INDIA
Heat deaths draw warnings
At least 34 people have died in the past two days as a large swath of the northern state Uttar Pradesh swelters under severe heat, officials said yesterday, prompting doctors to advise people older than 60 to stay indoors during the daytime. The dead were all older than 60 and had pre-existing health conditions that might have been exacerbated by the intense heat. The fatalities occurred in Ballia District. Twenty-three deaths were reported on Thursday and 11 died on Friday, Ballia Chief Medical Officer Jayant Kumar said. Ballia reported a maximum temperature of 42.2°C on Friday, which is 4.7°C above normal, India Meteorological Department data showed.
UGANDA
US imposes curbs over law
Washington on Friday said it is imposing visa restrictions for Ugandans accused of “undermining the democratic process” after the enactment of an anti-gay law. A statement from the US Department of State did not name any targeted individuals, but said the US would consider other possible actions “to promote accountability for Ugandan officials and other individuals responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Uganda, abusing human rights, including those of LGBTQI+ persons, or engaging in corrupt practices.” The law adopted last month punishes homosexuality, including with the death penalty in some cases.
UNITED STATES
Trucker guilty of massacre
A truck driver was convicted on Friday of massacring 11 Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, five years ago in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history. Robert Bowers methodically tracked down his victims at the Tree of Life synagogue, shooting many multiple times from close range as he yelled: “All Jews must die.” The 50-year-old was found guilty of all 63 charges leveled against him, the federal prosecutor’s office said, including hate crimes resulting in murder and attempted murder. A jury is to decide whether Bowers should be executed for the Oct. 27, 2018, mass shooting.
ECUADOR
Pigs confiscated from prison
Security forces have confiscated pigs, fighting cocks and more than two dozen bladed weapons, among other items, from a high-security wing of Bellavista Prison in Santo Domingo, the military said on Friday. Police and operatives of the national prison authority were shown wheeling out two pigs from the prison in images shared by the military in a message posted on Twitter. The authorities also removed 12 fighting cocks, 26 bladed weapons, 16 electrical items and other objects, they said, without saying how the animals ended up there.
UNITED STATES
Biden royally baffles crowd
President Joe Biden on Friday left Americans scratching their heads with an off-the-cuff remark that was, well, royally unusual for a US president: “God save the queen, man.” What he meant, which queen he was referring to, and why he threw in what sounded like the traditional patriotic British cry, no one could immediately tell. Queen Elizabeth II, whom Biden met, died in September last year and was replaced by a king — her son Charles. Biden had just completed an impassioned speech at the National Safer Communities Summit in Connecticut on toughening gun ownership laws when he made the remark from the stage. Later, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters that Biden had been “commenting to someone in the crowd.”
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
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