CHINA
Teacher executed for rape
Authorities have executed a former teacher for raping and sexually abusing 26 children at his school, state media reported. Li Jishun (李吉順) was convicted of having “raped or sexually abused” 26 girls aged from four to 11, Xinhua news agency said. The abuse took place in 2011 and 2012, when he was a teacher at a primary school, it added. Li was put to death on Thursday by a court in Tianshui, Gansu Province, Xinhua said.
CHINA
Officials destroy illegal ivory
Authorities yesterday destroyed 662kg of ivory that was seized after being smuggled into the country, as part of a crackdown on the illegal trade. In front of reporters in a suburban part of Beijing, wildlife officials placed raw tusks and ornate carvings onto a conveyor belt that fed the ivory into a machine that crushed the pieces into tiny pebbles. China bans the smuggling of ivory, but in 2008 secured an exemption to a global ivory trade moratorium to import legal stockpiles for traditional carvings that can be sold domestically. Officials announced a temporary one-year ban on all imports in February, saying that would allow authorities to gauge the effect on poaching.
MEXICO
Senior Jalisco head arrested
Authorities have detained a senior operative of a drug cartel that has clashed with security forces in Jalisco state in recent weeks, officials said on Thursday. Victor Manuel Garcia Orozco, 47, is suspected of running criminal activities of the Jalisco New Generation cartel in the Cienega region, including drug smuggling, fuel theft and extortion, the Secretariat of the Interior said. He is also accused of involvement in “various attacks” against security forces, including the kidnapping and murder of two federal police officials in November 2013 in neighboring Michoacan state, a statement said. The investigation into their disappearance led to the discovery of 37 clandestine graves containing 75 bodies in the Jalisco municipality of La Barca.
UNITED STATES
Socialite gets 18-year term
A wealthy New York socialite was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday after being convicted of killing her young autistic son at a luxury Manhattan hotel room in 2010. Gigi Jordan, 54, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in November last year after admitting that she administered an overdose of prescription pills to eight-year-old Jude Mirra at the posh Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue. Jordan’s attorneys argued throughout the two-month trial that she had killed the boy in an act of mercy to prevent the boy’s biological father from sexually abusing him, a scenario that prosecutors said was based on fiction. New York Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon handed down a sentence that was close to the maximum of 25 years under New York guidelines, saying he was mystified by the mother’s lack of remorse.
GUATEMALA
Mob beats, burns ‘witch’
A 47-year-old woman was beaten to death and her body torched by an angry mob who accused her of practicing witchcraft. The woman was killed late on Wednesday in San Luis, in the Tacanas region near the border with Mexico, an emergency responder told reporters. The woman was identified as Catarina Gonzalez Perez. Villagers accused her of being a witch, and bludgeoned her before setting her ablaze.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle,” who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men shook China’s social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity. The hashtag “red uncle” was the top trending item on China’s popular microblog Sina Weibo yesterday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock. The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. The
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
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