SOUTH KOREA
Police injured in protest
Almost 40 police officers were injured when a street protest against a free-trade agreement with the US turned violent, police said yesterday. Some of about 2,200 people staging the rally punched and kicked officers during the protest in central Seoul’s Gwanghwamun area on Saturday evening, a spokesman for the National Police Agency said. Among those hurt was a district police chief. Most of the injuries were minor. Police deployed about 8,000 officers along with dozens of police buses to restrict access to the protest site. There have been near-nightly demonstrations in central Seoul since the ruling party on Tuesday pushed the long-delayed trade deal through parliament against opposition protests. The deal “should be nullified as it will eat into the [South] Korean economy, only to fatten US capital,” protesters shouted, according to Yonhap news agency.
MALAYSIA
Women-only taxis launched
The country has launched a fleet of women-only taxis, an initiative that follows pink-colored train coaches and buses aimed at shielding women from harassment, reports said yesterday. Fifty women taxi drivers have started plying greater Kuala Lumpur on an on-call basis and the government hopes the number of special taxis will expand to 400, the Star and the New Straits Times dailies reported. Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Heng Seai Kei (王賽芝) was quoted as saying the taxis made traveling safer for women, as well as providing jobs for women who wanted to be taxi drivers. “We hope it will reduce the number of rape and robbery cases involving taxi drivers and female victims,” Heng was quoted as saying at the launch of the service.
INDONESIA
Hunt continues after collapse
Rescuers hunted for survivors yesterday after a busy bridge spanning the Mahakam River in Borneo collapsed, killing four people and injuring 19, officials said. A public bus, cars and motorcycles plunged into the river in Kutai Kartanegara Regency after the 720m long structure — built to resemble San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge — collapsed on Saturday. “We have recovered four bodies and rescued 39 people,” search and rescue agency head Harmoni Adi in East Kalimantan province said. “Rescuers are diving in the river to search for survivors, but it’s difficult because of low visibility under water and strong currents. I don’t know if we can find more survivors, but the search will continue.” The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear, but disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said a steel support cable snapped as workers were repairing it. “That probably caused the collapse,” he said.
PHILIPPINES
S Koreans abandoned: army
An army general said kidnappers abandoned two South Korean businessmen as troops closed in on them in the restive south. The gunmen had been holding three South Korean businessmen. The first, Choi Inn-so, was released on Friday, apparently because he fell ill. On Saturday, the other two were found in Lanao del Norte province. Major General Noel Coballes said Wu Seok-bung and Kim Nam-du were weak and starving when troops found them. Coballes said yesterday a guide seized with the South Koreans on Oct. 21 was reportedly shot in captivity, but that troops would continue to look for him and the kidnappers. The group was checking on a mining investment and had failed to return to their hotel.
NETHERLANDS
Cheese waiting in space
Astronaut Andre Kuipers will have a special treat waiting for him in orbit when he arrives in space next month: 5kg of Amsterdam’s finest cheese, its maker said on Saturday. The 53-year-old Kuipers is due to blast off on board a Soyuz rocket on Dec. 21 with two other astronauts for a five-month-mission on board the International Space Station (ISS). “Andre is a big fan of our cheese and asked us in a letter to arrange with space authorities to see if we could send up some of his favorite Old Amsterdam,” the cheesemaker’s spokeswoman Henriette Westland said. “After numerous e-mails to NASA and the European Space Agency, they agreed to send up around 10kg,” she added. She said the traditional Dutch dairy product had to be specially cut and wrapped before being shipped to Houston and then to Kazakhstan, where 5kg was blasted off on board a cargo rocket to the ISS at the end of last month.
MALI
Timbuktu tourists evacuated
Authorities on Saturday evacuated the last tourists from the ancient city of Timbuktu, a day after three foreigners were kidnapped and another killed, an airport official said. About 20 tourists were flown by government-chartered aircraft to Mopti, south of Timbuktu, and to the capital, Bamako. On Friday, an armed gang snatched a Swede, a Dutchman and a man with dual British-South African nationality from a restaurant on Timbuktu’s central square and killed a German who tried to resist, officials said. The latest kidnappings brought to five the number of foreigners taken hostage in the country in 48 hours, after two French nationals, described as a geologist and an engineer, were taken from their hotel in Hombori, 240km to the south, early on Thursday.
