CHINA
No Bo trial before March
Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) will not stand trial until March at the earliest, state media said yesterday, as about 40 journalists descended on a court rumored to be hearing his case this week. Speculation mounted on Friday that details of the biggest scandal to hit the Chinese Communist Party in decades would be heard at a court in the southwestern city of Guiyang, after reports in a Hong Kong newspaper. Bo, the former party chief of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, faces charges of “bending the law,” taking bribes and “improper sexual relations with multiple women.” However, the Guiyang court denied it was scheduled to hear the case. The Global Times newspaper, citing “a source close to the country’s top judicial body” said the trial would not take place until after China’s annual National People’s Congress meeting in March.
SOUTH KOREA
Rapist files porn lawsuit
A jailed rapist has filed a lawsuit against prison authorities seeking the return of hundreds of pornographic photos seized from his cell, an official said yesterday. The 46-year-old sued after 200 photographs were confiscated when he was transferred to a prison in the southwestern city of Gwangju late last year, a spokesman at the facility said. While prisoners are allowed adult magazines, the images obtained by the rapist were “out of line,” the spokesman said. “Allowing him to keep them runs counter to the prison’s purpose of rehabilitation, given their sheer volume and the level of obscenity,” the spokesman said. In his lawsuit, the convict claimed he was being deprived of items deemed necessary during incarceration.
CHINA
Teen gets political role
The country’s choice as one of the most important figures in the Tibetan religious hierarchy has been given his first political appointment, state media said yesterday, aged just 16. Beijing enthroned Sonam Phuntsok in 2000 as the seventh Reting Rinpoche, a line of figures who have traditionally taken charge between the death of Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the identification of his successor. His selection was seen as an attempt by Beijing to increase its control over reincarnations of Tibetan lamas and to legitimize its rule over the region. The teenager has become the youngest member of the Tibet Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the China Daily said, and has pledged to uphold “patriotism.” In an interview with the state-run newspaper following his appointment, the teenager was quoted as saying he would “keep the Reting lineage of patriotism and the love for the religion.”
TURKEY
Ankara bans hookahs
After banning smoking in public places, the government has gone one step further by clamping down on an ancient tradition — the hookah, or water pipe. As of Sunday it is no longer permitted to smoke the “hubbly-bubbly” in cafes, bars or restaurants as the conservative Islamic government cracks down on tobacco use. In 2009 the government made it illegal to smoke in public places, but only barred use of the hookah by minors, and cafes continued to offer fruity tobacco mixes in water pipes, drawing the wrath of health authorities. Health experts warn that its fruity flavors make users forget that they are in fact inhaling tobacco, and say that since the smoke lasts longer than a cigarette it is even more dangerous.
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
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
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