MALAYSIA
Law to regulate protests
The government is introducing a new law to regulate public demonstrations amid rising pressure to improve civil liberties ahead of national elections expected next year. The Peaceful Assembly Bill, nevertheless, falls short of demands by opposition and human rights groups for authorities to allow street demonstrations. De facto law minister Nazri Aziz told parliament yesterday the bill would require organizers of demonstrations to provide police with advance notice of at least 30 days. The planned law forbids street protests. Officials have repeatedly urged demonstrators to gather in stadiums or confined venues to avoid public disruptions.
CAMBODIA
Stampede remembered
Hundreds of tearful relatives burned incense and placed offerings of flowers, fruit and food yesterday at the foot of a new memorial honoring 353 people who died in a bridge stampede one year ago. “I feel fearful seeing this bridge,” said an emotional Tith Sam Ath, 40, whose 12-year-old son died in the disaster during a popular festival in Phnom Penh. “I still miss my son every day. He was an outstanding student,” she said, as Buddhist monks chanted and blessed the memorial, which carries the names of those who perished nearby. The annual water festival ended last year when crowds panicked on the narrow crossing leading to the capital’s Diamond Island.
PAKISTAN
Bomb attack kills policeman
A bomb attack on a girls’ school on the outskirts of Mardan town in troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province yesterday killed a policeman, wounded eight others and destroyed a wall, police said. The remote-controlled bomb was planted at the outer wall of the government-run middle school. The bomb exploded after police arrived to investigate complaints about a suspicious plastic bag outside the school, which was closed at the time. “One policeman was killed and eight other people including five civilians were wounded,” said Zeshan Haider, Mardan police chief, by telephone. Three policemen were also wounded, but no pupils were hurt. Haider said the target was the school.
AUSTRALIA
Police protest over benefits
About 3,000 police officers turned the grounds outside the state parliament in Sydney into a sea of blue yesterday as they protested against planned changes to the way injured officers are compensated. Officers are upset at plans to alter New South Wales’ Death and Disability Scheme, which would restrict some compensation payouts and place more emphasis on getting injured officers rehabilitated and back to work. The government says the current scheme is too expensive and it has no choice but to make the changes. The police came from around the state and marched from Hyde Park to Parliament House in a protest that lasted about two hours.
SOUTH KOREA
Ship sinks south of HK
A freighter sank in the South China Sea, leaving seven crewmembers missing, officials said yesterday. The Foreign Ministry said 14 other crewmembers were rescued from the 13,607 tonne ship, Bright Ruby, which sank on Monday afternoon south of Hong Kong in bad weather. The ministry said in a statement a rescue team was looking for the missing crew of three South Koreans and four Burmese. Hong Kong maritime authorities have dispatched a helicopter to aid in the search, while Vietnamese officials are helping to locate the ship.
UNITED STATES
Teen admits killing student
Brandon McInerney, the teenager accused of killing a gay eighth-grade classmate in 2008, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced on Monday. He will spend 21 years in prison. The plea bargain follows a mistrial this year, when McInerney, 17, was tried for murder as an adult. Five jurors voted to convict him of murder, while seven voted for manslaughter. Prosecutors had argued that McInerney’s lethal attack on Lawrence King, 15, was a hate crime motivated by homophobia and a budding white supremacist ideology, and they pushed for him to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Prosecutors said McInerney, in a premeditated act of anti-gay rage, approached King from behind while he sat at a computer in his Oxnard school and shot him in the back of the head. He shot him in the head a second time as he lay on the ground.
UNITED STATES
‘Homeless party’ firm closes
An embattled foreclosure law firm that was criticized for a Halloween party that mocked the homeless and was recently shunned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will close. A statement issued on Monday originally said Steven J. Baum P.C. filed notice of mass layoffs with state labor officials, but did not mention closing. Steven J. Baum spokesman Earl Wells confirmed it would shut down completely.
UNITED STATES
Maps removed after protest
The State Department has removed maps of India and Pakistan from its Web site that it said had inaccurate depictions of divided Kashmir. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Monday the India map contained inaccuracies and would be fixed. The corresponding map of Pakistan was also removed. According to Indian media reports, New Delhi objected that all of Jammu and Kashmir was not shown as part of India. Pakistan’s Embassy also took up the issue.
UNITED KINGDOM
Liam used guitar ‘like axe’
In almost two decades since finding fame, Noel and Liam Gallagher have been famous for two things — the scale of their success with band Oasis, and the savagery of their on-off feuds. Now Noel, the older of the two, has launched a dramatic court defense to a libel claim brought by his 39-year-old brother, in which he accuses Liam of leaving abusive messages on his girlfriend’s phone and trying to attack him by “swinging his guitar in the air like an axe.” The libel action was brought by Liam after Noel accused him of missing a performance at a festival because he was hung over.
TURKEY
Ergodan tells Assad to leave
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan yesterday said for the first time that Syrian President Bashar Assad must step down. In his harshest words yet, Ergodan reminded Assad of the bloody end of several former dictators. “For the welfare of your own people and the region, just leave that seat,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in parliament. “If you want to see someone who has fought until death against his own people, just look at Nazi Germany, just look at [Adolf] Hitler, at [Benito] Mussolini, at Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania,” he said. “If you cannot draw any lessons from these, then look at the Libyan leader who was killed just 32 days ago.” His warning came the day after Syrian soldiers opened fire on at least two buses carrying Turkish citizens, in apparent retaliation for Turkey’s previous criticism of Assad.
‘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