GUATEMALA
President’s relatives jailed
Prosecutors on Wednesday detained the brother and son of President Jimmy Morales in a case of alleged corruption. A UN anti-graft commission said they are suspected of submitting about US$23,000 worth of false receipts in an alleged tax fraud. The president’s brother, Samuel, told reporters at the courthouse that he is cooperating with the investigation and said he is innocent. Attorney General Thelma Aldana said she also sought a warrant for the president’s son, Jose Manuel Morales Marroquin, 23, but he appeared voluntarily for questioning. National Civil Police spokesman Jorge Aguilar later said that Morales Marroquin “was arrested and put at the disposition of a judge” after presenting himself to prosecutors. A judge ordered the men held while prosecutors investigate. The president stuck to his daily schedule. “As family, all support,” Jimmy Morales told reporters at the inauguration of a school in the south. “And all support for the law as a citizen president.” Prosecutors backed by the UN commission have brought a string of anti-corruption cases, most notably against former president Otto Perez Molina.
UNITED STATES
Corley remains imprisoned
A South Carolina lawmaker on Wednesday remained jailed on the state’s most serious domestic violence charge as prosecutors disclosed new details of an alleged attack, saying he bit his wife’s nose and took her cellphone so she could not call for help. A lawyer for now-suspended state Representative Chris Corley said at a hearing that prosecutors were pushing the case far beyond what Corley’s wife wanted in connection with the lawmaker’s arrest at the couple’s home on Dec. 26 last year. According to authorities, Corley’s wife said her husband attacked her when she confronted him with a text message that appeared to indicate he was cheating on her. The lawmaker was originally charged with first-degree criminal domestic violence, but a grand jury indicted him on an upgraded charge of criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature. The charge is the most serious for domestic violence in South Carolina short of a murder charge and carries up to 20 years in prison. State Assistant Attorney General Kinli Abee said Corley threw his wife on their bed and began hitting her on the head, once even biting her nose as their young children stood in the doorway. Corley also took away his wife’s cellphone to keep her from summoning help, Abee said, but added that she managed to call 911 on her Apple Watch. The attack ended with Corley pointing a gun at his wife and then going to a bathroom, which allowed her to run with her children to her mother’s house across the street, Abee said.
CANADA
Drug overdose deaths spike
British Columbia reached a new peak of 914 illicit drug overdose deaths last year with the arrival of the deadly opioid fentanyl. The figure was almost 80 percent higher than the province’s 510 overdose deaths due to illicit drugs in 2015. The British Columbia Coroners Service on Wednesday said that last month was the worst month at 142 deaths — the highest ever recorded in a month. Chief Coroner Lisa LaPointe said 51 people died last month in Vancouver alone. Officials called the situation a crisis and epidemic. British Columbia Minister of Health Terry Lake said the federal government should declare a public health emergency on the overdose crisis, saying it is not just a provincial problem. The province’s government declared its own public health emergency in April last year.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
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