NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Bee deaths: Russian officials are raising the alarm about mass bee deaths across the country. In Moscow, the Russian Agricultural Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that bees have been dying in large numbers in at least seven regions this year. Experts attribute the deaths to a careless and excessive use of pesticides at nearby fields. The ministry said that the mass deaths recorded from western Russia to Siberia have had a “substantial financial impact” on beekeeping in Russia but did not provide any figures.
2 Aid worker: A Canadian aid worker has been sentenced to nine years in prison in Nepal for sexually abusing two boys who were found at his home. A judge issued the sentence this week against Peter Dalglish, who was convicted last month of sexually abusing children. He was issued separate sentences of nine years and seven years but they will overlap, so he will be in jail for nine years in total, Kavre District Court official Thakur Chandra Trital said Tuesday. The judge also ordered Dalglish to pay $4,500 each as compensation to the boys, who were then 12 and 14 years old. Dalglish helped found the charity Street Kids International and has worked for decades for a number of humanitarian agencies.
3 Holocaust monument: A Dutch court cleared the way for a monument to be built in Amsterdam commemorating victims of the Holocaust. Tuesday’s decision ends a legal fight by a group of local residents to block construction of the memorial, which will include the names of 102,000 Jews, Roma and Sinti who were murdered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Amsterdam Municipality granted permission for construction to start in 2017, but residents argued in court that it was too big for the location and could cause traffic and social problems. The court has ruled that the city weighed both sides of the argument and was entitled to issue the construction permit.
4 “Pompous fool”: President Trump lashed out for a second day at Britain’s ambassador to the United States on Tuesday, describing him as “wacky” and a “pompous fool,” after a leak of emails critical of the American administration. The series of tweets came hours after Prime Minister Theresa May stood by Kim Darroch amid the controversy over the release of the documents published in London’s Daily Mail newspaper on Sunday. Darroch’s forthright views — meant for consumption behind closed doors — have caused embarrassment between two countries who often celebrate having a “special relationship.” “The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy,” Trump tweeted. In the leaked documents Darroch called the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran “incoherent,” said the president might be indebted to “dodgy Russians” and raised doubts about whether the White House “will ever look competent.”
5 King Tut: Egypt says it has asked Interpol to help track down a 3,000yearold sculpture of the famed boy pharaoh Tutankhamun after Christie’s auctioned it off last week despite Cairo’s objections. The British auction house sold the brown quartzite head depicting King Tut for more than $5.9 million. Egypt’s National Committee for Antiquities Repatriation says in a statement late Monday that it hired a British law firm to file a lawsuit against Christie’s, saying the auction house did not provide documents proving ownership.