ARGENTINA
VP convicted for fraud
Vice President Cristina Fernandez was on Tuesday convicted and sentenced to six years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding public office for a fraud scheme that embezzled US$1 billion through public works projects during her presidency. A three-judge panel found the Peronist leader guilty of fraud, but rejected a charge of running a criminal organization, for which the sentence could have been 12 years in prison. It was the first time a vice president has been convicted of a crime while in office. Fernandez lashed out at the verdict, describing herself as the victim of a “judicial mafia.”
DOMINICA
PM likely to stay on
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was expected to remain leader of the eastern Caribbean island after snap general elections on Tuesday that the main opposition party and its supporters boycotted. Twenty-one of 32 seats in the House of Assembly were up for grabs, with several automatically going to Skerrit’s Dominica Labor Party, as the opposition parties did not submit candidates. The remaining nine members are chosen by the assembly or president and two other positions are ex-officio, held by the speaker and attorney general.
HONDURAS
Police crackdown begins
Police on Tuesday moved en masse into poor urban areas to tackle criminal gangs “head on” after a decree by President Xiomara Castro to temporarily suspend certain rights. The 30-day lifting of constitutional guarantees that began on Tuesday allows police to make arrests without warrants in 89 districts of Tegucigalpa, the capital, and 73 districts of San Pedro Sula, the industrial capital. Castro last week declared the lifting of the constitutional rights due to what she called a “national emergency” over gang violence. “We are going to go head on against organized crime,” National Police Director Gustavo Sanchez said.
UNITED STATES
Khashoggi suit dismissed
A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the fiance of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi against Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, citing President Joe Biden’s grant of immunity. District Judge John Bates suggested he was reluctant to throw out the lawsuit, but had no choice given the Biden administration’s decision. “Despite the court’s uneasiness, then, with both the circumstances of bin Salman’s appointment and the credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, the United States has informed the court that he is immune,” Bates wrote in the 25-page ruling.
UNITED STATES
Killer robot plan on hold
A plan to equip San Francisco police with killer robots was sent back to the drawing board on Tuesday after city council members said they were having second thoughts. City supervisors last week said officers would be allowed to deploy robots capable of delivering lethal force to deal with dangerous felons and life-threatening situations. Police had welcomed the plan, saying that it would be an option of last resort for tackling violent suspects like mass shooters or suicide bombers, without risk to officers’ lives. However, at a meeting of the board of supervisors on Tuesday that had been set to rubber-stamp the plan, officials said they now had reservations.
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