UNITED STATES
Death row inmate executed
The administration of President Donald Trump on Friday carried out its 13th federal execution since July last year, an unprecedented run that concluded just five days before the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden — an opponent of the federal death penalty. Dustin Higgs, convicted in the killings of three women in a Maryland wildlife refuge in 1996, was the third to receive a lethal injection this week at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Trump’s Department of Justice resumed federal executions last year following a 17-year hiatus. No president in more than 120 years had overseen as many federal executions. Higgs, 48, was pronounced dead at 1:23am.
BELGIUM
Owner sleeps inside cafe
A fed-up cafe owner is sleeping in her premises with little food, in protest of the months-long shutdown of her sector to curb the spread of COVID-19. “To remain like this, without working, losing everything — every day to see you’re losing a little bit more — it’s hard,” Christelle Carion told reporters as she sat on the edge of her bed, set up beside the bar. The 48-year-old has been holed up in the closed Amon Nos Autes cafe in the eastern village of Pepinster since Tuesday, to draw attention to the ordeal that she and other owners in the bar and restaurant sector are going through. They have been ordered shut since Oct. 19 last year to counter the second coronavirus wave sweeping Europe, after having been closed for three months for the first wave early last year.
GUATEMALA
Migrants cross border
At least 4,500 Honduran migrants on Friday night pushed past police and crossed into Guatemala, passing the first hurdle of a journey north they hope will take them to a better life in the US. The crowd of men, women and children — many wearing masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic — pushed their way past police and border gates dividing the two countries at the town of El Florido. A Guatemalan police official said the police force had let the migrants cross, as there were many families with children in the crowd and that using tear gas at night could have resulted in casualties.
AUSTRALIA
Pigeon spared from death
A pigeon due to be put down after apparently flying across the Pacific was spared the death sentence on Friday, after a leg tag identifying it as belonging to a US bird organization was declared a fake. The tag suggested it had lost its way during a race in Alabama and flown more than 13,000km to Melbourne — thereby falling foul of strict quarantine regulations forbidding the importation of live animals or birds.
AFGHANISTAN
Insider attack kills 12
Two Taliban fighters who had infiltrated a base of pro-government militiamen killed 12 of them, officials and the insurgent group said yesterday. The nighttime attack at a post manned by the militiamen occurred in Ghorian District of the western Herat Province late on Friday, district Governor Farhad Khademi told reporters. “Twelve pro-government militiamen were killed in the Taliban attack in Ghorian District last night,” he said. Herat provincial council member Mohammad Sardar Bahaduri confirmed the attack and said it was carried out by two Taliban fighters who had infiltrated the base. “The militiamen were dining when the attack happened,” he said.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
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