THE NETHERLANDS
One killed in ship blaze
A fire on a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 vehicles was burning out of control yesterday in the North Sea, and the coast guard said that one crew member had died, others were hurt and it was working to save the vessel from sinking. Boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after they tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement. Coast guard spokeswoman Lea Versteeg said in a telephone interview that “we’re currently working out to see how we can make sure that ... the least bad situation is going to happen.”
CHINA
Ex-party boss sentenced
The government has jailed the former Chinese Communist Party secretary of Hangzhou, home to Ant Group and Alibaba, for life after finding that he took about US$25 million in bribes over his career. Zhou Jiangyong(周江勇), 55, was given a suspended death sentence on Tuesday on corruption charges, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. A court in Chuzhou said that Zhou helped people and firms secure rights to use land and contracts for projects. He was earlier linked to Ant, although prosecutors did not name the fintech company or Alibaba. Last year, he became the first cadre to be ousted from the party over corruption charges relating to the “disorderly expansion of capital.”
UKRAINE
Ex-US marine injured in war
A former US marine who spent more than two years in a Russian prison for assault on law enforcement in 2019 was injured fighting for Ukraine, the US Department of State confirmed on Tuesday. Trevor Reed, who was released by Moscow in a prisoner swap in April last year, has been sent to Germany for the treatment of unspecified injuries, state department spokesman Vedant Patel said. He added that Reed “was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the US government,” but had traveled to Ukraine to join the fight on his own.
ECUADOR
Death toll from riots rises
The attorney general on Tuesday raised the death toll from a wave of violence over the weekend in one of the country’s most dangerous jails to 31, after the government earlier declared a 60-day state of emergency for the country’s prisons. The emergency declaration seemed to set off violence in the city of Esmeraldas, where 15 prison guards and two other staffers were being held hostage at a local jail, the government said in a statement. In Esmeraldas itself, a police unit was attacked, explosives were placed at gas stations and several vehicles were burned.
UNITED STATES
Florida water hits 37.8°C
The water temperature on the tip of Florida hit hot tub levels, exceeding 37.8°C two days in a row, and meteorologists say that could potentially be the hottest seawater ever measured. Although weather records for seawater temperature are unofficial, the initial reading on a buoy at Manatee Bay was 38.4°C on Monday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist George Rizzuto said. On Sunday night the buoy showed a reading of 37.9°C. “This is a hot tub. I like my hot tub around 100[°F], 101[°F; 37.8°C, 38.3°C]. That’s what was recorded yesterday,” Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters said. Hot tub maker Jacuzzi recommends water between 37.8°C and 38.9°C.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘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
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