COLOMBIA
Military leaders replaced
President Juan Manuel Santos has replaced the nation’s top military leaders, days after the release of a Human Rights Watch report alleging complicity by the top brass in extrajudicial killings of civilians. The overhaul comes just days after the release of a report alleging that several top military leaders were aware of “widespread and systematic extrajudicial killings” of civilians between 2002 and 2008. Santos formally rejected the findings of the June 24 report, which presented evidence strongly suggesting that various generals and colonels knew or should have known about the killings, and in some cases could have ordered them.
UNITED STATES
Man killed by firework
A young man who was drinking and celebrating the July 4 holiday tried to launch a firework off the top of his head, fatally injuring himself, authorities said on Sunday. Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks on Saturday night in the backyard of a friend’s home in the small eastern Maine city of Calais, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state department of public safety. Staples, 22, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, he said. The firework exploded, killing Staples instantly, McCausland said.
UNITED STATES
Cosby testimony released
Bill Cosby testified in 2005 that he got Quaalude with the intent of giving it to young women he wanted to have sex with, and he admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman and “other people,” according to documents obtained on Monday by The Associated Press. AP had gone to court to compel the release of the documents — Cosby’s lawyers had objected on the grounds that it would embarrass their client. The 77-year-old comedian was testifying under oath in a lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee. He testified he gave her three half-pills of Benadryl. Cosby settled that sexual-abuse lawsuit for undisclosed terms in 2006. Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades.
BRAZIL
Caesarean rules take effect
New regulations aimed at rolling back the nation’s obsession with caesarean sections took effect on Monday, with the government hoping it can steer the nation from its status as a world leader in caesarean-section births. The new rules and a campaign called “Childbirth is normal” address what Health Minister Arthur Chioro has called an “epidemic” of caesareans, accounting for more than half of births. About 84 percent of mothers on private healthcare plans undergo the operation. The figure is about 40 percent in Brazil’s public hospitals, compared with about 32 percent in the US — still massively higher than WHO recommendations of 10 to 15 percent.
CANADA
Troops to help fight fires
Authorities are sending troops to help shore up firefighters’ efforts to battle numerous wildfires after the blazes prompted the evacuation of thousands of people. The defense ministry said it was preparing to send up to 1,400 personnel, including a firefighting force, to help fight the blazes in the central province of Saskatchewan, where 13,000 people have been forced from their homes. So far this year, 565 fires have been reported — three times more than last year.
KENYA
Attackers shoot dead 13
Unidentified shooters killed at least 13 people in Mandera town in the nation’s northeast early yesterday, the head of the Kenya Red Cross was quoted as saying on national television. At least 11 people were also wounded in the attack that took place at about 2am, the Kenya Red Cross also said on its Twitter feed. Kenya Red Cross secretary-general Abbas Gullet said that four of the injured would be taken to the capital, Nairobi, for medical treatment.
HUNGARY
Migrant fence approved
Parliament on Monday overwhelmingly approved the construction of a controversial fence on the border with Serbia to keep out migrants, under new legislation that also tightens asylum application rules. The plans for the 4m-high barrier announced by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban last month triggered concern both in Serbia and the EU, which is struggling to control a massive influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. Lawmakers voted 151 to 41 in favor of new legislation allowing the building of the fence along the 175km border with Serbia, which, unlike Hungary, is not an EU member. The new laws also toughen asylum application rules, allowing for the detention of migrants in temporary camps, as well as speeding up the review process and limiting the possibility for appeal.
MEXICO
Global taxi groups unite
Taxi driver associations from Latin America and Europe on Monday teamed up in their campaigns against Uber and Cabify, following sometimes violent protests over the ride-booking apps. Daniel Medina, of the Organized Taxi Drivers of Mexico City, announced an “international front against the illegal operations of these global companies, such as Uber, that put the taxi sector at risk.” Medina said taxi groups from Brazil, France and Spain were joining forces. In a teleconference from Madrid, Elite Taxi organization leader Miguel Chacon said that drivers from the Spanish capital would protest in front of the Mexican embassy on July 29 in support of their Mexican peers. “Uber came to our country and completely destroyed our social economy,” Chacon said. Taxi drivers have held protests in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, as well as Europe. In Paris last month a demonstration turned violent. In Latin America, Uber drivers or their cars have been physically attacked or threatened by taxi drivers. Taxi unions say that Uber represents unfair competition because its drivers do not face the same license fees and other taxes, allowing them to charge much less for rides. Uber suspended its UberPOP service in France on Friday, six months after it was banned.
JAPAN
World’s oldest man dies
Sakari Momoi, who was recognized as the world’s oldest man, and credited healthy eating and getting plenty of sleep for his longevity, has died at the age of 112, Japanese media said yesterday. Momoi was born in an area of Fukushima in February, 1903 — the year the teddy bear was introduced and Orville Wright carried out the first powered, heavier-than-air flight. Named the world’s oldest man in August last year, Momoi, a former teacher who spent his days practicing calligraphy and taking part in recreational activities at the hospital where he lived, donned a suit and tie for a ceremony to receive a plaque from Guinness World Records. “I want to live two more years,” he said at the time.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
DEMONSTRATIONS: A protester said although she would normally sit back and wait for the next election, she cannot do it this time, adding that ‘we’ve lost too much already’ Thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday in New York, Washington and other cities across the US for a second major round of demonstrations against US President Donald Trump and his hard-line policies. In New York, people gathered outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans such as: “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.” Many took aim at Trump’s deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting: “No ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” In Washington, protesters voiced concern that Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process. The
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