8 NEWS The world at a glance
THE WEEK 9 April 2022
Sacramento, California
Mass killing: Six people were killed and 12 injured last weekend
when at least two shooters opened fire on a busy street in
Sacramento. Clips posted on social media appeared to show a
fight breaking out on a street lined with bars and restaurants just
before the shooting started at 2am on Sunday. The gunfire lasted
at least 45 seconds; police said they had recovered more than 100
shell casings. The dead – three women and three men – ranged in
age from 21 to 57. One suspect, a 26-year-old man, has been
arrested. California has relatively strict guns laws, but this was the
second mass shooting in six weeks: in February, a man killed
himself after killing his three daughters and a fourth male victim.
He’d been banned from owning a weapon but had assembled a
so-called “ghost gun” from parts ordered online.
New York
No retrial: The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been
denied her request for a retrial. Her lawyers had asked for one
after it emerged that one of the jurors in her original trial, where
she was convicted of sex trafficking, had failed to disclose, during
the jury selection process, that he had been the victim of sexual
abuse. They said it cast doubt on his impartiality. But this week,
Judge Alison Nathan said she believed that the juror, Scotty David,
had made an honest mistake (he’d testified that he’d “skimmed
way too fast” through a juror questionnaire), and that there was
no reason to believe that he was biased against the defendant.
The ruling deprives Maxwell, 60, of what may have been her best
hope of overturning her conviction on multiple charges stemming
from her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Due to be sentenced
in June, she faces up to 65 years in jail.
Mar-a-Lago, Florida
Trump backs Palin: Donald Trump has thrown his weight
behind Sarah Palin in her bid to win a seat in Congress.
Endorsing the conservative former Alaska governor, he
described her as a “true America First fighter”. Palin
is hoping to replace Alaska’s only member of the
House, Don Young, who died last month. “America is at a tipping
point,” she said, as she announced her candidacy this week. “As
I’ve watched the far-left destroy the country, I knew I had to step
up and join the fight.” Palin shot to fame as John McCain’s
running mate in his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. A
high-profile member of the Tea Party movement in the Republican
party, she was an early endorser of Trump’s presidential campaign.
San Salvador
Mass arrests: More than
6,000 people have been
arrested in El Salvador in
a week as part of a security
crackdown. Following a
surge in violent crime last
month, in which 87 people
were killed in three days, the
country’s president, Nayib Bukele, instigated a state of emergency
which allows police to arrest without warrant anyone suspected
of being in a gang. It is now also an offence, punishable by up to
15 years in jail, to share information about gangs. Rights groups
have said the law could be used to silence journalists.
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Prisoner repatriated: A prisoner at
Guantánamo Bay has been released and sent home to Algeria
after nearly 20 years in detention. Sufiyan Barhoumi had been
held without charge since 2002, when he was captured in
Pakistan along with a senior al-Qa’eda member. A statement from
the Defence Department gave no reason for his release other than
that it was no longer “necessary”. According to his lawyer,
Barhoumi offered in 2012 to plead guilty to any charges, in the
hope that he’d receive a fixed sentence and eventually be able to
return home to his elderly mother. Thirty-seven inmates remain at
Guantánamo.
Alexandria, Virginia
“Beatle” trial opens: An alleged member
of a notorious Islamic State hostage-
taking cell has gone on trial at a federal
court in Virginia. El Shafee Elsheikh, 33,
who is suspected of being one of the cell
known as “The Beatles” because of their
English accents, is facing charges related
to the kidnap and murder of four
Americans: James Foley, Steven Sotloff,
Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. “The
Beatles” became infamous for releasing
videos of their beheadings. Elsheikh, who
grew up in London, was captured by Kurdish forces in Syria in
2018 while trying to flee to Turkey, and handed over to the US.
Buenos Aires
Falklands claims: The Argentine president Alberto Fernández
marked the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War by insisting
that the islands rightfully belong to his country. In a rare BBC
interview, he said “the only thing that is clear to me is that the
Malvinas are not English”. He also said that Margaret Thatcher
would have been “convicted for war crimes if she was the leader
of a developing country”. He rejected any idea of a second
Argentine invasion, but said he was sure that the islands would
eventually come under Argentine rule, “because I believe that
reason always wins”. His comments seem in line with public
opinion in Argentina, where recent polls show that up to 80% of
people think Britain is “illegally occupying” the islands.
