CHINA
Mooncake tax sparks outcry
A decision by the Beijing authorities to tax mooncakes, a delicacy given as a gift during the Mid-Autumn Festival, has sparked an outcry, reports said yesterday. A poll conducted by the microblogging service Weibo found that 96 percent of users opposed the tax. “Since when are mooncakes taxed? I’d rather not be given any if I have to pay such a tax,” IT worker Wang Youhua told the China Daily newspaper. The tax authorities gave no reason for the move, but the price of mooncakes has soared in recent years as retailers have come up with increasingly elaborate ways to make the traditional gifts more desirable.
SOUTH KOREA
Diary details burglaries
A burglar has been arrested after police found details of his criminal exploits recorded in his diary, complete with addresses he hit and entries such as “Jackpot,” a detective said yesterday. The 42-year-old Seoul man, identified only as Kim, had stolen luxury bags, jewelry and electronic items worth 320 million won (US$300,000) from scores of houses and shops over the past six years. He was caught this month after a surveillance camera at an automated teller machine recorded him trying to withdraw money using a stolen credit card. Kim initially denied burglary, but confessed after police raided his home.
INDIA
Passengers leap from plane
Terrified passengers jumped out of a plane trying to escape before emergency ladders were put in place when a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain to Kochi in the southern state of Kerala landed badly in wet weather conditions and veered onto muddy grassland. Seven were injured in the pre-dawn incident. “Because the nose of the plane was damaged the emergency [inflatable] ladder did not work, so a rescue team started bringing ladders to the site, but before they arrived, people began to jump. All those injured were injured because they jumped out too soon,” Kochi Airport director A.C.K. Nair said.
CHINA
Children attacked at daycare
Eight children were hurt yesterday when a staff member at a temporary daycare center for the children of migrant workers in Shanghai went on a stabbing spree, local media said. The attacks took place about midday, the Xinmin Evening News said on its Web site. A woman who had worked at the center for several years used a box cutter to slash at children, all between three and four years old, the newspaper quoted witnesses as saying. The suspect, who is believed to have psychiatric problems, has already been detained by police, the newspaper said. Her name was not given. One of the eight children was seriously injured.
VIETNAM
Prisoners freed in amnesty
President Truong Tan Sang has ordered more than 10,000 prisoners freed as part of the country’s annual National Day amnesty. Five of those had been convicted of national security crimes, but no high-profile dissidents were included. Three were ethnic minorities from the restive Central Highlands. Eleven of the 10,535 inmates being freed are foreigners, including nationals of the US, Canada and Australia. National Day is on Friday. Vietnam has been criticized by the US and EU for jailing political and religious dissidents.
SWITZERLAND
Weather stops tightrope walk
A tightrope walker who had set out to beat seven world records in a week was forced to turn around halfway over a lake because of bad weather. Freddy Nock had already set five world records over the past week, but had to give up in his attempt to walk a 3.3km wire over the Thoune lake in central Switzerland on Sunday. The wire was lowered to drop Nock, who never uses a safety harness, onto a boat to get back to shore. The 46-year-old, who is donating the proceeds from his stunts to a charity working for children in Bangladesh, had already ticked off five records. On Aug. 20, he walked for 1km without a beam on a wire strung about 150m above the ground in Germany and two days later he inched up a 3km cable car wire in Austria. However, he had already missed his target of seven records in a week when weather prevented him from cycling on a cable strung 50m above the ground between two cranes in Switerzland.
MONACO
Tom Jones cancels concert
Singer Tom Jones canceled a Saturday night concert due to severe dehydration, his spokesman said on Sunday, while denying reports the 71-year-old star was suffering heart problems. “This was extremely disappointing for Tom, the band and all connected with the tour,” a statement issued on behalf of the singer said. “This was the last date of a very successful three-month tour, where many of the shows were in locations that were in the throes of high summer heat.”
NEW ZEALAND
Happy Feet to sail home
The wayward emperor penguin known to the world as Happy Feet was safely aboard a ship and ready to be taken to cooler southern waters. Happy Feet was transported from the Wellington Zoo to the research vessel Tangaroa yesterday. He craned his head back and forth, flapped his flippers and seemed a little perturbed by the move, but otherwise looked to be healthy. The penguin was found on a beach on June 20, far from his Antarctic feeding grounds. He was moved to the Wellington Zoo after he became ill from eating sand that he likely mistook for snow. The Tangaroa was to leave port last night and Happy Feet will be released after four days at sea at a latitude of 51 degrees south.
AUSTRALIA
Qantas sorry over photo
National airline Qantas apologized for posting a picture of two rugby fans wearing Afro wigs and with their faces and arms painted black at an international rugby game after it sparked online outrage. The photo, briefly run on the Qantas Twitter site, was the result of a competition asking fans to tell how they would show their support for the team and depicted two fans impersonating Fiji-born Australian team player Radike Samo at a Saturday night international game. “We apologize that the photo of two Radike fans offended some of our followers,” Qantas said in a statement. “We’ve spoken with Radike and whilst he is not offended we decided to remove the image.” The Twitter community was divided, but many were angered. “What that image represents to most people is appalling,” one commenter said. Others said the whole issue had been blown out of proportion. “What is all the fuss about? See things in context not offensive. Good Aussie fun,” another tweeted. Radike said he did not have any problems with the costumes. “I don’t know what the fuss is all about. These guys were paying me a tribute,” he said.
‘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