MEXICO
Trash towers over Acapulco
Authorities in the south of the country have declared a health emergency due to mountainous piles of uncollected trash piling up in the once-glittering resort of Acapulco. The secretary of health for the state of Guerrero, Carlos de la Pena, on Thursday said that the city government had not acted on previous warnings about the garbage building up. There are “impressive columns of garbage” at several points in Acapulco, but most are not close to the city’s beachfront, he said. Acapulco’s mayor posted videos accusing the state government of not providing more money to solve the problem, but state officials said they give the city more than US$10 million per month. The smell has been so bad that the authorities have begun spraying pesticides and spreading quicklime on the trash piles.
UNITED STATES
Trump staffer blocks journo
A volunteer member of the advance team for President Donald Trump blocked a photojournalist’s camera as he tried to take a photo of a protester during a campaign rally in Indiana. A photo taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci in Evansville on Thursday shows the volunteer stretching out his hand over the lens of a news photographer’s camera after a protester disrupted Trump’s campaign event. Trump paced on stage at the Ford Center as the protester was led out. His campaign had not responded to a request for comment by late Thursday. The president was in town to stump for Republican Senate candidate Mike Braun, who is looking to unseat Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly in what is viewed as one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races.
UNITED STATES
Thieves target rare insects
Philadelphia police said that current or former employees at an insectarium have stolen more than US$40,000 worth of rare insects and reptiles. The suspects stole about 90 percent of the animals at the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion on Aug. 22 and possibly other days, authorities said. Staff uniforms were found stabbed into a wall with knives, police said. Police are searching three suspects’ homes for the animals, but no arrests have been made. They say some of the insects, including a Mexican fireleg tarantula, have been returned. Insectarium chief executive officer John Cambridge said he believes the animals were stolen to be resold.
UNITED STATES
Reporters receive icy treat
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland on Thursday surprised the two dozen journalists covering the trade talks between the US and Canada with a cool treat. On one of her many trips into the office of Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Freeland stopped in front of microphones, cameras and recorders, to make a brief statement on the status of the negotiations and then delivered a paper bag full of popsicles. Sweaty but grateful reporters, some of whom have been camped outside the office every day for two weeks, descended on the lime and raspberry-lemon-strawberry treats. It was nearly 32°C in the US capital, with high humidity, not a cloud in the sky and nowhere nearby to hide from the sun. Freeland, a former Reuters journalist, said she remembered how hard it was to wait for the news. She regularly stops to talk to reporters to update them on the status of the talks. US officials have not addressed the press at all.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
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