UNITED STATES
Monopoly junks glass ceiling
In the latest update of the classic board game Monopoly unveiled on Tuesday, the trademark real-estate tycoon has been replaced by his socially minded niece: an advocate who invests in female entrepreneurs. In Ms Monopoly, players collect inventions made by women, such as Wi-Fi and solar heating. Female players start out with more money than male players and receive US$240 each time they pass “go,” more than the US$200 that goes to males. That is an inversion of real life, where women make only 81 percent of what men do, according to the Department of Labor.
PHILIPPINES
Felons let loose early
The early release of hundreds of convicted rapists, murderers and drug criminals has acutely embarrassed President Rodrigo Duterte, with Secretary of Justice Menardo Guevarra saying they were ineligible to be freed because of the severity of their crimes. About 1,700 felons serving life sentences have quietly walked free under a good behavior program in the three years since Duterte swept to power, promising to wage a national war on corruption, drugs and crime. Among those freed are 745 convicted rapists, 748 murderers and 156 drug criminals, according to an internal prisons document that names all of the prisoners guilty of crimes categorized as “heinous.”
FRANCE
New giant pterosaur found
Scientists on Tuesday unveiled a new species of pterosaur, the plane-sized reptiles that lorded over primeval skies above Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops and other dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous Period. With a wingspan of 10m and weighing 250kg, Cryodrakon boreas rivals another pterosaur as the largest flying animal of all time, researchers reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The remains of C. boreas were first discovered more than 30 years ago in Alberta, Canada, yet elicited scant excitement because of a misclassification.
UNITED STATES
Derailment causes fire
A freight train believed to be bearing a flammable liquid used in solvents on Tuesday derailed near St Louis, Illinois, causing a fire that sent thick, black smoke into the air and prompted the evacuation of nearby schools and residences. Union Pacific said in a news release that the train derailed at its yard at about 12:45pm in the town of Dupo. The tank car that first caught fire contained a flammable liquid used as a solvent, it said. Railroad spokeswoman Kristen South said the smoke from the fire does not pose a significant health hazard. Video showed more than 10 train cars derailed and flames shooting from the wreckage.
UNITED STATES
LGBT+ credit union to open
A unique US credit union opening next year is to give priority to the needs of LGBT+ customers amid controversy over a national effort to ensure that financial institutions do not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Superbia Credit Union of Michigan would provide loans and other financial services that LGBT+ clients might not otherwise obtain, its founder said. Research published by Iowa State University earlier this year found that same-sex couples were 73 percent more likely to be turned down for a mortgage than were same-sex couples. “Our families, lives and financial journeys are vast and unique,” the Superbia Web site said.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
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