South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Tiananmen vigil ban in Hong Kong brings heavy policing to park
HONG KONG — A heavy police force patrolled Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Saturday after authorities for a third consecutive year banned public commemoration of the anniversary of the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown, with only vigils overseas marking the event.
For decades, Hong Kong and nearby Macao were the only places in China allowed to commemorate the violent suppression by army troops of student protesters demanding greater democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed.
The ban is seen as part of a move to snuff out political dissent and a sign that Hong Kong is losing its freedoms as Beijing tightens its grip over the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
The vigil organizers, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, disbanded last year after many of its leaders were arrested on suspicion of violating the national security law. The law was imposed following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Authorities have cited risks from the coronavirus for banning the public commemoration over the past three years. Critics say the pandemic is used as an excuse to infringe on the right to assemble.
A government statement Friday said that parts of Victoria Park, which traditionally served as the venue for the candlelight vigil, would be closed as it may be used for “illegal activities.” The move was to “prevent any unauthorized assemblies” in the park and to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 spread.
Despite the ban, some residents wore black in a silent show of support. Police stopped and searched several people, some of whom were dressed in black. It is unclear if any arrests were made.
Mich. governor targeted: A gunman who fatally shot a man at a Wisconsin home had a list of targets that included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, her office said Saturday.
Attorney General Josh Kaul refused to name the victim of Friday’s shooting, but it has been widely reported that he was retired Juneau County Judge John Roemer. The suspect was discovered in the basement with an apparent selfinflicted gunshot wound in what appeared to be a plan to target people connected to the judicial system, Kaul said Friday.
Zach Pohl, Whitmer’s deputy chief of staff, said her office was notified that her name appeared “on the Wisconsin gunman’s list” but declined to give details about the suspect.
A trial held earlier this year in which four men accused i n an alleged kidnapping plot of the Michigan Democrat resulted in the acquittal of two of the men. The jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict for the other two.
Investigators don’t believe anyone else is at risk any longer, but an investigation involving the FBI and the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation is ongoing, Kaul said Friday.
Bidens evacuated: A small private airplane mistakenly entered restricted airspace near President Joe Biden’s Delaware vacation home Saturday, prompting the brief evacuation of the president and first lady, the White House and the Secret Service said.
The White House said there was no threat to Biden or his family and that precautionary measures were taken. After the situation was assessed, Biden and his wife, Jill, returned to their Rehoboth Beach home.
The Secret Service said in a statement that the plane was immediately escorted from the restricted airspace after “mistakenly entering a secured area.”
Germany train wreck: Police said Saturday that the body of a fifth victim has been found beneath a train that derailed Friday in southern Germany.
The man’s body was uncovered after initial attempts to lift the derailed cars failed. Recovery workers had to wait for a crane to be brought to the site near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The cause of the derailment was under investigation.
About 140 people were on the train at the time, including students headed home from school for the Whitsun holiday. Police said 44 people were injured.
Russian agent dead: Russian agent Dmitry Kovtun, who was accused by the U.K. authorities in the poisoning death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, has died at 57.
Russian lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi, who also was accused by the U.K. in the spy’s killing, announced Kovtun’s death on his messaging app channel. Lugovoi said that Kovtun died Saturday of a COVID19-induced illness. Russian news reports said he died at a Moscow hospital.
A British inquiry concluded that Kovtun and Lugovoi had killed Litvinenko and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “probably approved” the operation. The European Court of Human Rights backed the British conclusion.
The Kremlin has fiercely denied any involvement.
Kovtun and Lugovoi also denied playing any role in Litvinenko’s death.
A former agent for the KGB and its post-Soviet successor agency FSB, Litvinenko defected from Russia in 2000 and fled to London. He became involved in exposing corruption and links to organized crime in the Russian intelligence service.
He fell violently ill in November 2006 after drinking tea with two Russian men in a London hotel and died three weeks later. His tea was laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Original Gerber baby dies: Ann Turner Cook, whose cherubic face was known the world over as the original Gerber baby, has died. She was 95.
Gerber announced Cook’s passing in an Instagram post on Friday.
Cook was 5 months old when neighbor and artist Dorothy Hope Smith drew a charcoal sketch of her that was later submitted for a contest Gerber was holding for a national marketing campaign for baby food.
The image was a hit, so much so that it became the company’s trademark in 1931 and has been used in all packaging and advertising since.
For decades, though, the identity of the baby was kept secret, spurring rumors about who it was, with guesses including Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor.
In the late 1970s, it was revealed to be Cook, who grew up to be an English teacher in Tampa, Florida, and later a mystery novelist.
Cook said in a 1998 interview that her mother had told her when she was young that she was the baby in the illustration.
“The reason that drawing has been so popular is the artist captured the appeal that all babies have,” Cook said.