■FRANCE
Media discretion urged
The government on Sunday asked media outlets to exercise “discretion” in their use of a video of French TV reporters pleading for their release after being kidnapped in Afghanistan. Agence France-Presse obtained the video, apparently taken three weeks ago, but decided not to publicize it because the agency believed it might compromise the chances of the France 3 TV reporters being released. The video showed the two men, looking tired and unshaven, saying they were in good health and were being treated well by their captors. They called on President Nicolas Sarkozy to negotiate to secure their release. The government issued a statement calling for media outlets to be responsible in their handling of the video after its existence was widely reported on Sunday.
■NEPAL
Yadav drops virgin farewell
President Ram Baran Yadav yesterday dispensed with a centuries-old tradition of having five virgin girls bid him goodbye as he left on a foreign visit, an aide said. Heads of state have traditionally been seen off by five pre-pubescent girls representing the Hindu goddesses Durga, Sarshwati, Laxmi, Radha and Annapurna who perform religious rituals to bring success. They are presented with traditional marigold garlands in a ceremony designed to bring good fortune to the departing leader. “The president felt sorry for the students who used to have to wait outside in the sun for hours, so he scrapped the tradition,” presidential spokesman Rajendra Dahal said. Yadav left yesterday for India, where he will spend four days on a “goodwill visit,” Dahal said.
■VIETNAM
Democracy fliers distributed
Two banned political organizations said they had joined forces to distribute hundreds of pro-democracy leaflets in the country, where observers said the human rights situation was worsening. Dissidents arrested and convicted for previous leaflet campaigns have been jailed. The US-based Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) confirmed early yesterday that it had joined the effort along with the People’s Democratic Party. Critics say the public has lost trust in the rulers whom they see as too conciliatory toward China over maritime sovereignty and other issues.
■AUSTRALIA
Hanson ‘moving’ to UK
Anti-immigration firebrand Pauline Hanson is selling up and heading to Britain after becoming disillusioned with her home country, Woman’s Day magazine reported yesterday. The former One Nation party chief, who infamously warned that the country was in danger of being “swamped by Asians” in her maiden parliamentary speech, said she would be away “indefinitely.” “I know I will never be given a chance to re-enter parliament again,” Hanson was quoted as saying.
■JAPAN
Senator mulls base options
A member of the US Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday he was open to hearing options on how to resolve a dispute over the relocation of a contentious US Marine base on Okinawa. Starting a weeklong tour in Japan and Guam, Senator Jim Webb said the main purpose of his visit was to listen to the views of the Japanese government and people of Okinawa, where many resent the US military presence. “There could be a number of practical options,” Webb said about ways to resolve the Futenma issue. “I don’t want to outline those options today because I don’t want to cut short the discussions that we’re going to have.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
Pope’s album up for award
Pope Benedict XVI was nominated yesterday for the Classical Brit Awards album of the year. The pope was shortlisted for his singing on the album Alma Mater — Music From the Vatican. There are 10 contenders vying for the prize, including Britain’s Got Talent star Faryl Smith and three Catholic clerics in a group called The Priests, with their second release, Harmony. The winner of the album of the year, who is voted for by the public, will be announced on May 13.
■GAZA STRIP
British journalist arrested
Hamas police have arrested a British journalist in the Gaza Strip, accusing him of unspecified security offences. Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab al-Ghsain identified the detainee as freelance correspondent Paul Martin. “We have confessions that the British journalist committed offenses against Palestinian law, and that harms the security of the country,” Ghsain said on Sunday, without giving details on who had confessed and under what circumstances.
■GAZA STRIP
US lawmaker calls for aid
A US congressman said Washington should break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver badly needed supplies by sea. Representative. Brian Baird, a Democrat, said on Sunday that US President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy should visit Gaza to get a look at the destruction cause by Israel’s offensive last year. Baird made the comments to a group of Gaza students.
■WEST BANK
Official claims entrapment
A top Palestinian official mired in a sex-tape scandal brushed aside allegations he traded his influence for sexual favors, saying on Sunday he was the victim of entrapment and blackmail. Rafiq Husseini held a press conference hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended him from his duties as chief of staff. Abbas also ordered a three-member committee to investigate the affair and submit its findings within three weeks. Last week Israeli TV broadcast video of Husseini undressing, getting into bed and calling a woman to join him. The footage was secretly taped in 2008 by a former Palestinian intelligence officer, who alleged that Husseini attempted to trade influence for sex.
■UNITED STATES
Death row inmate dies at 94
The oldest death row inmate in the country, a 94-year-old convicted double murderer, died of natural causes at an Arizona prison, the online edition of the Arizona Daily Sun reported on Sunday. Viva Leroy Nash died late on Friday at the state prison in Florence. He was sentenced to death in 1983 for murdering a sales clerk in Phoenix the year before. He earlier served a 25-year prison sentence for shooting a police officer in Connecticut in 1947. After his release, Nash was sentenced to life in prison for shooting a man to death in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1977. He escaped from a prison work crew in 1982 and committed his second murder, for which he was awaiting execution for 26 years.
■UNITED STATES
Robbery ends in deaths
Authorities say two men suspected of robbing a street-corner Valentine’s Day gift stand in Los Angeles were killed early on Sunday in a car crash after leading police on a chase. Police Lieutenant. Samuel Rhone says the men stole gift baskets and cash from a street vendor near downtown. The victim called police and officers located their car nearby, which sped away. The suspects crashed into a parked vehicle and were thrown from the car.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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