Around the world
Published 12:00 am Sunday, November 18, 2018
Migrants get cool reception — Many of the nearly 3,000 Central American migrants who have reached the Mexican border with California via caravan said Saturday they do not feel welcome in the city of Tijuana, where hundreds more migrants are headed after more than a month on the road. The vast majority were camped at an outdoor sports complex, sleeping on a dirt baseball field and under bleachers with a view of the steel walls topped by barbed wire at the newly reinforced U.S.-Mexico border. The city opened the complex after other shelters were filled to capacity. Church groups provided portable showers, bathrooms and sinks. The federal government estimates the migrant crowd in Tijuana could soon swell to 10,000. Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has called the migrants’ arrival an “avalanche” that the city is ill-prepared to handle, calculating that they will be in Tijuana for at least six months as they wait to file asylum claims. U.S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.
World War II plane crashes in Texas apartments — The Federal Aviation Administration says a vintage World War II fighter plane with two people aboard has crashed into the parking lot of an apartment complex in Fredericksburg, Texas. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the aircraft was destroyed and several automobiles damaged. He did not say what happened to the two people on board. The World War II P-51D Mustang fighter crashed about 3:15 p.m. Saturday. The Mustang was first built by North American Aviation in 1940 and was used by the U.S. military in World War II and the Korean War.
Utah mayor ‘loved Afghan people’ — A Utah mayor killed while serving in the National Guard in Afghanistan had “loved the Afghan people” and was a man of conviction, confidence and compassion, family and military leaders said at a public funeral Saturday. Brent Taylor, 39, was a deeply patriotic man who was committed to training commandos as part of an effort to build the capacity of the Afghan national army, Utah Army National Guard Maj. Gen. Jefferson Burton said at the service inside an events center in the northern Utah city of Ogden. Taylor was killed Nov. 3 in an attack by one of the Afghan commandos he was training, military officials said. “He was completely committed to going and doing this job,” Burton said. “He truly loved the Afghan people and wanted to help them so they could build capacity in themselves and as a nation to be able to stand on their own.”
Chinese city implements harsh rules on dogs — A city in China is cracking down on pet dogs, banning dog walking during the day and prohibiting many larger breeds, after a publicized fight between a dog owner and a bystander. The new rules in Hangzhou, in eastern China, were adopted after a dog owner was seen on video pushing and shoving a woman who had kicked his dog. Footage from before the fight shows a young boy hiding behind her as the dog circled them without a leash. In addition to a dog-walking ban, officials vowed to confiscate or kill dogs that were not properly licensed, fining negligent owners.
Pence and China’s leader defend trade policies — President Xi Jinping of China and Vice President Mike Pence pushed back against criticism of each of their countries’ trade practices in speeches Saturday at an Asia-Pacific trade summit in Papua New Guinea, while seeking to assure allies of their commitment to the region. Xi and Pence spoke before what is likely to be a tense meeting between President Donald Trump and the Chinese leader at the Group of 20 conference in Argentina this month. Xi told President Moon Jae-in of South Korea that he was considering visiting the North after its leader, Kim Jong Un, extended an invitation.
French protest gas taxes — More than a quarter-million people across France joined protests on Saturday against planned hikes in gas taxes. Drivers blocked roundabouts, highway access roads and intersections. The demonstrations have harnessed a broader discontent with high taxes and, for some, the policies of President Emmanuel Macron.