UNITED STATES
Body in barrel sparks arrest
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found stuffed inside a plastic barrel that was dumped in front of Sonoma’s City Hall in northern California. Sheriff’s officials said Friday night’s discovery of the blood-stained barrel led detectives to a mobile home where they thought Ronald Sauvageau, 64, was killed. They served a search warrant and arrested Christopher McNatt, 40. An autopsy is to be conducted today to determine the cause of death. Sheriff’s Sergeant Cecile Focha told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that a weapon thought to be used in the killing was recovered, but she declined to elaborate on the type of weapon, the relationship between the men or a motive.
CHILE
Girl drops euthanasia plea
An ailing Chilean girl who made a public plea for permission to end her life has changed her mind, according to her father. Fredy Maureira told reporters on Sunday that his 14-year-old daughter, Valentina, has changed her mind after meeting people who responded to her plea for euthanasia to escape cystic fibrosis. “Yes, she is thinking about it,” Maureira said. The girl told the El Mercurio newspaper that “there are people who have led me to change my way of thinking.” A video in which Valentina asked Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to let her undergo euthanasia gained global attention last month after it was posted on YouTube. Bachelet, a pediatrician, visited the girl and her family, but the government said it could not approve her request.
CHILE
Earthquake rattles north
The US Geological Survey says a magnitude 6.1 earthquake has struck in far northern Chile. There were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning. The USGS said the epicenter was 33km southeast of Putre at a depth of 128km. It hit at 1:51am yesterday.
GUINEA
Truck accident kills 10
At least 10 people were killed and 11 injured when a truck overturned in the nation’s east, a security source said on Saturday. The accident happened on Friday near the town of Beyla, the source told reporters from the capital, Conakry, adding that the 11 people were “seriously injured.” The truck was headed to a weekly market, but “turned over when the driver approached a turn,” the source said. According to an initial probe, “speeding and reckless driving” appeared to be behind the accident, the source added. It was not clear how many people were on the truck at the time.
THAILAND
Briton shoots self at range
Police yesterday said they were probing the death of a British tourist who apparently shot himself dead at a firing range on Phuket. Officers are examining CCTV footage from the Thalang Shooting Range which appears to show the Briton standing alongside a staff member before turning a gun on himself on Saturday afternoon. The visibly distraught employee is seen walking away from the scene holding his head in his hands. “We are investigating the CCTV images. We have not yet concluded whether it was an accident or suicide,” said police Colonel Chanuchan Chonsuwat of the Thalang district on the island. A spokesman for the British Embassy in Bangkok said it was aware of the incident and providing consular assistance to the family. The spokesman could not immediately provide any further details.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
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