IRAN
Focus turns to Turkey
The country will target NATO’s missile shield in neighboring Turkey if it is threatened by military action, the commander of the aerospace division of the Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday. “We are prepared to first target the NATO defense missile shield in Turkey if we are threatened. And then we’ll move on to other targets,” Amir-Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency. Although Iranian officials have said several times they could retaliate with ballistic missiles against Israel if attacked, Hajizadeh’s remark was the first time the Revolutionary Guards spoke of targeting Turkey. Speculation has intensified in Israel that it was preparing air strikes on Iran to hit nuclear facilities following a Nov. 8 report by the UN nuclear watchdog strongly suggesting Tehran was researching atomic weapons.
LIBYA
Seif promised fair trial
Seif al-Islam, the son of former leader Muammar Qaddafi, will receive a fair trial and is free to select his own defense team, former justice minister Mohammed al-Allagui told reporters on Saturday. Seif “will see a fair trial according to international standards” and will be “given the right to select his panel of defense from Libya or outside the country,” Allagui said. The former minister, who was replaced last week by Ali H’mida Ashur, said that the trial “will be seen or monitored by the international community either officially or unofficially” and that the world could “trust the Libyan justice of today.” On Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the trial of Seif al-Islam, who is accused of crimes against humanity, could be held in Libya under ICC auspices.
UNITED STATES
Students return from Cairo
One of three US students arrested during protests in Cairo says they were hit and threatened with guns, and described that first night in custody as the scariest of his life. Nineteen-year-old Derrik Sweeney spoke with reporters shortly after arriving at St Louis’ international airport late on Saturday. Sweeney, 19-year-old Gregory Porter and 21-year-old Luke Gates were arrested a week ago on the roof of a university building near Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. However, Sweeney says they “never did anything to hurt anyone.” An Egyptian court ordered their release on Thursday. All arrived in their home states on Saturday night. Gates said he did not take what happened as a negative experience.
UNITED STATES
Pepper-sprayer surrenders
A woman who pepper-sprayed other Black Friday shoppers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart so she could get an Xbox video game console at a deep discount has turned herself in, police said on Saturday. The woman, whose name was not released, but who has been described as Hispanic and in her 30s, surrendered at a police station on Friday, following the incident that left at least 10 people injured. “The investigation is still ongoing,” Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) spokesman Bruce Borihahn said, adding that the woman’s name and eventual charges filed against her would be made public at a later time. “We have several victims and witnesses that need to be interviewed to determine what appropriate actions need to be taken.” An LAPD spokesman said at least 10 customers, including children, were injured and had filed police complaints. A fire department spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that 20 people were treated for injuries. The incident, along with several shootings, marred the start of the US holiday shopping season that traditionally begins after the Thanksgiving holiday with Black Friday bargains.
UNITED STATES
‘Snowman’ fights police
Who says Frosty the Snowman has to be jolly? A man in a Frosty the Snowman costume was arrested on Saturday during the annual Christmas parade in Chestertown, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He is accused of scuffling with police and kicking at a police dog. Police Sergeant John Dolgos told the Star Democrat that 52-year-old Kevin Michael Walsh became agitated when a dog-handling officer tried to escort him away from the crowd. Walsh said that he has dressed as Frosty in the parade for at least 10 years. He said he did nothing wrong and was wrongfully arrested. He said an officer hassled him after he made a joke about the police dog’s presence at the parade. Walsh was released on personal recognizance.
MEXICO
‘Zombies’ break record
Nearly 10,000 people dressed as zombies marched in Mexico’s capital on Saturday for a “Zombie Walk,” breaking a Guinness record for the largest gathering of undead, organizers said. The more than 9,600 participants gathered at Mexico City’s Monument to the Revolution, with blood on their faces and burnt or torn clothing, before marching silently to Zocalo square. Guinness World Records currently recognizes the “New Jersey Zombie Walk” in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on Oct. 30 last year as the record holder, but a group from Brisbane, Australia, is also seeking Guinness recognition for gathering 8,000 people there last month.
‘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