MEXICO
Lopez Obrador takes lead
Presidential contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has stretched his lead over rivals ahead of a July 1 election, a new voter survey by polling firm Mitofsky showed late on Thursday. Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, garnered 29.5 percent support in the poll conducted from Friday to Sunday last week, up from 27.1 percent in a previous Mitofsky survey last month. Running second was former National Action Party chairman Ricardo Anaya, who heads a right-left alliance, although his support slipped 1.1 percentage points to 21.2 percent. In third place was Jose Antonio Meade of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, who slipped by 1.6 percentage points to 16.4 percent, the poll showed.
RUSSIA
Weapon named after bird
The winners of an online contest to name three of the county’s recently announced advanced weapons honor a renowned medieval warrior, a seabird and the mythical Greek god of the sea. The weapons are among an array of fearsome new armaments announced by President Vladimir Putin on March 1. He invited people to take part in a Ministry of Defence contest to name them. The ministry on Thursday said that “Poseidon” received the most votes for the name of an underwater nuclear drone. A nuclear-powered cruise missile is to be called “Burevestnik,” which is Russian for petrel. A high-powered laser weapon system was named “Peresvet,” after a Russian warrior monk who died in the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo. Some of the names suggested in the contest showed distinctly mordant humor, including “Sanction” and “Thaw.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Wedding invitations sent
Kensington Palace on Thursday said that invitations for the wedding between Prince Harry and his fiancee, Meghan Markle, have been dispatched. About 600 people have been invited to the May 19 nuptials at noon at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. All 600 have also been invited to a lunchtime reception given by Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Hall. Harry and Markle are also to celebrate with about 200 guests at a private evening reception given by Prince Charles at Frogmore House, a royal mansion near Windsor Castle. The palace declined to comment on who is on the list. The invitations, which are beveled and gilded along the edges, feature Charles’ three-feather badge embossed in gold. They feature italic writing on thick white card and are issued under the name of Charles, father of the groom. The invitations revealed the dress code for wedding guests: Uniform, morning coat or lounge suit for men, or day dress with a hat for ladies. The stationery was made by Barnard & Westwood, which has held the Royal Warrant for printing and bookbinding since 1985.
UNITED STATES
Tillerson laments Washington
Fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is lamenting the “mean-spirited” nature of Washington, as he bids good-bye to the US diplomatic corps. In a brief final farewell address to Department of State employees on Thursday, Tillerson urged them to protect their personal integrity and to strive to respect one another. “This can be a very mean-spirited town,” he said to laughter from a crowd of several hundred people gathered in the main lobby of the building. “But you don’t have to choose to participate in that.” Tillerson had been the subject of months of negative reports and speculation before President Donald Trump abruptly fired him last week.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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