FRANCE
‘Road of death’ claims four
Four Portuguese tourists were killed and about 20 others injured yesterday when their bus crashed off a highway in central France known locally as the “road of death,” authorities said, revising an earlier toll. The 40-seat bus was on its way to Switzerland when tragedy struck, the local Creusot-Info Web site said. Authorities had earlier reported five deaths, but rescue workers were able to resuscitate one of the passengers. Before dawn, the bus crashed off the Central Europe Atlantic Road in the Saone-et-Loire region, that sees several accidents a year, many of them deadly. It appears the driver might have lost control of the vehicle because of ice on the road.
BRAZIL
Official resigns over remark
The national secretary of youth has resigned after celebrating the deaths of inmates killed in prison uprisings. Youth Secretary Bruno Julio resigned on Friday. He had earlier declared that more inmates should be slain and there should be a mass prisoner killing per week. He also said the problem with prison killings is that “there aren’t enough of them.” At least 31 inmates were slain on Friday in northern Brazil, some with their hearts and intestines ripped out during killings led by the country’s largest gang. The bloodshed came just days after 60 inmates were killed during rioting at two prisons in a neighboring state.
UNITED STATES
Crowley plagiarized: CNN
A conservative media personality tapped by incoming president-elect Donald Trump’s administration for a top communications role was accused on Saturday of plagiarizing sections of her 2012 book, CNN reported. Trump has nominated Monica Crowley, a talk-radio host and Fox News commentator, to a senior communications job with the National Security Council. After reviewing her book What The (Bleep) Just Happened, CNN reported finding about 50 sections copied — some with minor changes — from news articles, Web sites, think-tank reports and Wikipedia. A section on Keynesian economics, for example, came almost directly from a 2009 article published on investopedia.com. The Trump team defended Crowley in a statement, saying her “exceptional insight and thoughtful work on how to turn this country around is exactly why she will be serving in the administration,” it said. “Any attempt to discredit Monica is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing the country,” CNN quoted the statement as saying, without confirming or denying the accusations of plagiarism.
JAPAN
Abe presses Seoul on statue
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called on South Korea to remove a statue of a “comfort woman” which has reignited a diplomatic row over Tokyo’s wartime sex slavery. Tensions spiked on Friday when Tokyo recalled its ambassador over the statue which was placed outside its consulate in Busan last month, symbolizing women forced to work in Japanese military brothels mostly during World War II. Tokyo argues it is against a 2015 agreement between the two nations meant to put an end to the hugely emotional and decades-long comfort women issue with an apology from Tokyo and payment of money. “Japan has already paid ￥1 billion [US$8.55 million] as we sincerely fulfilled our obligation. I think it’s now South Korea’s turn to show sincerity in an unwavering manner,” Abe said in a program aired Sunday on public broadcaster NHK.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
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