NEWS OF THE DAY
“Man who saved the world”: Stanislav Petrov, a former Soviet military officer known in the West as “the man who saved the world” for his role in averting a nuclear war over a false missile warning at the height of the Cold War, has died at 77. Petrov was on night duty at the Soviet military’s early warning facility outside Moscow on Sept. 26, 1983, when an alarm went off, signaling the launch of several U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 44-year-old lieutenant colonel had to quickly determine whether the attack was real. He chose to consider it a false alarm, which it was. The incident was particularly harrowing as it happened at one of the tensest periods of the Cold War when the Soviet Union appeared to genuinely fear a surprise U.S. nuclear attack. The false alarm was later determined to have been caused by a malfunction of a satellite, which mistook the reflection of the sun off high clouds for a missile launch.
Kalashnikov monument: A towering monument to Lt. Gen. Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the AK-47, the Soviet rifle that has become the world’s most widespread assault weapon, was unveiled Tuesday in the middle of one of central Moscow’s busiest thoroughfares. The ceremony took place to the sounds of military folk music, the Soviet anthem and words about how his creation had ensured Russia’s safety and peace in the world. The bronze statue depicts Kalashnikov cradling one of his automatics in his arms.
Spate of rapes: Italian officials called Tuesday for increased police patrols, video surveillance and tougher laws to punish perpetrators after a spate of rapes around the country renewed attention on violence against women in Italy. Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi called for increased police patrols, declaring it had been “a black September for Italy.” Italian politicians and activists have long denounced a culture of violence against women in Italy that frequently erupts in domestic assaults by jealous husbands and boyfriends. In the recent rapes, the perpetrators were not believed to have been known to the victims.
Nuclear threat: U.N. SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres warned the world’s leaders Tuesday that the threat of a nuclear attack is at its highest level since the end of the Cold War and “fiery talk can lead to fatal misunderstandings.” In his first state-of-theworld report since taking the reins of the United Nations on Jan. 1, Guterres put “nuclear peril” as the leading threat warning that “we must not sleepwalk our way into war.” The U.N. chief told presidents, prime ministers and monarchs at the opening of the General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting that millions of people are living in fear “under a shadow of dread cast by the provocative nuclear and missile tests” of North Korea.
Melania’s billboards: Billboards featuring Melania Trump and the slogan “just imagine how far you can go with a little bit of English” were removed Tuesday from the Croatian capital after her lawyer threatened a lawsuit. The billboards were part of a marketing campaign by a private English language school in Zagreb, which tried to persuade Croats to learn English by reminding them of the Slovenian-born U.S. first lady’s personal experience. But Mrs. Trump did not accept what was apparently meant to be a joke about her English, spoken with a heavy accent. Her Slovenian lawyer demanded that the billboards, showing Melania before a fluttering American flag, be immediately removed.
Chronicle News Services