UNITED STATES
‘True Blood’ actor dies at 39
Nelsan Ellis, an actor best known for his role in the vampire series True Blood, has died at 39 following complications from heart failure, his manager told CNN. His portrayal of Lafayette, a gay cook and medium, helped him spring onto the acting scene after his character became a favorite of fans of the HBO drama, which ran from 2008 to 2014.
UNITED STATES
Self-help author dies
Spencer Johnson, whose book Who Moved My Cheese? has sold 25 million copies and became a business and self-help phenomenon, has died. Johnson’s executive assistant Nancy Casey on Saturday said that he died on Monday of complications from pancreatic cancer. Who Moved My Cheese? is a slim, 94-page fable on the need to embrace change that was derived from a story Johnson had told at parties and used in speeches.
CANADA
Trudeau defends payment
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday defended his government’s apology and multimillion-dollar payment to a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who pleaded guilty to killing a US soldier in Afghanistan. The deal with Omar Khadr’s lawyers was based on a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that Canadian officials violated his rights at the US base on Cuba, and Trudeau said that when the government violates anyone’s constitutional rights it has to pay. “The charter of rights and freedoms protects all Canadians, every one of us, even when it is uncomfortable,” Trudeau told reporters at the G20 leaders’ summit in Hamburg, Germany.
GAZA STRIP
Power outage hits Gaza
Power supplies have taken a fresh hit in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, with authorities on Saturday accusing the rival Palestinian Authority of blocking fuel payments to Egypt from going through banks. The electricity authority said two of the three generators at Gaza’s only power plant were offline because “the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah stopped all the financial transactions through Palestinian banks to Egypt to buy fuel. This led to the stopping of fuel [deliveries] two days ago from Egypt.” A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah, Tarek Rishmawi, said that “the main reason for the worsening situation in Gaza is Hamas as they rejected the initiative of [Palestinian President] Mahmoud Abbas to end the split” between Palestinian factions. He did not confirm or deny the allegations of blocking fuel payments.
UNITED STATES
KKK protests statue removal
A few dozen Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members and supporters on Saturday shouted “white power” at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they protested against a city council decision to remove a statute honoring Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The group was guarded by scores of police and outnumbered by hundreds of counter-protesters who waved signs denouncing racism. Anti-KKK protesters raised their voices in chants and shouts, drowning out speeches from the white supremacists, live video feeds on social media showed. There were no initial reports of violence at the rally that lasted less than an hour. Police later fired tear gas canisters when some protesters refused orders to disperse. Twenty-three people were arrested, but officials could not confirm their affiliations.
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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