CHINA
Dissident’s wife, son in US
The wife and son of dissident Guo Quan (郭泉), who is serving a 10-year sentence for “subversion,” have left the country for a new life in the US, a rights group said yesterday. Li Jing (李晶) and 12-year-old Guo Yi arrived in Los Angeles on Monday by plane, the US-based ChinaAid group said in an e-mailed statement. “They will be appealing to the US government and international groups to pay close attention to Guo’s case and for help in winning his release,” the group said, without providing further details. Guo was jailed in October 2009 for “subversion of state power.” He was an outspoken critic of the government and advocated a “multiparty, competitively elected democratic system,” according to the US-based Human Rights in China.
PHILIPPINES
Gunmen kill 15 fishermen
Gunmen opened fire on three boats and killed 15 fishermen in what officials yesterday said was likely an attack by a rival group protecting its lucrative fishing grounds. The fishermen were aboard three small, wooden-hulled vessels off Sibago island in Basilan province when about 10 attackers in speedboats fired on them on Monday morning and then sped away, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cagangbang said. One of the survivors told police that their group had been warned to stay away from the fishing grounds where the attack took place, ABS-CBN TV reported.
AUSTRALIA
Asylum talks break down
Negotiations have broken down between the ruling Labor Party and the opposition Liberal Party on a compromise policy to deport asylum seekers to another country. While the two parties agree that sending asylum seekers to another country within the Asia-Pacific region would be the best way to curb the increasing number heading from Indonesia and Malaysia by boat, they said yesterday that their politically charged negotiations had broken down. Prime Minister Julia Gillard accused opposition leader Tony Abbott of failing to negotiate in good faith.
NEW ZEALAND
Breastfeed-driving popular
Police yesterday said they were shocked at the number of mothers they found breastfeeding babies while driving along motorways in Auckland. They said they stopped three breastfeeding drivers this month, while carrying out a 10-day operation aimed at ensuring children were properly restrained in vehicles. Inspector Shanan Gray said the practice placed both mother and child “in an extremely dangerous situation.” Gray said police were also stunned at the number of children being transported in car boots [trunks].”
KAZAKHSTAN
Opposition’s offices raided
Authorities on Monday raided the offices and homes of officials of an unregistered political party and said they have charged one person with inciting social unrest. The National Security Committee said the raids against the Alga Party were part of an investigation into last month’s fatal clashes between police and striking oil workers in the town of Zhanaozen, in which at least 16 people were killed. The raids came just days after Prime Minister Karim Masimov vowed greater political liberalization. Alga Party official Aizhangul Amirova was charged earlier this month with inciting unrest, the committee said. The newspaper Respublika also reported on Monday that the editor of independent newspaper Vzglyad, Igor Vinyavsky, was arrested on charges of inciting the overthrow of the government.
‘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