CHINA
Xi to visit Vietnam
President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit neighboring Vietnam next week to push for deeper ties between the socialist neighbors, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. Xi’s state visit is to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said in a statement. The Chinese president was invited by Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Vo Van Thuong, she added. Vietnam, which fought a war with China from 1979 to 1988, is wary of its northern neighbor, and is one of a handful of countries with claims on the many islets and outcrops that dot the South China Sea.
UNITED STATES
Senator’s son kills officer
The 42-year-old son of US Senator Kevin Cramer was being chased by police when he crashed into a North Dakota sheriff’s vehicle, killing a sheriff’s deputy who was outside of the vehicle and laying down road spikes, authorities and the senator’s family said. Ian Cramer, of Bismarck, was driven by his mother to a hospital at about 4:30pm on Wednesday over concerns about his mental health, Bismarck police said. When she got out of the family SUV, Ian Cramer took the wheel and drove through a door to get out of the enclosed ambulance bay at the hospital’s emergency department. More than an hour later, a deputy in neighboring Mercer County spotted Cramer. The North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a news release that a chase began and the SUV crashed into a Mercer County sheriff’s vehicle that was parked along a state highway. A deputy was standing behind the parked vehicle and preparing to deploy a tire deflation device to end the chase. The impact of the crash pushed the parked vehicle into the deputy, killing him. Ian Cramer was evaluated at a hospital and then jailed.
UNITED STATES
Musk slams Disney CEO
X CEO Elon Musk lashed out publicly for a second time at Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Iger, escalating criticism over the entertainment company’s decision to join an advertising boycott of his social media platform. “Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company,” Musk said on X, the social media service that he owns. Musk also said Iger “should be fired immediately.” The comments come after Disney, along with other companies, paused their ad spending on X, formerly Twitter, following Musk’s endorsement of anti-Semitic remarks on the site. Disney was one of the largest advertisers on X.
FRANCE
Two held for bedbug scam
French police on Thursday said they had arrested two men for fraud after they sold bedbug pest control services to elderly people who did not need them, charging them hefty sums for the service. The two men telephoned people, usually women older than 90, telling them there had been a bedbug infestation in their neighborhood. They gained access to their targets’ homes passing themselves off as health officials. They then pretended to inoculate the space against bedbugs with an aerosol. They also provided an ointment they said would keep the bugs away from human skin, which was in fact a simple eucalyptus-scented cream. Accepting only credit card payments, they charged 300 to 2,100 euros (US$324 to US$2,265) per visit. Once alerted, police identified the suspects, put them on surveillance and arrested them as they were leaving the home of their latest victim in Strasbourg, eastern France.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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