UNITED KINGDOM
Salmond trial to start
Former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond was to go on trial yesterday accused of sexual offenses, including an attempted rape at his official residence in 2014. The 65-year-old is facing two counts of indecent assault, 10 of sexual assault, an attempted rape and a sexual assault with intent to rape, according to the indictment. The case, before a 15-member jury and judge Leeona Dorrian, is being heard at the High Court in Edinburgh and has been scheduled to last four weeks. Salmond told reporters outside the court when he was charged in January 2019: “I am innocent of any criminality whatsoever. I refute absolutely these allegations of criminality and I will defend myself to the utmost in court.”
UNITED STATES
Veteran sees commissioning
A 96-year-old war hero looked on as military officials commissioned a Navy warship in honor of the veteran, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the Battle of Iwo Jima. The USS Hershel “Woody” Williams was commissioned on Saturday in Norfolk, Virginia. With its commissioning, the vessel’s designation changed from a support ship to a warship, and command transferred from the Military Sealift Command to Naval Surface Force Atlantic. Williams described the commissioning as “a moment in history that is beyond my comprehension.” He said: “May all those who serve aboard this ship that bears my name be safe and proud. May she have God’s blessings for a long life of service to America, the greatest country on Earth.”
UNITED STATES
Statue rules approved
Some of Virginia’s scores of Confederate monuments could soon be removed under legislation state lawmakers approved on Sunday. The state House and Senate passed measures that would undo an existing law that protects the monuments and instead lets local governments decide their fate. The legislation now heads to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who has said he supports giving localities — several of which have already declared their intent to remove statues — control over the issue. One of the bill’s sponsors, Virginia Delegate Delores McQuinn, said that many places would likely opt to keep the monuments. “I think more of them are going to be interested in contextualizing ... making sure that there is a sense of truth told and shared with the public,” she said.
UNITED STATES
Dog’s long wait ends
A dog who waited more than five-and-a-half years in a Kansas City, Missouri, shelter for adoption has found a permanent home after a benefactor paid US$3,000 for his photograph to appear on a giant billboard. Merrick, a six-year-old mixed breed, sat for dozens of photoshoots and videos in a prolonged, but unsuccessful social media campaign to find him a home during more than 2,000 days of confinement at the Humane Society shelter. Nobody came for him until his new owner, Jordan Nussbaum, saw the photograph on a billboard in the city and persuaded his girlfriend that Merrick was the dog they wanted. “It breaks my heart that he sat there, but I think it was destined that he waited that long,” Nussbaum told Kansas City TV station KMBC. “It was love at first sight. What they wanted was someone without kids who had a lot of energy to keep up with him because he’s a huge dog, but he’s still a puppy.” The billboard was paid for by Scott Poore, owner of Mission Driven, a clothing company that gives financial support to shelters for homeless pets.
SUDAN
Assassination bid fails
Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok has survived an assassination attempt targeting his convoy in the capital, Khartoum, state television and a Cabinet source said yesterday. Hamdok has been moved to a safe location, they said. Images broadcast on regional TV channels and social media showed a convoy of several damaged white SUVs and a badly damaged car. Three witnesses told Reuters that the attack happened near the northern entrance to Kober Bridge, which connects Khartoum North with the city center, where Hamdok’s office is. The convoy appeared to have been targeted from above, they said.
PHILIPPINES
Locsin locked out of Twitter
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin’s Twitter account has reportedly been locked, limiting his access to the social media platform, according to the activist group Bayan, whose members he said last week should be shot. Locsin, known for his controversial tweets, last week reacted to an article in which Bayan questioned why the Balikatan military exercises would still be held in May despite the cancelation of the military pact with the US.
SOUTH KOREA
Disgraced K-pop star enlists
Former K-pop star Seungri yesterday enlisted in the army, meaning a military court would hear his trial on charges stemming from a sex and drug scandal last year. The 29-year-old BIGBANG singer, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, has been indicted on accusations including arranging prostitution, embezzlement and illicit gambling. Wearing a black hooded shirt and matching mask, Seungri arrived at a military boot camp in Cheorwon, north of Seoul. Seungri — whose military service was postponed last year because of ongoing police inquiries — bowed to reporters, but did not answer questions before checking in, Yonhap news agency reported.
ISRAEL
PM seeks trial delay
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer yesterday asked for a 45-day delay in his corruption trial that was due to open on Tuesday next week, saying prosecutors had not provided all information relevant to the case. The delay would allow the prosecution to transfer the material and give the defense time to review it and assess how much time it would need to prepare for any pretrial motions, Amit Hadad wrote in a letter to the Jerusalem District Court. Netanyahu has been indicted on various charges, including receiving improper gifts and offering a media mogul lucrative regulatory changes in exchange for positive coverage. He has denied the allegations.
JAPAN
Official sorry for mask sales
Shizuoka prefecture assembly member Hiroyuki Morota apologized yesterday after he made ¥8 million (US$86,000) auctioning masks online. Morota, the owner of an import firm, defended his decision in a televised press conference, but conceded that the move was ill-timed. He said he auctioned packages of masks, which he bought 10 years ago in China, dozens of times over a one-month period. “Those were inventory items that had been stored at my firm for years. It was not that I was earning unjust profits,” Morota said. “But as a member of the prefecture assembly, I feel I have a moral responsibility.” Morota said he would step down as the head of the firm, giving the top management post to his wife, but would keep his public office. He also said he was in talks with the local government about donating the proceeds from the sales.
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇) has done battle with some of the world’s worst threats, including the SARS virus he helped isolate and identify, and he has a warning. Another pandemic is inevitable and could exact damage far worse than COVID-19 pandemic, said the soft-spoken scientist sometimes thought of as Hong Kong’s answer to former US National Institutes of Health director Anthony Fauci. “Both the public and [world] leaders must admit that another pandemic will come, and probably sooner than you anticipate,” he said at the city’s Queen Mary Hospital, where he works and teaches. “Why I make such a horrifying prediction
A high-ranking North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba defected to South Korea in November last year — just months before Seoul and Havana established diplomatic ties, the South Korean National Intelligence Service said yesterday. North Korean diplomat Ri Il-kyu had been responsible for political affairs at Pyongyang’s embassy in Cuba since 2019, tasked specifically “with obstructing the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba,” South Korea’s Chosun Daily reported. Ri defected to South Korea with his wife and children in early November, making him the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat known to have defected since then-North Korean deputy ambassador to the
INDICTED: US prosecutors said Sue Mi Terry accepted fancy handbags, luxury dinners and thousands of dollars in payments from South Korean intelligence A former CIA employee and senior official at the US National Security Council has been charged with allegedly serving as a secret agent for the South Korean National Intelligence Service, the US Department of Justice said. Sue Mi Terry accepted luxury goods, including fancy handbags, and expensive dinners at sushi restaurants in exchange for advocating South Korean government positions during media appearances, sharing nonpublic information with intelligence officers and facilitating access for South Korean officials to US government officials, an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan, New York, says. She also admitted to the FBI that she served as a source