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.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
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