GERMANY
Drunk Trump hater arrested
A 26-year-old was detained in Berlin, twice, after throwing snowballs and other projectiles at the US consulate and scuffling with security personnel while yelling slogans against former US president Donald Trump, police said yesterday. The man, an Afghan citizen who lives in Berlin, and whose name was not given in line with German privacy laws, first appeared outside the consulate in the southwestern district of Dahlem yelling and throwing snowballs at about 3pm. When security officials told him to leave the area, he started throwing snowballs at them, too, police said. Authorities handcuffed the man, and allege that he then slammed his own head against a police vehicle, briefly knocking himself out. He was taken to a hospital before being released. Tests indicated he was mildly intoxicated, police said. At about 10:30pm, the man reappeared outside the consulate and threw two half-full beverage cans at police officers. They were again able to overpower him and, while he was being held, police allege that he again slammed his own head against a police vehicle. This time he was not injured, but damaged the vehicle, police said. Another breath test indicated his blood alcohol was about double what it had been previously.
UNITED STATES
Man accused of being agent
A Massachusetts-based political scientist and author has been accused of secretly working for the government of Iran while lobbying US officials on issues such has nuclear policy, US federal authorities said on Tuesday. Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi was arrested by FBI agents at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Monday, officials said. He has been charged in federal court in New York with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of Iran. Afrasiabi appeared before a Boston federal court judge via videoconference during a brief hearing and a detention hearing was scheduled for tomorrow. Authorities said Afrasiabi, an Iranian citizen and lawful permanent US resident, had been paid by Iranian diplomats assigned to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN in New York since at least 2007. At the same time, he made TV appearances, wrote articles and lobbied US officials to support the Iranian government’s agenda, officials said.
UNITED STATES
Court slams ‘Shining’ use
The New Jersey Supreme Court has overturned a man’s bank robbery conviction because of a prosecutor’s reference to a classic horror movie. During closing arguments in the case against Damon Williams, the prosecutor showed jurors a photograph from The Shining depicting a character played by Jack Nicholson moments after breaking through a door with an axe. The reference was meant to illustrate that actions can speak louder than words, and to support the prosecutor’s contention that Williams should be convicted of a more serious offense even though no threatening words were spoken to the bank teller in Camden County in 2014. The jury convicted Williams of second-degree robbery, which requires the use of force or the threat of force, rather than the less serious crime of third-degree theft. Williams is serving a 14-year term. A unanimous Supreme Court on Tuesday disagreed. “The use of a sensational and provocative image in service of such a comparison, even when purportedly metaphorical, heightens the risk of an improper prejudicial effect on the jury,” Justice Lee Solomon wrote. “Such a risk was borne out here.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese