CHINA
Thunderstorms kill 18
Violent thunderstorms have lashed parts of the southern industrial heartland of Guangdong Province, leaving 18 people dead and scores injured. The provincial Civil Affairs Bureau says hail, rain and gale-force winds on Sunday afternoon struck Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou, along with the nearby cities of Foshan, Dongguan and Zhaoqing. The bureau said yesterday that victims were struck by falling objects, collapsing walls and work sheds, with 155 people injured and 380 left homeless. About 1,000 hectares of crops were damaged.
AUSTRALIA
‘Bizarre’ drink plan dropped
A state government yesterday dropped a “bizarre” idea to develop a drink for high school students designed to aid their mental alertness. The Victoria State Government had advertised for businesses interested in developing a non-caffeine energy drink for students aged 12 to 19 as part of a broader A$28 million (US$29.6 million) grants program. “There is a need for a pleasant-tasting, attention-sustaining, low-priced drink that enables secondary-school students to work safely and with sustained alertness all day,” it read. Victoria State Education Minister Martin Dixon said the idea had come from students. “We haven’t put any Education Department money into it because that’s not the sort of thing that we do, but good on the kids for coming up with an innovative idea,” he told ABC Radio. Head of the Education Union Mary Bluett said she was at first surprised and thought the advertisement was a joke. “I went from this is hysterical, to this is bizarre, to this is absolutely outrageous,” she said.
MALAYSIA
Schools to grade weight
Schools across the country are giving students another reason to dread their report cards by grading them on their weight. The move is part of a government push to curb obesity that includes banning school cafeterias from selling junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks. Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai says report cards will soon add students’ body mass index to the traditional academic grades so parents can decide if their children should watch their diet. Liow announced the policy, effective immediately, in a speech published in newspapers yesterday.
THAILAND
Car bomb kills ranger
A car bomb exploded yesterday in the insurgency-plagued far south of the country, killing a paramilitary ranger and wounding 23 other people, police said. The makeshift device exploded as troops passed by in a pick-up truck on a busy street in Yala, one of three provinces near the Malaysian border that have been under emergency rule since 2005. Civilians were among the casualties, police said. Yala Governor Krissada Boonraj said the perpetrators had waited until after the long holiday weekend for Thai New Year to plant the bomb. “The insurgents were waiting to attack after Songkran, as during that time we were strictly controlling the situation,” he said.
INDONESIA
Landslide kills 10 in Java
Police say a landslide on the main island of Java killed 10 people over the weekend. Heavy rains sent rocks and dirt cascading down a 80m cliff in Malang district. Police captain Prayitno said nine men died instantly while they were gathering firewood near a river on Sunday. He said yesterday that the 10th victim died in a hospital later.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in