THAILAND
Drug dealer suspects killed
Eight suspected drug dealers were killed yesterday in a clash with security forces who seized weapons and a large amount of illegal amphetamines, the military said. A team of police and soldiers encountered up to 10 suspects while on patrol in northern Chiang Rai Province early yesterday, resulting in a shoot-out that lasted about 10 minutes, according to a statement. About 700,000 amphetamine pills were seized along with 55kg of crystal methamphetamine, one AK-47 rifle, two pistols and 10 bullets, it said. There were no reports of any casualties among the security forces.
NEW ZEALAND
‘Legal high’ drugs banned
The government yesterday announced plans to ban the use of drugs offering so-called ‘legal’ highs unless manufacturers can provide clinical evidence they are safe. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne described the move as a knockout blow to the market for products such as synthetic cannabis and legal “party pills,” which mimic the effects of drugs like ecstasy without using illicit substances. Dunne said current legislation was failing because as soon as regulators banned a synthetic drug, manufacturers simply tweaked its formula slightly and relaunched it in the marketplace. At the moment, authorities must prove a synthetic drug is harmful before ordering it off the shelves. Dunne said that under the new law, all synthetic psychoactive drugs would be illegal until their producers provide clinical proof, such as toxicology reports and evidence from human trials, that they are safe.
SOUTH KOREA
Police pursue escaped bear
Police shot dead one bear and another was on the run after the pair of female six-year-olds escaped from a farm on the outskirts of Seoul on Saturday, a report said. The bears broke out of their pen in Yongin, about 40km from Seoul, the Yonhap news agency said, quoting police. About 20 police hunters and 10 dogs went after the bears and one of them was shot dead about three hours later. The other remains on the loose. No one was hurt at the farm, which raises about 100 bears, police officer Wi Ma-seok said.
CHINA
Japan ambassador recalled
Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa has returned to Tokyo for talks amid new tensions between the two countries over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Niwa returned to Japan on Sunday to discuss bilateral relations following an order from Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba. Niwa told reporters at Beijing airport that consultations would center on recent developments over the islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyutai (釣魚台) in Chinese. Japan controls the uninhabited islands, but Taipei and Beijing also claim sovereignty. Conservative lawmakers criticized Niwa last month for opposing plans to nationalize the islands to strengthen Tokyo’s claim to them.
INDIA
Bush crash killed at least 15
Police say a passenger bus has fallen into a gorge in the mountains of Kashmir, killing at least 15 people, with at least 17 others injured. Police officer Anil Mangotra said the driver apparently lost control on a sharp bend on a highway near Ramban, a town about 150km south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-held Kashmir. The bus fell 40m into the gorge at about midnight on Saturday. The injured have been hospitalized, the official said on Sunday.
CANADA
Lightning injures 17
Seventeen people were injured and taken to hospital on Sunday after lightning struck a tent pole at an outdoor food festival in Whitby, Ontario, during a storm, police and officials said. Whitby Ribfest organizer Colin O’Regan told public broadcaster CBC, that the injured had been eating inside the tent when the incident occurred. Police said the 17 people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
POLAND
Tornadoes kill one, injure 10
A freak wave of summer tornadoes has struck the north and west of the country, killing at least one person and injuring 10. An area around Bory Tucholskie forest was hit by a twister between 800m and 1,000m wide. More than 400 hectares of woodland were flattened in the area, authorities said, and more than 100 houses destroyed. Power lines were downed and roads were closed as hundreds of firefighters worked to clear away fallen trees. Firefighter Mieczyslaw Torlop told the TVN station that one man was killed after being crushed by his house, which collapsed.
CANADA
Body found after landslide
Police say emergency crews have found the body of one of four people missing after a massive landslide crushed several homes in a tiny western town. British Columbian Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said on Sunday that an adult male body was recovered near a home swept away by the landslide in the small hamlet of Johnsons Landing in British Columbia. She said crews would try to recover the three remaining bodies. At least three homes were crushed after a wall of rock, mud and trees cascaded down the side of a mountain earlier this week.
UNITED KINGDOM
Tutu urges Kenya settlement
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused the country of neglecting its human-rights duties over a case brought by Kenyans allegedly abused by British colonial officials in the 1950s, the Times reported yesterday. The case of three elderly Kenyans who claim to have been tortured during the Mau Mau uprising began at London’s High Court yesterday. The government contends it is not legally liable for the alleged abuses, saying responsibility was transferred to the Kenyan government upon independence in 1963. In a letter sent to the British government six months ago, Tutu said that Britain’s “reliance on legal technicality” would undermine its “reputation and authority as a champion for human rights,” according to the paper. The three say their brutal treatment included systematic abuse, torture, castration, rape and hard labor. More than 10,000 people were killed in the 1952 to 1960 uprising.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Murder suspects arrested
Police have arrested three men accused of killing a Swiss citizen who imported wines into the Caribbean country. Police allege the three suspects conspired with two others to rob Stahli Roland Eugen at his home on a farm near the eastern city of El Seibo. Detectives allege the gunmen believed Eugen had US$60,000 in a safe inside his home. Eugen was shot in the right leg during the robbery and bled to death. He had recently returned to his Dominican Republic home from New York when the robbers cut through burglar bars on his bathroom window. Police say they found a pistol they allege was the murder weapon buried in the yard of the house of one of the arrested men. Two others are being sought, including a former soldier.
‘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