UNITED STATES
Jail wanted for billionaire
The government on Friday asked a judge to sentence Macanese billionaire Ng Lap Seng (吳立勝) to more than six years in prison, after his conviction in July last year for bribing two UN ambassadors to help him build a multibillion-dollar conference center. Prosecutors made their request in a filing with the District Court in Manhattan, and are also seeking a US$2 million fine. The request came four weeks after Ng’s lawyers urged that their 69-year-old client be sentenced to time served, and allowed to return to his family in China. Lawyers for Ng did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MEXICO
Migrants rescued from truck
More than 100 Central American migrants, including dozens of minors, were found crowded inside a sweltering truck without food or water en route to the US, authorities said on Friday. The 136 migrants, from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, were rescued in the state of Veracruz after 24 hours in temperatures above 38°C, migration institute INM said. The migrants were discovered by federal police and migration agents who heard cries for help from within the truck, which had been abandoned near a freeway. Authorities said they counted 49 minors among the group, 13 of whom were traveling alone and are to receive aid to apply for refugee status in the country.
MEXICO
Presidential race begins
Two of the four candidates for the presidency have launched their campaigns before hundreds of cheering supporters. Ricardo Anaya, candidate of a right-left coalition, appealed to the youth vote with a 12-hour hackathon to develop proposals to effect change. Margarita Zavala, the former first lady who left Anaya’s conservative National Action Party to embark on an independent run, tried to distinguish herself as the only candidate free from corruption. Both set their sights squarely on front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, depicting him as a candidate with an antiquated vision who is soft on crime. Lopez Obrador and Jose Antonio Meade, the ruling party candidate, are scheduled to officially launch their campaigns today. The presidential election is to be held on July 1.
UNITED STATES
Zoo welcomes orangutan
The Denver Zoo is welcoming a baby Sumatran orangutan who is named after an Indonesian word that means “bright” and is often used to refer to sunshine. The female primate named Cerah was born on Sunday last week to parents Nias and Berani, and the family is bonding away from public view. Cerah is to make her debut within the next two weeks in the Great Apes exhibit in Primate Panorama. She was conceived within a month of 29-year-old Nias and 25-year-old Berani getting set up in July last year.
UNITED STATES
Missing teens found dead
Two bodies found in an abandoned Utah mine are those of a teenage couple who disappeared nearly three months ago, authorities confirmed on Friday. Riley Powell, 18, and Brelynne Otteson, 17, were stabbed to death and dumped in the mine in late December last year after visiting a woman whose boyfriend had warned her not to have male visitors, Utah County sheriff officials said. The bodies found on Wednesday were believed to be the missing couple, but the determination from state medical examiners made the identification official.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS