CHINA
Fake monks jailed for attacks
A court has sentenced 21 fake monks to up to 11 years in jail for attacking police officers and toll booth operators in separate incidents last year, state media said yesterday. The men, who had been pretending to be monks in Inner Mongolia and earned money by selling beads and fake medicines, assaulted police after several so-called were detained last July, Xinhua news agency said. In another incident in August, a group of fake monks armed with steel pipes attacked toll booth operators in Baotou city after they demanded the men pay a road levy, the report said. The court in Baotou sentenced the men to between three and 11 years in jail, it said.
INDONESIA
Earthquake hits Sumatra
A moderate magnitude 5.5 undersea earthquake hit off Sumatra island on Saturday, geologists said, but there were no tsunami warnings. The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 24km around 285km west of Sibolga in Sumatra at 11:26pm, according to the US Geological Survey. The -Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there were no warnings or advisories following the quake.
JAPAN
Cabinet shuffle well-received
Prime Minister Naoto Kan enjoyed a boost in opinion polls published yesterday after reshuffling his Cabinet, but voters still did not expect him to be able to push through promised reforms. Kan added new faces to his Cabinet on Friday in a bid to appease opposition parties and help his bid to mend the country’s tattered finances and boost free trade to spur growth. The reshuffled Cabinet received a support rating of 34 percent, up from 25 percent last month, in an opinion poll for the Yomiuri Shimbun carried out on Friday and Saturday among 1,736 eligible voters. Seventy percent of respondents, however, said they doubted the new Cabinet would be able to fulfill its policy promises.
SOUTH KOREA
Ties with Japan anger North
North Korea yesterday expressed its anger over efforts by Seoul and Japan to seek closer military ties, repeating calls for Seoul to resume talks with Pyongyang first to defuse regional tensions. The fury came after Seoul expressed doubts about the sincerity of Pyongyang’s repeated peace overtures, and instead sought closer military ties with Japan and longtime ally the US against threats from the North. Regional tensions have also soared after the North in November shelled an island near its disputed maritime border with the South, killing four, including two civilians. On Sunday, Rodong Sinmun, mouthpiece of the North’s Communist Party, labeled talks held on Monday last week between Seoul and Tokyo’s defense chiefs a “new military conspiracy” that hampered regional security by damaging inter-Korea ties. “Japan has worked hard with bloodshot eyes to secure a legitimate pretext for its military overseas expansion,” the newspaper said in an editorial carried by state media.
SOUTH KOREA
Somali pirates seize cargo
Somali pirates have seized a South Korean chemical cargo in the Arabian Sea, two months after an oil supertanker belonging to the same firm was freed after seven months in captivity, the government and local media said. A Foreign Ministry statement issued late on Saturday said the Cabinet had met to discuss how to deal with the hijacking of the 11,500 tonne Samho Jewelry, seized while sailing to Sri Lanka from the United Arab Emirates.
UNITED STATES
Giffords off ventilator
The US lawmaker shot in the head in Tuscon, Arizona, was removed from a ventilator on Saturday and is breathing on her own through a tube inserted into her windpipe, the University Medical Center said. Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who survived despite being shot through the head from point-blank range on Jan. 8, remains in critical condition. “A surgical procedure [tracheotomy] was performed this morning on the congresswoman to replace the breathing tube that ran down her throat with a tracheotomy tube in her windpipe, protecting her airway and freeing her from the ventilator,” the hospital said in a statement posted on its Web site. “Her recovery continues as planned.”
UNITED STATES
Shooting victim arrested
A man who was shot in the knee during the Jan. 8 Tuscon, Arizona, shooting rampage was arrested on Saturday after threatening a local conservative leader during an emotional town hall event, ABC News reported. During taping for a Sunday special on the shooting, witnesses told ABC affiliate KGUN9 News that James Eric Fuller grew agitated when Tucson “Tea Party” founder Trent Humphries suggested that any conversation about gun control should be put off until after the funerals for all the victims. Fuller took a photograph of Humphries with a cellphone and said “You’re dead,” according to two witnesses of the event entitled “After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued.” Shortly after the event ended, law enforcement officials approached Fuller and escorted him from the room. As he was being led off, he shouted “You’re all whores!” according to several witnesses interviewed by the ABC affiliate. The Pima County Sheriff’s office told KGUN9 News that authorities charged Fuller with one count of threats and intimidation and intended to charge him with at least one count of disorderly conduct as well. ABC was scheduled to broadcast the event yesterday during its This Week talk show program.
VENEZUELA
Planes could be shot down
President Hugo Chavez says he is considering letting the military shoot down planes loaded with illegal drugs if they ignore orders to land. Chavez says he doesn’t necessarily like the idea, but lawmakers should debate it. The nation is a major hub for traffickers smuggling Colombian cocaine to the US and Europe. The president told lawmakers on Saturday that drug smugglers often ignore air force orders to land, with some openly mocking such commands over the radio. US and Colombian officials have accused Chavez’s government of lax anti-drug efforts. Chavez says his government is doing everything possible to stem the flow of drugs through the country.
CHILE
Extradition request denied
A judge has denied Colombia’s request to extradite a Communist Party member linked to leftist rebels. Supreme Court Justice Sergio Munoz’s ruling is preliminary. The matter will ultimately be decided by the court’s criminal division. Munoz ruled on Saturday that the Colombian government did not conclusively prove its case tying Manuel Olate to the guerrillas. Colombia argued that Olate traveled to that country several times and allegedly met with leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Defense lawyer Alex Caroca said Olate’s relationship with the FARC was one of solidarity, and he was not a member. Olate has been under house arrest since late last year while his case is pending.
‘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