UNITED STATES
VP slams Florida ‘extremists’
Vice President Kamala Harris said extremists want to “replace history with lies” as she traveled to Florida on Friday to assail Republican efforts to overhaul educational standards. Her trip came two days after the Florida Board of Education approved a revised black history curriculum to satisfy legislation signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The board’s guidelines cover “benchmark clarifications,” including one for middle school students that states “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Harris said that “adults know what slavery really involved. It involved rape. It involved torture. It involved taking a baby from their mother. It involved some of the worst examples of ... depriving people of humanity in our world. How is it that anyone could suggest that, in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?”
CANADA
Officer accused of PRC work
Authorities have arrested a retired police officer on charges of foreign interference on behalf of China, officials said on Friday. William Majcher, 60, is accused of using “his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China [PRC],” the federal police said in a statement. Majcher, a resident of Hong Kong, has been under investigation since 2021, and authorities said he “contributed to the Chinese government’s efforts to identify and intimidate an individual outside the scope of Canadian law.” Majcher is facing charges of committing “preparatory acts for the benefit of a foreign entity,” as well as conspiracy.
UNITED STATES
‘Help me’ sign saves girl
A 13-year-old girl kidnapped in Texas and sexually assaulted was rescued in Southern California when passersby saw her hold up a “help me” sign in a parked car, police and federal authorities said. The rescue occurred July 9 in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, when officers responded to a trouble call and found the “visibly emotional and distressed girl,” police said in a news release on Thursday. “Through their investigation, officers learned the Good Samaritans were in a parking lot when they saw the victim in a parked vehicle holding up a piece of paper with ‘help me’ written on it. They acknowledged the note and immediately called 911,” police said. Steven Robert Sablan, 61, of Cleburne, Texas, was arrested and was on Thursday indicted by a federal grand jury, the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles said.
UNITED STATES
Tony Bennett dies aged 96
Tony Bennett, the last in a generation of classic US crooners whose ceaselessly cheery spirit bridged generations to make him a hitmaker across seven decades, died in New York on Friday. He was 96. Raised in an era when big bands defined US pop music, Bennett achieved an improbable second act when he started winning over young audiences in the 1990s — not by reinventing himself, but by demonstrating his sheer joy in belting out the standards. At age 88, Bennett in 2014 became the oldest person ever to reach No. 1 on the US album chart through a collection of duets with Lady Gaga, who became his friend and touring companion. Bennett, who revealed in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, died in his hometown, his publicist Sylvia Weiner announced, without revealing a cause.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
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