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.
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
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
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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