Around the world
Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 1, 2018
North Korea blacklist — The United Nations Security Council has announced new measures against North Korea, blacklisting 27 ships, 21 shipping companies and one individual accused of helping the North evade previous sanctions. The move increases pressure on the North ahead of planned summit meetings between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and the presidents of South Korea and the United States. The oil tankers and cargo ships on the list, announced Friday, were banned from ports worldwide or would have their assets frozen, and the shipping companies will face an asset freeze. Most of those named had also been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury last month.
Pippa Middleton’s father-in-law —David Matthews, a millionaire British hotel owner who is the father-in-law of Pippa Middleton, the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, is under formal investigation in France over allegations that he raped an underage girl in the 1990s, a French judicial official said. Matthews, 74, an owner of the luxury resort Eden Rock, faces potential charges of “rape on a minor by a person with authority over the victim” for events said to have taken place in 1998 and 1999 and for which a complaint was filed last year. A spokesman for Matthews said that he “categorically denies the allegation.”
‘Rebel queen’ statue — In Denmark, where almost all public statues represent white men, two artists on Saturday unveiled a statue portraying a 19th-century rebel queen who led a fiery revolt against Danish colonial rule in the Caribbean. It’s Denmark’s first public monument to a black woman. The sculpture was inspired by Mary Thomas, who with two other female leaders known as “Queens” unleashed an uprising in 1878 called the “Fireburn.” Fifty plantations and most of Frederiksted on St. Croix were torched. “This project is about challenging Denmark’s collective memory and changing it,” said Virgin Islands artist La Vaughn Belle, one of two principal forces behind the statue.
Tesla crash — Tesla’s semiautonomous driving system is coming under scrutiny after the company disclosed late Friday that a fatal crash on March 23 in California occurred while Autopilot was engaged. The company said the driver, Wei Huang, 38, had received several visual and audible warnings to put his hands back on the steering wheel but had failed to do so, even though his Model X had a modified version of the software. His hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds before the SUV slammed into a concrete divider, and neither Huang nor the Autopilot activated the brakes.
Massachusetts turns its focus to drug prices — Massachusetts, which led the nation in expanding health insurance coverage, now wants to rein in the growth of prescription drug spending for low-income people on Medicaid. The state has asked the Trump administration for permission to limit the number of drugs that will be covered in its Medicaid program, seeking to exclude “drugs with limited or inadequate evidence of clinical efficacy.” Consumer advocates and drug companies have mobilized a campaign against the state’s request for a Medicaid waiver, which could set a national precedent if it is approved.
Ingraham takes a week off — Fox News host Laura Ingraham announced Friday that she was taking a week off following the decision of several companies to pull advertising from her show after she ridiculed a student survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. “I’ll be off next week for Easter break with my kids,” Ingraham said on her show, “The Ingraham Angle.” In response to an email, Fox News said that Ingraham’s break was a “preplanned vacation with her kids.” Ingraham had shared an article about how David Hogg, 17, had been rejected from several colleges, and she accused him of whining about it.
Sacramento rally — The family of Stephon Clark joined hundreds of people at a rally urging California’s capital city not to let his memory or calls for police reform fade nearly two weeks after the 22-year-old unarmed black man was killed by Sacramento officers. Clark’s fiancee, Salena Manni, stood on stage with his two young sons, grandmother and uncle for the gathering Saturday organized by Sacramento native and former NBA player Matt Barnes, who pledged to create a scholarship fund for the children of black men killed by police. “All he wanted to do was go see his sons again, and unfortunately he can’t,” Curtis Gordon, Clark’s uncle, said as he recalled seeing his nephew hours before the shooting. “So remember that — while we mourn, while we shout, while we cry — because it ain’t just our pain, it’s their pain.”
Pope baptizes Nigerian migrant-hero — Pope Francis on Saturday urged Catholics to not remain paralyzed in the face of the injustices around them as he baptized eight adults, including a Nigerian beggar who became a hero in Italy for having disarmed a thief with his bare hands. In an Easter Vigil homily, Francis challenged Catholics to not remain silent, as Jesus’ disciples were after his crucifixion. Rather, he urged Catholics to “break out” of their routines and let God in.