Organizers postpone Hong Kong WTA event because of protests
HONG KONG — Local organizers and the Women’s Tennis Association say the Hong Kong Open has been postponed indefinitely due to widespread protests in recent months.
It was scheduled to be held from Oct. 5-13 on outdoor hard courts at Victoria Park.
In a statement Friday, tournament organizers said it would be put back “in light of the present situation” but did not give a new date for the event.
A summer of protest has rocked the region, led by campaigns against a proposed extradition law which would allow Hong Kong suspects to be sent to China for trial.
“In light of the present situation, Hong Kong Tennis Association and the WTA are announcing a postponement of the 2019 Hong Kong Tennis Open,” the statement said. “We strive to maintain a high standard of the event for all participants, players and the fans in particular.
“However, after extensive discussions with our key stakeholders, we conclude that a smooth running of the tournament can be better assured at a later time.”
Crew was asleep when fatal boat fire ignited, officials say
LOS ANGELES — A California scuba dive boat was operating in violation of Coast Guard regulations when crew members were sleeping and a pre-dawn fire killed 34 people, leaving grieving families wondering if a required night watchman could have saved their loved ones.
Thursday brought a disclosure from the National Transportation Safety Board that all six crew members were asleep aboard the Conception on Sept. 2 when the deadly blaze broke out.
The NTSB’s findings could aid federal authorities conducting a criminal investigation into the fire, who could bring charges under a statute known as seaman’s manslaughter. The law was enacted during the 19th century to punish negligent captains, engineers and pilots for deadly steamboat accidents that killed thousands.
Five crew members, including the captain, were asleep on the vessel’s second deck and survived. The sixth, a 26-year-old deckhand named Allie Kurtz , was sleeping below and perished with the boat’s 33 passengers.
Kurtz’s grandmother, Doris Lapporte, said she was too distraught Thursday to comment on the NTSB’s findings, issued days before the family planned to scatter her granddaughter’s ashes at sea.
Grand jury indicts man on capital murder for El Paso attack
EL PASO, Texas — A man accused of gunning down people at a busy Walmart in El Paso last month was indicted Thursday for capital murder, prosecutors announced.
Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, was indicted on one count in connection with the Aug. 3 mass shooting that left 22 dead in the border city, District Attorney Jaime Esparza said. El Paso prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Crusius, who remains jailed without bond.
Crusius’ defense lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Attorney Mark Stevens previously said he will use “every legal tool available” to prevent his client from being executed.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reacted to the indictment by simply tweeting : “good.”
The El Paso County District Clerk’s office said Crusius’ indictment would not be publicly available until next week because it takes a few days to process and assign the case to a court.
Chaotic talks show challenge of reaching opioid settlement
For months, the judge overseeing national litigation over the opioids crisis urged all sides to reach a settlement that could end thousands of lawsuits filed by state and local governments.
But the chaotic developments this week in the case against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma underscore how difficult that goal is. By Thursday, half of the nation’s state attorneys general said they would reject a tentative deal crafted by the other half, and many criticized the terms as grossly insufficient.
Purdue and the Sackler family that owns it “will never be able to undo all the damage they have done,” Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, said in a statement, “but at the very least, they must face real, significant, personal accountability for their lies and for the pain and heartbreak they have caused.”
Herring and other attorneys general opposed to the terms say the amount of money involved will be far less than the $10 billion to $12 billion promised by Purdue and the Sacklers. They want the family to pay more from their vast fortune, much of which has been shifted overseas , and say the current settlement terms allow the relatives to walk away without acknowledging their role in a crisis that has killed 400,000 Americans over the past two decades.
“This epidemic has affected everybody in our state,” Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, another Democrat, said Thursday in a statement. “Irrespective of Purdue’s actions or evasions, we will continue to pursue justice on behalf of those harmed by the Sacklers’ greed, callousness and fraud.”