CHINA
US criticized over Tibet
The US should not interfere in China’s internal affairs on matters related to Tibet, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) told US Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call on Saturday. According to an account of the call posted on the Chinese foreign ministry Web site, Kerry reaffirmed that there was no change in the US policy that Tibet is a part of China and that the US does not support Tibetan independence. The phone call follows on from US President Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama last week at the White House despite China warning it would damage diplomatic relations. Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. During the call, Wang and Kerry also discussed the success of the recently concluded bilateral Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, according to the foreign ministry posting, which did not give specifics.
INDONESIA
Flash floods kill at least 24
Flash floods and landslides killed 24 people in Indonesia’s Central Java Province, officials said yesterday, forcing residents to evacuate to safer areas as torrential rains damaged thousands of homes. Rescue teams searched for 26 others who remained missing after the region, among the most densely populated parts of the country, saw heavy rainfall overnight. “Heavy rain has caused floods and landslides in 16 regencies in Central Java,” Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman for the national disaster mitigation agency, said in a statement.
MALAYSIA
MH370 meeting to be held
The nation said it will host a two-day meeting with Australia and China beginning today to discuss next steps in the fruitless search for missing Flight MH370. State-run Bernama news agency on Saturday quoted a Ministry of Transport official saying the meeting would focus on “the future direction of the search operation for MH370.” The three countries have said previously they will call off the Australian-lead hunt for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 if nothing is found in a designated search area in the remote Indian Ocean. So far 105,000km2 of the 120,000km2 seafloor search zone has been covered without success. Recent bad weather has delayed the expected completion of the search to August, Australian authorities said earlier this month. The jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board in March 2014, and is presumed to have crashed into the sea far off Western Australia’s coast.
CAR
MSF driver killed
A local driver for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Central African Republic (CAR) was killed on Friday during an ambush on a convoy by unidentified gunmen, the medical aid group said on Saturday. The attack, which occurred on the road between Sibut and Grimari in the center of the country, comes one month after an MSF staff member was shot dead in a similar ambush in the north that led MSF to suspend its operation in the area. Thierry Dumont, the charity’s chief in Central Africa, told French broadcaster Radio France Internationale that the reason of the attack was unclear. However, “trucks or humanitarian vehicles are economic targets,” he said. “We are carrying goods, people have a little bit of money with them.” The nation descended into chaos in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters seized power, triggering reprisal attacks by Christian Anti-Balaka militias.
CANADA
Two charged over violence
Two men were on Saturday charged in connection with a violent incident that broke out near an outdoor FrancoFolies music festival in Montreal. Police said dozens of people began throwing bricks, rocks and traffic cones at buildings in the city’s entertainment district at about 11:30pm on Friday. Six Montreal police officers were injured and about 20 downtown buildings were vandalized. Montreal police spokesman Jean-Pierre Brabant said two men were arrested and charged in connection with the incident. A 25-year-old man was charged with armed assault on a police officer and a 24-year-old man faces one count of obstructing police. Both were released on Saturday afternoon on a promise to appear in court. Brabant said police are analyzing video from the scene to try to identify more of the people involved. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre on Saturday condemned the incident, calling it “deplorable.” “Montreal is the capital of living together,” he said. “It’s a safe area. There’s no need to break anything.”
COLOMBIA
Farmer confesses to murders
Authorities said that a farmer being investigated for the disappearance of a woman has confessed to killing 20 people, including his wife and two children as well as a missing person. The attorney general’s office said the man was arrested at his farm in the northeastern municipality of Guarne, about 25km from Medellin. Luiz Gonzalez, an official with the prosecutors’ office, on Saturday identified the man as 44-year-old Jaime Ivan Martinez. He was being investigated in the disappearance of a 50-year-old woman, Maria Arango, an official from Guarne municipality. She was last seen on Jan. 19. Martinez allegedly confessed to killing Arango and 19 other people and burying them on his farm. Gonzalez said a search for the bodies would be launched soon.
UNITED STATES
Slaves’ remains reburied
The long-forgotten remains of 14 slaves discovered more than a decade ago in upstate New York have been reburied. Albany Diocesan Cemeteries’ spokesman Jonathan Cohen on Saturday said the ceremony included prayers from a Ghanaian priestess, an imam and others. Archeologists found the remains in 2005 after a backhoe operator uncovered a skull during sewer construction north of Albany. No personal items from the graves were exhumed. However, experts believe they were slaves buried in the 18th or early 19th centuries. A local group called the Schuyler Flatts Burial Ground Project wanted to make sure the seven adults, five infants and two children are never forgotten again. Cohen said there was a feeling of fellowship among the about 300 people who attended the burial at a nearby cemetery.
UNITED STATES
Singer dies after shooting
A Chicago singer who appeared on the Mexican version of The Voice in 2011 has died after he was shot in an ambush while celebrating his birthday with friends. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that 45-year-old Alejandro “Jano” Fuentes died on Saturday. He was shot three times in the head late on Thursday outside his Tras Bambalinas School on Chicago’s southwest side. The attack happened less than a week after the killing of Christina Grimmie, who appeared on the US version of the show. Fuentes got into his car with friends and an armed man suddenly ordered Fuentes out of that vehicle and shot him.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
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