CUBA
Political satirist released
The government on Tuesday released a graffiti artist whom Amnesty International had considered a prisoner of conscience and dissidents had celebrated as a touchstone case. Danilo Maldonado, 32, best known as “El Sexto” (The Sixth), was held for 10 months for “disrespect of the leaders of the revolution” for painting “Fidel” and “Raul” on the backs of a pair of pigs in apparent reference to former leader Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, Amnesty International said. Government officials “don’t have a sense of humor,” Maldonado told reporters after his release. “The crazy thing is, the show didn’t even happen and look at the repercussion it had.” Police discovered the animals in the trunk of Maldonado’s taxi before he intended to display them in a Christmas Day art show.
UNITED STATES
Mexican gets 27 years
A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Mexican man to 27 years in prison for his role in the killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in a 2010 shootout with a gang that had crossed the border illegally to rob drug smugglers. Rosario Burboa-Alvarez pleaded guilty in August to first-s
degree murder in the slaying, in which weapons left at the scene were traced to the government’s failed “Fast and Furious” gun-running investigation. Burboa-Alvarez admitted hiring six men to enter the US to retrieve hidden weapons from a cache near the border, then rob marijuana smugglers, according to court documents. Instead, they ended up in a gunbattle with border agents.
BRAZIL
Brazil pulls out of mission
The government has dropped out of an international mission to observe Venezuela’s parliamentary election in December because President Nicolas Maduro’s government barred a former Supreme Court chief justice from heading the team. The Supreme Electoral Court on Tuesday said Venezuela had refused its choice of Nelson Jobim, a former minister in two governments, to head the observer mission of the Union of South American Nations, despite wide support from the 12 member nations.
UNITED STATES
Ryan may seek speakership
Representative Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he would be happy to seek the speakership of the House of Representatives if his fellow Republicans agree to his requests for working together. “What I told members is if you can agree to these requests and I can truly be a unifying member, then I will gladly serve,” he told reporters after meeting with House Republicans. Ryan said he never wanted the top job in the House, but had concluded the country was in “dire need” of leadership. While considering the job “with reluctance” because of the consequences for his family, “my greatest worry is the consequence of not stepping up,” he said.
CHILE
Extra reparations approved
Congress on Tuesday approved one-time reparation payments for political prisoners and torture victims of the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. Regime victims already receive reparation payments of different types. This would be a blanket single payment for all recognized victims. The measure “reflects the state’s duty to offer reparations to victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship,” a statement from the Ministry of Government read. The payments total 1 million pesos (US$1,450). Spouses of victims can receive 60 percent of the payment.
CHINA
US Navy visits carrier
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has hosted a visit to its sole aircraft carrier by senior US Navy officers. The PLA navy says on its official microblog that the delegation of 27 commanders and captains boarded the Liao-ning on Monday and held discussions on issues including exercise management, personnel training, medical protection and strategies in carrier development. The US delegation on Tuesday morning visited the PLA navy’s submarine academy. Both nations appeared to want to keep this week’s visits low-key, with state media not reporting on them until yesterday. The US Navy’s Web site made no mention of the visits, which were in reciprocation for a week-long visit by 29 PLA naval officers to the US in February.
PHILIPPINES
Chinese diplomats shot
A Chinese woman yesterday shot and killed two Chinese diplomats and wounded the Chinese consul general to Cebu at a birthday lunch at a local restaurant, a police spokesman said. The consul general was rushed to a hospital and was in stable condition, Chief Superintendent Prudencio Banas said, adding that the woman was arrested and her husband held for questioning. Police said the couple had invoked diplomatic immunity.
SINGAPORE
Church leaders convicted
Pastor Kong Hee (康希) and five aides who used US$36 million in church funds in a failed bid to turn his wife, Sun Ho (何耀珊), into a global pop star were convicted yesterday of fraud after a two-year trial that captivated the city-state with tales of lavish spending and financial deceit. Kong and his aides were found guilty of diverting S$24 million (US$17 million) to finance Sun’s music career, which was portrayed as a religious mission. The six were also found guilty of misappropriating another S$26 million from City Harvest Church to cover their tracks. A sentencing date has not been set.
AUSTRALIA
Pair’s remains identified
A child whose decomposed body was found in a suitcase in South Australia state earlier this year is the daughter of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in 2010 in a forest 1,200km away, police said yesterday. A caller to a crime prevention hotline two weeks ago suggested the girl in the suitcase might be a missing two-year-old named Khandalyce Pearce, police said, adding that the tip-off was confirmed by DNA tests. Blood samples were take from the medical records of Khandalyce’s mother, Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, to confirm that a skeleton found in a New South Wales forest belonged to the 20-year-old.
UNITED STATES
‘Clock boy’ moving to Qatar
The Muslim teenager arrested when a Texas teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb is moving to Qatar, local media reported a day after Ahmed Mohamed visited the White House. The family of 14-year-old was overwhelmed by offers to support his education and decided to move to Qatar after receiving a full scholarship for his secondary and undergraduate education, his father told the Dallas Morning News.
UNITED STATES
Sailor, cat saved by jump
A Frenchman with his cat tucked inside his clothing made a daring leap of faith on Tuesday when he jumped to a waiting ship from the rigging pole of his sailboat, which was being battered by high seas south of Alaska. The sailor had activated his emergency beacon after his boat lost its rudder and rigging in heavy seas and winds.
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
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
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
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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