CHINA
Anonymous hits government
Beijing was struggling yesterday to restore several government Web sites that international hacking group Anonymous said it attacked in a protest against Internet restrictions. On a Twitter account established last month, Anonymous listed the Web sites it said it hacked over the past few days. They include government bureaus in several cities, including in Chengdu. Some of the sites were still blocked yesterday, with error messages shown. Some Web sites that Anonymous said it attacked were working yesterday and government officials denied the sites were ever hacked. The National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team was not available for immediate comment. In a message left on one of the hacked Chinese sites, the hackers expressed anger with the Chinese government for restrictions placed on the Internet: “Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible, today Web sites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall,” the English-language message read.
SINGAPORE
PM rejects xenophobic talk
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) warned against growing anti-immigrant sentiment inflamed by a Chinese student’s insults, telling his countrymen yesterday to avoid stereotypes and not feel resentment toward foreigners. Sun Xu (孫旭), a student from China who was on a government scholarship, was fined last month by the National University of Singapore for calling the city-state’s citizens “dogs” on his blog. Sun apologized, but was ordered to do three months of community service and had his scholarship revoked. “We should not because of one incident make that into an issue, that all immigrants are like that, or that all Singaporeans should feel like that toward non-Singaporeans,” the prime minister said in an interview on state-owned Channel NewsAsia.
SOUTH KOREA
Dolphins ordered released
A court has ordered the release of five illegally captured dolphins which starred in a show on the holiday island of Jeju, a court official said yesterday. The court on Wednesday also fined the company staging the show 10 million won (US$9,000) and passed suspended jail sentences on its president and an employee, the Jeju District Court spokesman said. The government plans to release the dolphins into the ocean unless the court ruling is overturned on appeal. Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said that between 2009 and August 2010 the company purchased 11 dolphins for 7 million to 10 million won each, without reporting the plan to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Five died and one was exchanged for two sea lions from a zoo.
NEW ZEALAND
Cargo ship owner fined
Wellington has filed charges against the owners of a cargo ship that ran aground on a reef six months ago, creating what authorities described as the country’s worst maritime environmental disaster. Maritime New Zealand yesterday charged Daina Shipping with discharging harmful substances from the vessel Rena. The charge carries a maximum fine of NZ$600,000 (US$489,000) plus another NZ$10,000 for each day the offence continues. The Rena ran aground on Oct. 5 last year on the Astrolabe reef near Tauranga, spilling 400 tonnes of fuel oil and killing at least 2,000 sea birds. In January, the wreck split in two. Last month, a preliminary report by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission found that when it crashed, the Rena was taking short cuts to try to reach port by a deadline.
UNITED STATES
Powder in Houston’s toilet
White powder was found in the Beverly Hills hotel bathroom where singer Whitney Houston drowned accidentally in a bathtub in February, according to the full coroner’s report released on Wednesday. Detectives also found a rolled up piece of paper, a small spoon and a mirror — all items used by cocaine users — in the bathroom shortly after Houston’s naked body was found in the bathtub, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s report said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Zoo creates panda love nest
Zoo officials have created a private love nest for Britain’s only pair of giant pandas in hope the fertility-challenged animals will mate — and Wednesday may be their last chance for quite a while. Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo have opened a “love tunnel” between the enclosures of male Yang Guang (陽光) and female Tian Tian (甜甜) in a bid to encourage mating, and have turned off the “panda cam” that allows people to watch the pandas online. It is hoped the privacy will encourage the animals. Giant pandas have difficulty breeding, with females fertile for only two or three days a year.
UNITED STATES
New Orleans cops sentenced
Five former New Orleans police officers were sentenced on Wednesday to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for their roles in deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina. Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon were convicted of firearms charges in the shootings. Retired Sergeant Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, who was assigned to investigate the shootings, was convicted of helping orchestrate the cover-up. Faulcon received the stiffest sentence of 65 years. Bowen and Gisevius each got 40 years, while Villavaso was sentenced to 38 years. Kaufman received the lightest sentence at six years. A federal jury convicted the officers in August last year of civil rights violations in the shootings on the Danziger Bridge and the cover-up.
CHILE
Hate crimes bill progresses
The lower house of Chile’s Congress on Wednesday passed most of a law that would make it a crime to discriminate on the basis of faith or sexual orientation, after a gay man was tortured and beaten to death last month by presumed neo-Nazis. Lower-house lawmakers rejected three clauses that were proposed by the Senate, which passed the bill in November. That means the bill goes back into a joint committee before a final version is produced. The hate crimes bill was introduced back in 2005, but gained new relevance after the death of Daniel Zamudio, 24, an openly gay man who was beaten and tortured on March 3 over a period of six hours.
UNITED STATES
Barbie runs for president
Barbie is running for US president again, the manufacturer of the iconic doll said on Wednesday, this time in a pink power suit from a New York designer whose clients include Michelle Obama. Mattel said its “Barbie I Can Be ... President” doll — developed in collaboration with the White House Project, a women’s leadership development organization — is intended “to plant the seed of leadership in a girl’s mind.” Its pink outfit with patriotic red, white and blue trim and matching pink wedge shoes is the work of New York fashion designer Chris Benz, whose formal wear is favored by the first lady for glittering gala events.
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was