UNITED STATES
Cindy McCain joins Biden
Cindy McCain, the widow of former senator John McCain, is to advise former vice president Joe Biden’s transition team if he wins the presidential election next month, the team said on Monday. Cindy McCain, whose husband was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, last week endorsed Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, and urged other conservative women to follow suit, saying: “Biden is by far the best candidate in the race.” As required by law, Biden’s transition team is preparing for a smooth transfer of power should Biden win the presidency. The teams typically line up candidates for key appointments and prepare policies to implement early in a new president’s administration. Biden’s team says it is focused especially on the pandemic and its economic fallout.
UNITED STATES
Parscale accused by wife
Candice Parscale — the wife of Brad Parscale, a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump — accused her husband of beating her, police said on Monday after he was detained outside his Florida home. Brad Parscale allegedly hit his wife, loaded a pistol and threatened to commit suicide during an argument on Sunday, police said in a report about the incident in Fort Lauderdale, 50km north of Miami. In a police bodycam video, Candice Parscale is seen outside the house in a bikini and towel telling police he was “acting crazy” and had loaded a handgun. “I saw him open the blinds in the front yard and he closed them and I heard what I thought was a gunshot,” she said. The footage showed Brad Parscale later emerging from the house, shirtless and holding a beer can. He was tackled by armed police, knocked to the ground and restrained in handcuffs as he repeatedly said “I didn’t do anything.”
UNITED STATES
Settlement reached in killing
A Maryland county has agreed to a US$20 million settlement with the family of a man who was handcuffed in a patrol car when a police officer shot and killed him, a county official said on Monday. The Prince George’s County police officer who killed William Green in January was arrested on charges including second-degree murder and has a trial scheduled for next year. Michael Owen Jr, who was a 10-year veteran of the police department, has been jailed since his arrest. Green of Washington was handcuffed when Owen shot him six times, Prince George Executive Angela Alsobrooks told a news conference.
UNITED STATES
Vets refuse to deport puppies
Veterinarians caring for 15 bulldog puppies rescued from a warehouse at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Monday refused to send the dogs back to the Middle East country from which they came. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week ordered the animals back to Jordan. However, the Chicago French Bulldog Rescue, which has been taking care of the animals since last month, refused, saying it is concerned that the dogs might be mistreated again. “Out of ongoing concern by Chicago French Bulldog Rescue for the health and welfare of the 15 puppies rescued from a warehouse at O’Hare International Airport, I have informed all relevant agencies of the government and Royal Jordanian Airlines earlier today that the rescue will not be turning over the 15 French bulldog puppies to anyone,” R. Tamara de Silva, an attorney representing the rescue group, said in a statement. Officials say the dogs were shipped to the US from Russia with forged papers.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
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