a picture of Disney’s Snow White being offered a marijuana leaf by a witch. Pavlekovic says he was just joking. Authorities in Varazdin, northern Croatia, fined him 1,000 kunas (US$148). “This is absurd. I posted that as a joke,” Pavlekovic, who lives in the northern town of Lepoglava, told reporters on Friday. He filed an appeal against his conviction last week.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
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