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.
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
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
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
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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