COLOMBIA
Peace deal still possible
Representatives from Colombia’s right-wing opposition could meet with leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to discuss potential changes to a peace accord signed by the guerrillas and the government, opposition leader Alvaro Uribe said on Tuesday. Uribe had previously said his group would not meet with the rebels, who signed a peace deal with the government last month to end 52 years of war. Colombians rejected the accord with the FARC in a surprise plebiscite result this month. Uribe spearheaded the “No” campaign. “We think that at this time, in the interest of a national deal, spokespeople from ‘No’ could at some point speak with the FARC,” Uribe said. President Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his legacy on a successful deal, has been meeting with opponents in a bid to salvage the accord. In a televised speech on Tuesday, Santos said talks were advancing and he would continue to hear opposition proposals until today before discussing them with the FARC.
UNITED STATES
Taiwanese dies in crash
A 72-year-old Taiwanese woman who was visiting the US on vacation has died from injuries she suffered in a single-vehicle crash on US Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The state highway patrol has identified the victim of Sunday’s fatal crash as Tseng Pao-yi. She was a passenger in the back seat of a westbound Nissan Altima that her husband was driving when it crossed over the shoulder of the right side of the highway and hit a tree north of Glenbrook near the Douglas County line. The couple’s daughter was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Barton Memorial Hospital. The driver, Tseng Jiann-juh, was not seriously injured. The patrol said he was wearing a seat belt. It is not yet clear if the others were. Troopers said impairment is not suspected, but the crash remains under investigation.
UNITED STATES
Biden urges cancer research
Vice President Joe Biden headed to Boston yesterday to talk about the White House’s push to find a cure for cancer. Biden was to speak about the so-called “Cancer Moonshot” initiative at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate. President Barack Obama announced the initiative in his final State of the Union address in January. He has created a task force comprised of the heads of at least a dozen federal departments and agencies, including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services. The task force aims to double the rate of progress in cancer research and treatment, accomplishing what could be achieved in 10 years in five.
UNITED STATES
Send in the frowns
This year’s nationwide creepy clown craze has become a nightmare before Halloween for actual, working clowns. They say their bookings at parties and other events have dropped sharply, even after many of the social media-fueled scary clown sightings have turned out to be hoaxes. Some professional clowns fear going out with their greasepaint makeup and red noses would make them a target of police, or even marauding mobs who take to the streets on so-called “clown hunts.” The World Clown Association, comprised of more than 2,000 members in 30 countries, has been flooded with calls from scared performers. It has been sending out tips for how professional clowns can stay safe.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
SUPERFAN: The Japanese PM played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band in middle school and then switched to drums at university, she told the British rock band Legendary British rock band Deep Purple yesterday made Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s day with a brief visit to their high-profile superfan as they returned to the nation they first toured more than half a century ago. Takaichi’s reputation as an amateur drummer, and a fan of hard rock and heavy metal has been well documented, and she has referred to Deep Purple as one of her favorite bands along with the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. “You are my god,” a giddy Takaichi said in English to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of made-in-Japan
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