■TURKEY
Gul wants YouTube
President Abdullah Gul has used his Twitter page to condemn his country’s ban on YouTube and some Google services. “I know there are lots of complaints about bans on YouTube and Google,” Gul said in a tweet posted on Thursday. “I am definitely against them being closed down. I have ordered responsible institutions for a solution. I asked for a change in regulations on merit.” Human rights groups and media watchdog associations have long urged Turkey, an EU candidate, to reform its restrictive Internet laws. In January, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said Turkey was blocking some 3,700 Internet sites for “arbitrary and political reasons.” Access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube has been banned by the Turkish government since 2008 after users posted videos in which they said Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was an alcoholic and a homosexual. The role of president in Turkey is largely ceremonial, decisions are taken by the prime minister and Cabinet.
■RUSSIA
Medvedev to visit US
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit the US later this month to hold talks with US President Barack Obama and tour Silicon Valley, the Kremlin and White House said on Friday. Medvedev will “visit the United States from June 22 to June 24 on the invitation of US President Obama,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Obama “is pleased to welcome” his counterpart to Washington, the White House said later Friday. Before talks with Obama at the White House on June 24, Medvedev will also tour California’s technology corridor Silicon Valley on a visit that will focus on “broadening Russian and American cooperation in the areas of innovations and hi-tech,” the Kremlin said.
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