AUSTRALIA
Coast braces for cyclone
Authorities in Western Australia were yesterday urging residents of its Mid West coast to find safe shelter or leave as Cyclone Seroja barreled toward a coastal region that is usually too far south to fall in the path of cyclones. Residents in Western Australia’s Mid West and Gascoyne regions were being urged to finalize their emergency plans, as the cyclone is expected to intensify to a category 3 overnight, battering a region where buildings are not made to withstand cyclonic winds. “This is a very serious situation. The potential for widespread devastation is high,” state Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
RUSSIA
Kremlin warns of flareup
The Kremlin on Friday said it fears a resumption of full-scale fighting in eastern Ukraine and could take steps to protect Russian civilians there, a stark warning that comes amid a Russian troop buildup along the border. “The Kremlin has fears that a civil war could resume in Ukraine. And if a civil war, a full-scale military action, resumes near our borders, that would threaten the Russian Federation’s security,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
VENEZUELA
Cartel members detained
Security forces detained members of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel during clashes with armed groups near its western border with Colombia, a top military official said on Friday. The military on March 21 launched an offensive against what officials called irregular Colombian armed groups in the western state of Apure. About eight soldiers have died during the operations, which have caused about 5,000 people to flee across the border. “We even captured some individuals from the Sinaloa cartel,” the chief of the strategic operational command, Remigio Ceballos, said in a telephone call broadcast on state television.
UNITED STATES
Man jailed over poisoning
A man who poisoned eight homeless people in a Southern California beach town so he could videotape their reactions was sentenced on Friday to four years in prison. Prosecutors said that in May last year, William Cable, 38, of San Andreas, gave homeless people in Huntington Beach food laced with oleoresin capsicum, which officials described as being twice as strong as pepper spray used by police. Some victims were told they were participating in a “spicy food challenge” and others were not, authorities said. Some were given other food and beer to get them to eat the poisoned food. The victims had seizure-like symptoms, difficulty breathing and suffered vomiting, and intense mouth and stomach pain. “They were exploited and poisoned as part of a twisted form of entertainment, and their pain was recorded so that it could be relived by their attacker over and over again,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in June last year.
UNITED STATES
Dead whales wash ashore
Four dead gray whales have washed ashore San Francisco Bay Area beaches in the past nine days, with experts saying on Friday that one was struck by a ship. They were trying to determine how the other three died. “It’s alarming to respond to four dead gray whales in just over a week, because it really puts into perspective the current challenges faced by this species,” Marine Mammal Center director of pathology Padraig Duignan said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
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
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was