Nation & World Glance
Balloon bursts hopes for end to spiraling Us-china tensions
WASHINGTON – Monday was supposed to be a day of modest hope in the U.s.-china relationship. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was going to be in Beijing, meeting with President Xi Jinping in a highstakes bid to ease ever-rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Instead, Blinken was spending the day in Washington after abruptly cancelling his visit late last week as the U.S. and China exchanged angry words about a suspected Chinese spy balloon the U.S. shot down. As fraught as the Us-china relationship had been ahead of Blinken’s planned trip, it’s even worse now and there’s little hope for it improving anytime soon.
Even as both sides maintain they will manage the situation in a calm manner, the mutual recriminations, particularly since the shootdown of the balloon on Saturday that drew a stern Chinese protest, do not bode well for rapprochement.
The setback comes at a time when both sides were looking for a way to potentially extricate themselves from a low point in ties that has had the world on edge.
BY THE NUMBERS Dow Jones Industrials: – 34.99 to 33,891.02 Standard & Poor’s: – 25.40 to 4,111.08 Nasdaq Composite Index: – 119.50 to 11,887.45
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby noted Monday that Blinken’s trip was delayed, not canceled. But prospects for rescheduling remain uncertain.
Steady rains set off mudslides that kill at least 36 in Peru
LIMA, Peru – Landslides triggered by steady rains swept mud, water and rocks into several villages in southern Peru, killing at least 36 people, authorities said Monday.
Wilson Gutierrez, a civil defense official in the Mariano Nicolás Valcárcel municipality in Camana province, told local radio RPP that 36 bodies had been recovered in a remote sector called Miski.
Among the dead were five people who were riding in a van that was pushed into a river by a surge of mud.
Local officials appealed for heavy machinery to be sent in to clear debris blocking three kilometers (nearly two miles) of an important road.
Civil defense officials said an estimated 630 homes were unusable after the landslides, which also hit bridges, irrigation canals and roads.
Russian forces keep up pressure as Ukraine anniversary nears
KYIV, Ukraine – Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops tied down with attacks in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional combat power there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
Intense fighting that has been raging for weeks continued around the city of Bakhmut and the nearby towns of Soledar and Vuhledar, Ukraine’s presidential office said.
They are located in the Donetsk region, which with neighboring Luhansk region makes up the Donbas, an industrial area bordering Russia.
“The battles for the region are heating up,” Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said in televised remarks, adding that “the Russians are throwing new units into the battle and eradicating our towns and villages.”
In Luhansk, Gov. Serhii Haidai said shelling there had subsided because “the Russians have been saving ammunition for a largescale offensive.”
Intruder breaches base of Air Force One, shot fired
WASHINGTON — Another intruder has breached the home of Air Force One, one of the nation’s most sensitive military bases, and this time a resident opened fire on the trespasser, Joint Base Andrews said in a statement late Monday.
During the incident, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m. Monday, “a man gained unauthorized access to a JBA housing area,” Joint Base Andrews said in a statement posted to Twitter. “A resident discharged a firearm, security forces arrived on scene to apprehend the intruder and law enforcement is investigating the incident.”
Joint Base Andrews is home to the fleet of blue and white presidential aircraft, including Air Force One, Marine One and the “doomsday” 747 aircraft that can serve as the nation’s airborne nuclear command and control centers if needed.
The Air Force said late Monday it did not have anything to add beyond the Andrews statement about Monday’s intrusion.
It’s not the first time the base’s security has been breached; in February 2021 a man got through the military checkpoint onto the installation, then through additional fenced secure areas to gain access to the flight line and climb into a C-40, which is the military’s 737-equivalent aircraft used to fly government officials.
That intruder was apprehended because the “mouse ears” cap he was wearing struck an observant airman as odd.
An inspector general’s investigation found three
main security failings, starting with “human error” by a gate security guard who allowed the man to drive onto the base even though he had no credentials that authorized his access. Hours later, the man walked undetected onto the flight line by slipping through a fence designed to restrict entry. Finally, he walked onto and off a parked airplane without being challenged, even though he was not wearing a required badge authorizing access to the restricted area.
Officer killed, 2nd wounded in western Pennsylvania shootout
MCKEESPORT, Pa. — A man having a “mental health crisis” shot and killed a police officer, wounded a second and fired at a third before being wounded in a shootout in a western Pennsylvania city on Monday, authorities said.
Two officers were dispatched shortly after noon to a domestic disturbance call in Mckeesport, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns said at a news conference.
The officers tried to talk to the man but he walked away from the home, and officers were warned by a family member that he might be armed, Kearns said. The officers encountered him nearby and he “suddenly produced a handgun and shot the two Mckeesport
officers,” Kearns said.
One officer was taken to a hospital in Mckeesport, where he was pronounced dead. A statement from Mckeesport Police Chief Adam Alfer identified him as 32-year-old Sean Sluganski, who had worked for the department full-time for two years.
The second officer, 35-year-old Charles Thomas Jr., was flown to a Pittsburgh-area trauma center. Thomas, who has been on the force for four years, was discharged by Monday night and back home recovering with family, Alfer reported.
Kearns said the suspect was shot when he walked around a corner and fired at the third officer, who returned fire.
The suspect was later listed in stable condition at a Pittsburgh-area trauma center.
The Mckeesport Area School District said all schools and buildings were temporarily put on an exterior lockdown due to the police activity nearby.
Police said charges were being prepared against the suspect, who is known to Mckeesport police. “They have dealt with him on past occasions,” Kearns said.
Polar bear in fatal Alaska attack was in poor health
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Officials say a polar bear that killed a young mother and her baby Jan. 17 in western Alaska was likely an older animal in poor physical condition.
However tests have come back negative for pathogens that affect the brain and cause aggressive behavior.
A state wildlife veterinarian collected and examined samples from the bear’s head a day after it was killed.
The results of analysis indicate it was an adult male and in poor health. Standard tests conducted on tissues are negative for rabies, toxoplasmosis, distemper and avian influenza.
State and federal wildlife officials say there is no definitive explanation as to why the bear was in poor condition.
Man, 42, charged in killing of Southern California deputy
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A man suspected of fatally shooting a Southern California sheriff’s deputy and firing at another deputy last month was charged Monday with first degree murder, prosecutors said.
Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Darnell Calhoun was gunned down Jan. 13 near Lake Elsinore as the suspect fired at him from a pickup, authorities said.
Jesse Navarro, 42, faces multiple charges including the attempted murder of the second deputy, along with special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer and firing from a motor vehicle, the Southern California News Group reported.
Navarro remains hospitalized after being shot and critically wounded by the second deputy, who was not named in court documents. Arraignment will be scheduled when he’s released from the hospital.
Calhoun, 30, was shot as he responded to a report of unknown trouble in the unincorporated Lakeland Village area, the sheriff’s department said.
He was the second Riverside deputy to be slain in the line of duty over the course of two weeks.
Deputy Isaiah Cordero, 32, was slain on Dec. 29 when he pulled over a pickup truck in the city of Jurupa Valley. The driver shot Cordero as he approached. The driver was later killed in a shootout at the end of a pursuit.