American arrested after Uganda assault
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Ugandan police are holding an American man who in video footage is seen attacking a hotel worker with punches and racial insults.
Jimmy Taylor was arrested Thursday after footage of the incident was posted on social media, angering some Ugandans who demanded his arrest.
The incident happened at a hotel in Kampala, the capital. It wasn't clear precisely when.
In the footage the middle-aged American is seen charging at a receptionist: "You hate Jesus. You hate yourself. You hate me. You disgraced Jesus. Huh?" Later he throws a punch, one of many, and hurls slurs such as the N-word.
Ugandan police said Sunday that Taylor, who claims to be a missionary and former member of the U.S. Marines, will be charged with assault later this week.
Taiwan president visits Houston briefly
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan visited Houston over the weekend, her second brief stop in the United States in one week, a sign of efforts to deepen relations between Washington and Taipei despite vehement opposition from China.
Tsai stopped in Los Angeles last Monday on her way to Paraguay and Belize, and then in Houston on Saturday on her way home. During the earlier stop, she met with three California lawmakers, including one, Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat, who called on the United States to formally invite her to Washington, which would break with decades of American practice.
The United States has not officially recognized Taiwan since 1979, when it shifted to recognizing China's communist government. China hopes to absorb the self-governed, democratic island, which it has never controlled, and has campaigned to erase any recognition by other countries or corporations of Taiwan's sovereignty.
The visits to Houston and Los Angeles are considered "transit stops" rather than official visits, part of a long-standing restriction imposed by the United States to maintain better relations with China. But Beijing has objected even to such brief stopovers.
Italy demands that Europe take migrants
ROME -- Italy's interior minister threatened on Sunday to return to Libya 177 migrants who have been aboard an Italian coast guard ship for days after another standoff with Malta.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demanded that other European countries take in the migrants after his Maltese counterpart, Michael Farrugia, insisted that the "only solution" is for the Diciotti ship to dock at the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The Diciotti, working under the European Union's Frontex Mediterranean rescue operation, has been off Lampedusa after rescuing the migrants Aug. 16. Italy asked Malta to take them in, but Malta refused, saying the migrant boat wasn't in distress and that the migrants declined Maltese assistance, preferring to continue toward Italy.
In a tweet Sunday, Farrugia accused Italy of rescuing the migrants in Maltese waters "purely to prevent them from entering Italian waters."
Salvini, who has refused to allow aid groups to dock in Italy, shot back: "Or Europe decides to help Italy concretely, starting with the 180-odd migrants aboard the Diciotti, or we'll be forced to do what will definitively stop the smugglers' business: bring the people recovered at sea to a Libyan port," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.
Bridge designer warned of risk in 1979
ROME -- The Italian engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed dozens warned four decades ago that it would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution on the concrete.
RAI state television broadcast excerpts Sunday of the report that the late engineer Riccardo Morandi penned in 1979, 12 years after the bridge bearing his name was inaugurated in Genoa. The Associated Press downloaded the English-language report from an engineering news portal.
At the time of writing, Morandi said there was already a "well-known loss of superficial chemical resistance of the concrete" because of sea air and pollution from a nearby steel plant.
Morandi warned: "Sooner or later, maybe in a few years, it will be necessary to resort to a treatment consisting of the removal of all traces of rust on the exposure of the reinforcements, to fill in the patches."
A section of the bridge collapsed Aug. 14 during a storm, killing 43 people.
The cause is under investigation, and a team of engineers carried out a preliminary inspection Sunday after rescue crews concluded their search for the missing.
The head of the government team, Roberto Ferrazza, said the survey suggested a series of possible causes.
The Espresso newsmagazine reported Sunday that Ferrazza was one of the engineers who knew about the advanced corrosion underway on the key bridge support that gave way, having attended a Feb. 1 meeting of experts from the Transport Ministry and the company that manages bridge repairs.
Minutes of the meeting, which bear Ferrazza's signature, recommended that the supports be reinforced. Bidding opened in April for the $23 million public works contract to do the work, according to Italian media.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 08/20/2018