BRAZIL
Indigenous leader targeted
The indigenous affairs agency has called on a top indigenous leader to explain her criticism of the government of President Jair Bolsonaro and the impact its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has had on native people. Federal police have subpoenaed Sonia Guajajara, head of Brazil’s largest indigenous umbrella organization, to explain her documentary series on the Internet titled Maraca — Indigenous Emergency, which denounces the lethal impact of the pandemic on Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people and accuses the government of genocide for not protecting them. “The persecution by this government is unacceptable and absurd,” Guajajara wrote on Twitter on Friday last week.
MEXICO
Extradition approved
A judge has approved the extradition to the US of a fugitive drug trafficker who is accused of killing a US federal agent, judicial sources said on Monday. The ruling rejected an appeal from lawyers for Rafael Caro Quintero, who is on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” list with a US$20 million bounty on his head over the murder of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent. His lawyers argued that the crime had already been adjudicated in a Mexican court so he could not be tried for the same act in the US, but the court ruled that even in a “hypothetical scenario” in which Caro Quintero had been tried for certain crimes in Mexico, “it does not prevent him from eventually being extradited by those who are outside that court proceeding,” an official document said. The US accuses him of ordering the kidnap, torture and murder of special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.
NEW ZEALAND
Brierley gives up knighthood
A well-known businessman who was found with hundreds of child sex abuse images yesterday gave up his knighthood before it was stripped from him. Ron Brierley last month pleaded guilty to three charges in an Australian court, sparking a rarely invoked procedure to strip him of the honor he received more than 30 years ago. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her intention was to remove the title from Brierley if he had not written first to relinquish it. Ardern said that Queen Elizabeth II had been informed and that Brierley would no longer be able to use the honorific “sir.” “I think its a sad day for the children of New Zealand and, indeed, the world, when someone is found guilty of possessing such horrendous images,” Ardern told reporters. “It is only right that there are significant consequences for that because, as a country, we have to reject anyone that thinks that is okay.” Ardern said that Brierley had been found with more than 1,000 images portraying children being abused, which had completely rewritten his history. Brierley faces a maximum 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.
UNITED STATES
‘Conan’ to end on June 24
Conan O’Brien is to host his long-running nightly TBS Conan talk show for the final time on June 24, WarnerMedia said on Monday, ahead of his shift to a new show on HBO Max. The final weeks of the TBS show are to feature a lineup of special guests, culminating in an extended hour-long finale recapping his 11-year run. WarnerMedia said O’Brien’s HBO Max show would move away from a traditional talk show format. Known for his clever comedy, often self-deprecating and awkward, O’Brien is the nation’s longest-serving nightly talk show host, having started his career on NBC in 1993.
‘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
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
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