Israeli border police briefly detained a Cabinet minister from Hamas yesterday, the first time Israel took into custody a member of the Hamas government since the Islamic militants took power last week.
Khaled Abu Arafa, minister of Jerusalem affairs, was detained along with his bodyguard when he was on his way to Izzariya, a West Bank suburb of Jerusalem. Abu Arafa, who lives in Jerusalem, was to take possession of furniture and office equipment from his predecessor, Ziad Abu Zayyad, a moderate.
Abu Arafa was detained because he is barred from entering the West Bank for security reasons, the army said. He was not interrogated because his intentions were clear, the army added.
Paramilitary police stopped the car at a checkpoint at the entrance to Izzariya, Abu Arafa told reporters. After he refused to leave the car voluntarily, police forced him out, he said.
Abu Arafa said he was taken to a shipping container where he sat for several hours before being moved to a police station in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.
``Nobody asked me even one question. The entire time they treated me roughly,'' Abu Arafa said, adding that his hands were cuffed and he was forced to sit on a box when riding in the military vehicle.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique