UNITED STATES
Georgia votes in runoff
Georgia voters yesterday were choosing the short-term replacement for late civil rights leader and US representative John Lewis, who died in July at the age of 80. Former Atlanta City councilor Kwanza Hall and former Morehouse College president Robert Franklin are contesting a runoff election. The winner of the two Democrats is to fill the seat until Jan. 3 after Georgia Democratic Party chairwoman Nikema Williams last month easily defeated Republican Angela Stanton King for a full two-year-term starting next month.
UNITED KINGDOM
SNP eyes independence
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday said that she would seek a second referendum on independence if her Scottish National Party (SNP) wins elections in May. Sturgeon said that she would use the vote for the parliament in Edinburgh to make the case for a breakaway. “Next May we will ask you, the people of Scotland, to put your trust in us to continue that task of building a better country,” she told the SNP’s virtual annual conference. Scotland chose to remain part of the kingdom in a 2014 referendum and the British government in London has said it considers the issue closed for a generation.
EGYPT
Extradition request panned
Prosecutors on Monday criticized their Italian counterparts’ push to have five police and intelligence officers stand trial in Italy over the 2016 abduction, torture and killing of an Italian researcher in Cairo. Giulio Regeni, 28, disappeared for several days in January 2016 before his body was found on a desert highway north of the capital. Since late 2018, Italian prosecutors have called for Cairo to hand over the five intelligence and police officers. The Egyptian statement said the request was “baseless” and that Regeni’s killer remains unknown. Prosecutors said they would temporarily close their investigation into the death — possibly to prevent any further moves by Italy.
GERMANY
Missing phallus probed
Police in Kempten have opened an investigation into the disappearance of a large wooden sculpture of a phallus from a mountainside where it appeared without explanation several years ago. The Allgaeuer Zeitung on Monday reported that the 2m sculpture appeared to have been chopped down over the weekend, with just a sorry pile of sawdust left behind on Gruenten mountain. The sculpture had gained celebrity status as a destination for hikers and even appeared on Google Maps, where it was classified as a “cultural monument.” Local lore has it that it was made as a prank birthday present for a young man whose family did not appreciate the gift and so the 200kg sculpture was hauled up the mountain and left.
UNITED STATES
Missing sailor rescued
A missing sailor has been found clinging to his upturned boat, having survived a night at sea before being rescued off the Florida coast by a passing container ship. Stuart Bee, 62, left Port Canaveral on Friday last week aboard the Sea Ray. He did not return and was reported missing on Saturday. A rescue mission was launched, but it did not turn up any sign of the vessel. However, the Angeles had spotted the upturned Sea Ray, complete with Bee holding tightly to its prow. Bee said that his vessel developed mechanical issues before he was woken on Saturday night by a sudden rush of water into the cabin. He managed to get a hold to the boat until he was rescued.
HONG KONG
Report boat parties: Lam
The government has set up a hotline for residents to report parties aboard yachts and rented party boats, as it tightens social-distancing rules to contain a surge of COVID-19 cases. “The reporting hotline newly set up is there because we see that, after party rooms and karaoke parlors have been made to close, there are a number of people who organize events at sea,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) told a weekly news briefing yesterday. “We want to target such a breach.”
JAPAN
Foreigner job rules relaxed
The government is loosening regulations on part-time work for foreigners stuck in the country due to COVID-19 and having trouble supporting themselves, the government said yesterday. The measures, which took effect yesterday, are temporary. They would allow people with 90-day short-stay permits to renew their permits and receive permission to work up to 28 hours a week, while technical trainees would be able to change their visas to a “specified activity” work permit for six months, the Ministry of Justice said on its Web site.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘No vaccine passport plan’
Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove said that the government is not planning a system of vaccine passports that would prevent those who had not had a COVID-19 vaccination from going to the pub or attending events. “I certainly am not planning to introduce any vaccine passports and I don’t know anyone else in government [who is],” Gove told Sky News yesterday. Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for COVID Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zadhawi on Monday said he expected people who refused the vaccine could be refused entry to restaurants, bars, cinemas and sports venues.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of