CHINA
Court jails 17 protesters
A court has jailed 17 people for fighting with police over the demolition of housing in Lanzhou City amid widespread tensions over rapid urban development. Xinhua news agency said the court convicted the 17 of beating and throwing bricks at police who were tearing down makeshift housing. The sentences ranged from three to six months in prison. Areas throughout the nation suffer frequent conflicts over government land seizures for redevelopment and demolition of unauthorized building to house migrant workers, though most are peaceful. Xinhua said in yesterday’s report that the violence in Lanzhou was “a scenario which has become all too familiar in China in recent years.”
SOUTH KOREA
Pro-N Korea man arrested
A retired army captain surnamed Bang has been arrested for operating a pro-North Korea online community extolling the virtues of the isolated communist state and its leader, police said on Friday. They have also asked communications authorities to shut down the Web site, which had been running since 2003, in a renewed crackdown against support for the North online. Since the investigation began in October last year, Bang and 12 other members of the community have been charged with engaging in pro-North Korean activities in breach of the anti-communist National Security Law, according to the police.
NEPAL
Two Korean climbers die
Two South Koreans fell to their deaths while climbing a treacherous course in the Himalayas, weeks after three other mountaineers went missing and were presumed dead, mountain authorities said yesterday. Kim Hyung-il, 43, leader of the K2 Extreme team, and Chang Ji-myeong were killed on Friday when they fell as they were ascending on the notorious Cholatse north face, the Korean Alpine Federation said. Their bodies were later recovered by two colleagues who left the base camp in search of them after radio contact was lost. Kim and Chang, who had set an ambitious goal of covering the roundabout course to reach the 6,440m Cholatse’s summit within 36 hours, were killed at an altitude of 5,100m. Earlier this month, Kim postponed a plan to climb Cholatse and joined rescue efforts for the three South Korean mountaineers who went missing on Oct. 18 and were presumed dead while trying to scale the Annapurna peak.
INDIA
Court seeks detainee review
The Supreme Court expressed shock on Friday that more than 250 Pakistani nationals were being held in jails without ever having faced trial, with at least one behind bars since 1965. The court, hearing a public interest case filed by a member of the public, ordered the central government to file a comprehensive report explaining the detentions. “It’s shocking that over 254 Pakistani nationals are languishing in jails without a trial,” Supreme Court judge R.N. Lodha said. The inmates are being held in the north-western state of Jammu and Kashmir, with many thought to be people arrested after unwittingly crossing the disputed border in the area, the court heard. It is thought that there could be inmates held without trial in other states too. The prime ministers of India and Pakistan said on Thursday they expected to open a “new chapter” in their fractious relationship after talks at a regional summit in the Maldives.
ISRAEL
Soldier kills settler rabbi
An Israeli soldier killed a Jewish settler rabbi in the occupied West Bank on Friday after mistaking him for a Palestinian militant as he drove to dawn prayers, the army and settler leaders said. Troops set up a checkpoint near Beit Hagai settlement after receiving reports of a car “driving suspiciously,” and one of them opened fire on the speeding vehicle after it failed to heed orders to halt, the army said in a statement. The soldier “felt his life was in danger,” it said. Palestinians fighting for statehood in the West Bank have used vehicles for attacks on soldiers and settlers. Two other people in the car were wounded in the shooting, a military spokesman said. A soldier was also injured when he was accidentally hit by a truck passing the scene.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cat swinger confesses
A man has handed himself in to police investigating footage of someone swinging a cat around by its tail, the RSCPA said on Friday. CCTV images of Mowgli the cat being spun about numerous times on a street in Kent caused widespread condemnation and outrage from animal lovers after they were released on Thursday. “We can confirm that this morning ... a 20-year-old man from Ramsgate voluntarily handed himself in to Margate Police Station and is now helping us with our inquiries,” the RSCPA said in a statement. “We would like to thank the media and the public for their help in our appeal following this incident involving a cat being swung by his tail.” The charity said it had been inundated with calls in response to a plea for information about the incident. Mowgli’s owner said he had been left mentally scarred, but not physically injured.
ARGENTINA
Prince’s posting raises ire
The government on Friday said that the six-week mission of Britain’s Prince William as a rescue pilot in the Falkland Islands, the object of a 1982 war between the two sides, is “a provocative act.” William, second in Britain’s royal line of succession, is due to be deployed in the disputed archipelago, known as the Malvinas in the Spanish-speaking world, early next year just ahead of the war’s 30th anniversary. “It is a provocative act that displays Britain’s military presence in an area where there is no armed conflict,” said Sebastian Brugo Marco, the Argentine foreign ministry’s director for the Malvinas. “One cannot ignore the political content of the military operation, keeping in mind that the prince is part of the royal family,” he said in an interview published by the newspaper La Nacion.
RUSSIA
Putin lauds Berlusconi
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday called his old friend Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi “one of the last Mohicans,” who will be missed by Italy once he steps down as its leader. “I share good relations with Berlusconi,” Russia’s former and likely future president told a group of Western and Russian political analysts ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections. He referred to Berlusconi as “one of Europe’s greatest politicians” and played down the sex scandals that plagued the closing chapters of his political career. “Despite his scandalous manner with women, which I think he engages in on purpose, he is one of the last Mohicans in politics,” Putin said of his friend. Putin said Italians should be proud of having had Berlusconi as their leader. “That he was in power was an undoubted good for Italy, it was a factor of their internal political stability,” Putin said. “He is a very open person, he always said what he thought.”
‘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