NEPAL
Tibetan monk immolates
A Tibetan monk yesterday set himself on fire near the Boudhanath temple in Kathmandu in what is believed to be the latest protest against Chinese rule over Tibet. He was taken to the Tribhuwan University hospital in critical condition with much of his body burned, officials said.
CHINA
Heat foils death scam
A soft drinks vendor’s plan to fake his own death failed when he could not play dead long enough in scorching heat, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. More than 10 men claimed the vendor had been beaten to death in Wuhan by chengguan, who are tasked with enforcing non-criminal regulations. A crowd of more than 300 people soon gathered, demanding tens of thousands of yuan in compensation while the vendor, surnamed Han, lay on a stretcher covered by a sheet, the report said. However, Han suddenly jumped up, took a drink from a bottle of water, and said: “It’s too hot. I can’t bear it anymore,” Xinhua reported. Han and two others have been detained for disturbing public order, it said.
SOUTH KOREA
Media baron arrested
Police have arrested the chairman of one of the nation’s major newspapers on charges of embezzling millions of dollars. Chang Jae-ku, owner of the Hankook Ilbo group, which includes several dailies, magazines and a cable channel, was arrested on Monday night. Chang, 65, is accused of embezzling company funds worth 13 billion won (US$11.6 million) for his personal use and causing the group a further financial loss of 30 billion won by offering business benefits to his creditors.
AUSTRALIA
Lawmaker apologizes
A Queensland state lawmaker accused of sending raunchy pictures of himself to a woman stepped down as the head of an ethics committee yesterday, apologizing to his family and dubbing the scandal indefensible. The allegations against Peter Dowling emerged after the Courier-Mail reported yesterday that a woman claiming to be Dowling’s mistress sent a letter detailing their two-and-a-half-year affair to the speaker of the state parliament. The newspaper said it had seen several explicit text messages between Dowling and the woman, including a picture of a penis resting in a glass of wine.
PHILIPPINES
Dutch activist ‘deported’
The government yesterday said it was deporting a Dutch activist who was photographed confronting a police officer during a rally last month denouncing the policies of President Benigno Aquino III. A deportation order was issued against Thomas van Beersum for violating conditions of his tourist visa, said Wilson Soluren, head of Manila airport’s immigration intelligence unit. Van Beersum was prevented from boarding a flight home yesterday morning because officials needed to verify if any court cases were pending against him, Soluren said. He was later booked on the next available flight. Rey Cortez, the activist’s lawyer, said officials just wanted to harass his client by requiring him to obtain a “clearance” to leave.
INDIA
Kashmir post attacked
Minister of Defence A.K. Antony yesterday said a militant attack on an army post in Kashmir killed five soldiers. “The ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with others dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms,” Antony said. Pakistan has denied involvement.
CANADA
Escaped python kills two
A python escaped from its enclosure at a pet store in Campbellton, New Brunswick, slithered through a ventilation system into an upstairs apartment and killed two young boys as they slept, police said on Monday. The brothers, aged five and seven, were visiting the apartment of a friend above Reptile Ocean, an exotic pet store, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Julie Rogers-Marsh said. The snake was captured and is in the possession of police, Rogers-Marsh said.
SOMALIA
Puntland cuts central ties
The semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Monday it had cut all ties with the central government. Puntland accused the Mogadishu government of refusing to share power and foreign aid with the regions in line with the country’s federal structure, as well as taking its eye off the fight against al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants. It said it would only resume normal relations with Mogadishu when the central government respected the country’s federal structure. There was no immediate response from the federal government.
PARAGUAY
Hundreds dig for gold
They appeared out of nowhere, making a mess, operating without a permit and disrupting the soccer season by luring gawkers, but who can resist 10 tonnes of buried gold? That is what a team of 20 men say they have been digging for since Friday in the middle of an Asuncion suburb. Alberto Diaz, the leader of the bunch, says he has historical references suggesting the alleged gold trove belonged to Francisco Solano Lopez — a military hero who died in a 19th century war against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. However, the digging has started causing landslides and water is gushing at the dig site. The Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday the team was digging without a permit.
UNITED STATES
Gunman kills three at meet
A gunman opened fire at a small town meeting on Monday in Pennsylvania, killing at least three people, police said. Three others were wounded in the attack, and the gunman was also injured and receiving medical care, the local NBC affiliate reporter. The meeting of town supervisors in Ross Township, Monroe County, was scheduled to begin at 7pm. Just 23 minutes later, emergency calls started coming in, the broadcaster said. The Pocono Record local paper reported that an official had tackled the shooter and shot him with his own weapon.
FRANCE
Lloyd’s offers reward
Insurers Lloyd’s of London yesterday offered up to 1 million euros (US$1.3m) for information leading to the recovery of jewels stolen from a Cannes hotel last month worth an estimated 103 million euros. On July 28, an armed man pulled off a brazen heist in broad daylight at the luxury Carlton Hotel. Brandishing a semi-automatic pistol, the robber stole jewels that were part of an exhibition by a group owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
BRAZIL
Rio police head fired
Colonel Erir da Costa Filho, head of the military police in Rio de Janeiro, has been forced from his job after he decreed an amnesty for police officers who committed undefined “administrative” infractions since 2011. Jose Beltrame, Rio’s top security official, fired Costa after publicly questioning his amnesty decree and demanding explanations for what infractions were forgiven.
‘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