QATAR
Poet’s sentence reduced
An appeals court has reduced the sentence of a jailed poet from a life term to 15 years for a verse considered offensive to the nation’s ruler. Despite the reduction, poet Mohammed al-Ajami denounced Qatar’s judicial system in a court session yesterday held under heavy security. The case has brought international appeals by rights groups and is part of widening crackdowns by Gulf Arab nations against free expression, including sentences for social media posts deemed insulting to leaders. Al-Ajami was given a life sentence last month for a verse posted online in 2010 that spoke about the traits needed to be a good leader. He also wrote a poem in 2011 that lauded the Arab Spring rebellions and criticized Arab governments that restrict freedoms.
MAURITIUS
Hidden continent discovered
Scientists said on Sunday they had found traces of a micro-continent hidden underneath the Indian Ocean. The slab, dubbed Mauritia, was probably formed about 61 to 83 million years ago after Madagascar split from India, but eventually broke up and became smothered by thick lava deposits, they said. In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists analyzed beach sand on Mauritius that contained ancient zircons between 660 million and about 2 billion years old. The minute chips of mineral were a remarkable find, as they were buried in sand formed only recently in geological terms — from 9-million-year-old volcanic rock.
NEPAL
Sherpa breaks record
A Nepalese woman mountaineer has been recognized by Guinness World Records for climbing Mount Everest twice in the same climbing season. Tourism Minister Posta Bahadur Bogati handed over the certificate issued by Guinness World Records to 29-year-old Chhurim who scaled the 8,850m summit on May 12 last year and again a week later on May 19. Chhurim, who like most Nepalese Sherpas use only one name, said she plans to climb other high peaks in the future. Everest has been climbed by nearly 4,000 climbers, but women climbers make up only a small portion of that number, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
CYPRUS
Anastasiades claims win
Rightwinger Nicos Anastasiades romped to victory in the presidential election on Sunday, vowing to secure an “earliest possible” bailout for the financially crippled EU state and winning support from the European Commission. Replacing the only communist president in the EU, the leader of the right-wing Disy party won 57.5 percent of the vote in a second round runoff against communist-backed Stavros Malas, who polled 42.5 percent, final results showed. “We intend to discuss and cooperate ... with our European partners so as to achieve the earliest possible completion of the MoU” bailout accord, while protecting “vulnerable groups, social cohesion and peaceful labor relations,” he said in a victory address. “We will implement an ambitious program of structural changes and reforms both in the state and in our economy,” said Anastasiades, whose win was celebrated by jubilant supporters — in a sea of Greek rather than Cyprus flags — in a packed Nicosia stadium. “Cyprus belongs in Europe. We will restore our credibility in the European and international arena,” the bestactacled pro-EU leader of a proudly Hellenistic party said.
‘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