NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Dog meat trade: Animal rights activists in Cambodia have gained a small victory in their effort to end the trade in dog meat, convincing a canine slaughterhouse in one village to abandon the business. Buth Pith and his wife, Khath Hach, this week shut down the small abattoir they had operated for about seven years after animal protection groups agreed to provide them an alternate living by building a small convenience store for them. The closure in Kampong Thom province follows a bigger victory in the northwestern province of Siem Reap, which in July outlawed the buying, selling and butchering of dogs for food. An estimated 2 million to 3 million dogs are killed annually in Cambodia for their meat, according the groups Four Paws International, based in Austria, and Animal Rescue Cambodia.
_2 TV host: A British coroner ruled Thursday that reality TV host Caroline Flack killed herself while facing an assault trial she feared would end her career and bring unbearable media scrutiny. Flack, 40, the former host of “Love Island,” was found dead at her London apartment in February, weeks before she was due to stand trial for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend. Flack’s family has accused police and prosecutors of singling her out because of her celebrity status when they charged her with assaulting boyfriend Lewis Burton in 2019. Burton had said he did not want Flack to be prosecuted. Flack’s death renewed debate about the pressures placed on those in the public eye and the ethics of reality television.
_3 Critics arrested: Zimbabwean investigative journalist Hopewell Chon’ono will remain in jail after a judge dismissed his bail application Thursday, as U.N. SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres raised “concern” about a wave of arrests in the country. Hundreds have been arrested in recent months, including journalists, lawyers, opposition politicians, doctors and nurses, for protesting against the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa or striking for better pay. Mnangagwa has described his critics as “dark forces” that should be “overcome.”
_4 Murder trial: A New Zealand man found guilty of murdering a British backpacker appealed his conviction and punishment on Thursday, with his new lawyer arguing he didn’t get a fair trial and his sentence was too harsh. A jury had earlier determined that tourist Grace Millane was strangled to death on her 22nd birthday in 2018 by a man she had met through the dating app Tinder. She went out for drinks with him before returning to his hotel apartment in central Auckland, where he killed her. He stuffed her body into a suitcase, drove to a forest and buried it in a shallow grave, where police found it a week later. Defense lawyers claimed the death was accidental after the pair engaged in consensual erotic choking that went too far. A judge sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum of 17 years.
_5 Sudan floods: Seasonal torrential rains have wreaked havoc on houses and infrastructure across Sudan, affecting more than 50,000 people, the United Nations said. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan said this week that 14 of Sudan’s 18 provinces have experienced flooding in recent days. North Darfur, White Nile, Sennar and Kassala states are the latest to report storms and flooding, the report said. In North Darfur, at least 600 internally displaced people are “in dire need” of shelter and food after a flash flood hit the camp where they lived in the Al Lait area. Last week, heavy rains caused the collapse of the Bout Dam in Blue Nile province, destroyed 1,200 houses and left at least five people dead across the country.