CHINA
Mudslide kills 12
At least 12 people were killed after a mudslide yesterday hit a homestay house in a tourist area in the southeast as heavy rains from what remained of a tropical storm drenched the region, state media said. Elsewhere, a delivery person on a scooter was on Saturday killed after being hit by a falling tree in Shanghai, apparently because of storm-related winds, the online news outlet The Paper reported. The deaths were the first in China that appear linked to Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall on Thursday. The mudslide struck the homestay house at about 8am and trapped 21 people in Yuelin in Hunan Province, China Central Television reported online. About 30cm of rain was recorded in the area over a 24-hour period.
IRAN
Ayatollah endorses president
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday gave his official endorsement of reformist Masoud Pezeshkian as the Islamic republic’s ninth president, following snap elections that had concluded earlier this month. “I endorse the vote [for] the wise, honest, popular and scholarly Mr Pezeshkian, and I am appointing him as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a message from the leader read by the director of Khamenei’s office said. The new president is due to be sworn in before parliament tomorrow.
UNITED STATES
Park Fire continues to grow
A fire raging out of control in northern California has rapidly become among the biggest ever in the western state, authorities said on Saturday. The Park Fire burned more than 142,000 hectares as of Saturday evening, making it the seventh-largest ever recorded in the state’s history, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said. The fire, which prompted orders for more than 4,000 people to flee their homes, was burning through a largely rural, mountainous area near the city of Chico. “Extreme fire conditions continue to challenge firefighters,” Cal Fire wrote on X. The fire was just 10 percent controlled, despite the efforts of more than 3,700 personnel with more than a dozen helicopters and several planes, the agency said.
UNITED STATES
Trump courts crypto vote
Former president Donald Trump, once a cryptocurrency skeptic, on Saturday vowed to be a “pro-bitcoin president” if elected in November, as the Republican nominee sought backing from an industry irked by US regulations. “The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong, and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said to cheers at a conference in Tennessee, referring to US President Joe Biden and Vice President and likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The ex-president likened cryptocurrencies to the growth of the “steel industry of 100 years ago,” and said that if president, he would not allow the US government to sell its bitcoin holdings, saying it would be a strategic stockpile. Meanwhile, on Friday, Trump told a crowd in West Palm Beach, Florida, that if Christians vote for him, “in four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.” It was not clear what he meant by his remarks, in a campaign where his opponents have accused him of being a threat to democracy, and after his attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden that led to the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
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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