CHINA
Crackdown on plastic grows
Beijing will expand a ban on free shopping bags, state media said, as it tries to further curb its addiction to plastic in a bid to rid the country of “white pollution” that clogs waterways, farms and fields. Bookstores and pharmacies nationwide will soon be forbidden to give out free plastic bags, joining the ranks of supermarkets that have had to charge for shopping bags since June 1, 2008, Xinhua news agency reported. On that day, the production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags were also banned.
VIETNAM
Bad police behavior banned
Officials in Hanoi have banned police from wearing black sunglasses, chatting, smoking and putting their hands in their pockets while they are on duty in public places, a media report said. Under a new order from the Ministry of Public Security, officers must also “keep appropriate manners and be in the right position when on duty,” the English-language Web site of Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Saturday. “This means traffic cops must not hide behind trees to ambush” and issue fines. The report also said on-duty police were now banned from reading books, making or answering non-work related telephone calls, drinking alcohol or eating at restaurants that illegally encroach onto pavements.
AFHGANISTAN
NATO strike kills children
A NATO airstrike targeting insurgents inadvertently hit two civilian homes in Helmand Province, killing 14 women and children, a government official said yesterday. Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial government, said the alliance launched the airstrike late on Saturday in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day on a US Marine base in Helmand’s Nawzad District . He said NATO hit two civilian houses, killing five girls, seven boys and two women. NATO spokesman Major Tim James said a joint coalition and Afghan delegation was traveling yesterday to the site to investigate.
CHINA
Plant blast kills three
Authorities say a blast at a chemical plant in Shandong Province has killed three people and injured eight others. The city government of Zibo said in a statement yesterday that police were investigating the cause of the explosion at a chemical plant owned by Shandong Baoyuan Chemical Co. The statement said the Saturday night blast killed two people at the site, while a third person died later at a hospital. Eight other people who suffered slight injuries were being treated at a hospital.
AUSTRALIA
Police bust drug syndicate
Police in Queensland, Colombia and Panama combined to smash a major drugs syndicate, arresting 14 people and seizing a large quantity of cocaine, they said yesterday. In a joint operation, authorities found more than 50kg of the drug worth tens of millions of dollars concealed in hydraulic oil in the Queensland town of Mackay on Friday. A 38-year-old local man and two Colombians, aged 30 and 42, were arrested and face a total of 26 charges, including importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug. A third Colombian, 24, was also arrested in Mackay. In simultaneous action, Colombian police arrested seven nationals in Medellin on charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit a crime. Panama authorities arrested three of their nationals at the same time on trafficking charges in Panama City in an operation that began in September 2009.
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
‘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