■ Pakistan
US changes country's status
The US will designate Pakistan a major non-NATO ally, a step that will make it easier for Pakistan to buy US military equipment, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday. Pakistan has for years run into difficulties in obtaining advanced weaponry and aircraft for its military from the US because of Washington's concerns about its nuclear arms programs. "We'll designate Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally for purposes of our future military-to-military relations," Powell told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
■ Pakistan
New drive against militants
Pakistani forces launched a fresh offensive yesterday against suspected al-Qaeda fighters and their Pakistani tribesmen allies hiding out in a remote western area near the Afghan border. Earlier, army helicopters rattled overhead as authorities used loudspeakers to urge villagers out of the area where paramilitary troops and militants on Tuesday fought their bloodiest battle in Pakistan's new drive against militants. Sixteen soldiers and 24 rebels were killed in the fighting on Tuesday. The dead rebels included men believed to be foreigners loyal to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, an official said.
■ China
Web site closed down
China is targeting blogs -- diary-style personal pages for Internet users -- in its latest attempt to censor the increasing popularity of the Internet in the country, a rights group said yesterday. Two sites hosting blogs for thousands of people -- who express their views about news, themselves or anything they want -- have been shut down by the government, the Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders said. One of the blogs, "BlogBus.com," hosted more than 15,000 blogs that have now been made inaccessible, the group said in a statement. The site was shut down on March 11 for allowing a letter to be posted that was critical of the government.
■ China
Sea route to link islands
China says it plans to open a sea route linking one of its port cities to disputed East China Sea islands claimed by both the Chinese and the Taiwanese but controlled by Japan. The route will link the eastern city of Xiamen, in Fujian province, to the Diaoyu Islands. It will open at the end of March and will be a test for actual operations to begin in May, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The small, uninhabited islands are located between Japan's southern island of Okinawa and Taiwan. In 1895, Japan claimed the chain but China and Taiwan say the islands have been Chinese for centuries. The US administered them after World War II, but turned over control to Japan in 1972.
■ Venezuela
Court gives Chavez a boost
Pro-government magistrates in Venezuela's politically split Supreme Court sought on Wednesday to block a ruling by the court's Electoral Chamber that had opened the way for a possible referendum against President Hugo Chavez. Kicking off a fierce legal battle over the disputed referendum process, the court's Constitutional Chamber ordered the Electoral Chamber to halt all decisions on the recall vote that is sought by opponents of the leftist president.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was