CHINA
Party to check declarations
The Chinese Communist Party will be conducting spot checks this year on assets and other personal information reported by officials and those with hidden wealth will be punished, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Officials are required to submit a broad range of information each January, including personal income, family assets and relatives’ emigration records. The party’s organization and personnel departments will conduct random sampling of the information submitted, Xinhua said.
JAPAN
Bullet train travel disrupted
A fire near a central Tokyo station yesterday threw parts of the nation’s bullet train system into chaos, as tens of thousands of passengers tried to return home from New Year holidays. The early-morning fire sent plumes of black smoke over Yurakucho station — gateway to the Ginza shopping area. No casualties were reported, but the blaze at commercial buildings next to railway tracks near the station forced the suspension of all bullet trains departing from Tokyo to Nagoya and Osaka and from Osaka to Tokyo. It also stopped major commuter lines in Tokyo. The blaze was reported around 6:30am and possibly started in a games arcade, according to Tokyo Fire Department, which sent more than 40 fire engines to the scene.
LEBANON
Car bombing kills four
A car bomb killed four people in south Beirut on Thursday, the fourth attack to hit the Hezbollah bastion since the Shiite group announced its intervention in Syria last year, Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said. He said four people had been killed, 77 wounded, and the remains of a fifth person had also been found. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said it may have been a suicide bombing. The army said 20kg of explosives had been planted inside a four-by-four vehicle.
CHINA
Axe murderer sentenced
A man who killed three children and injured 13 others in an axe attack at an elementary school in September 2012 has been sentenced to death, the China News Service said on Thursday. Wu Yechang was condemned to die by the Intermediate People’s Court in Guigang in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He was also ordered to pay the victims’ families a total of 19,316 yuan (US$3,200), it said, citing a local court in Pingnan County. The sentence must be confirmed by the supreme court.
CHINA
Uighur transfer condemned
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday criticized the US for sending the last three Uighur Chinese inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center to Slovakia. Spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said the three were members of the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement and “not only threaten China’s security, they will threaten the security of the country that receives them.”
CANADA
Ford to run for another term
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has put his name on the ballot to run for another term, defying repeated calls for him to step down after admitting he smoked crack “in a drunken stupor.” Ford was the first candidate to show up at Toronto City Hall when registration opened on Thursday for the city’s municipal election on Oct. 27. He promised “Ford more years” and also called himself “the best mayor this city has ever had.” The conservative mayor of the nation’s largest city has said he would run again, even after the revelations last year about his drug use pushed him into the international media spotlight. Ford has faced intense pressure to resign over that and other erratic behavior that has embarrassed many residents. In the weeks since the revelations, Ford said he has quit drinking and adopted a healthier lifestyle.
LIBYA
Two bodies found on beach
Troops on Thursday found the bodies of a British man and a New Zealand woman shot dead southwest of Tripoli, a security source said. “The bodies of a British man and a New Zealand woman, who had been killed by bullets, were found on the beach in Mellitah on Thursday afternoon,” the source said. The bodies had been moved to Tripoli, the source added, without giving any details on the circumstances of the deaths. The Mellitah area houses a major gas complex run by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint enterprise of Italy’s ENI and Libya’s state-owned National Oil Co, which exports natural gas to Italy through the Greenstream pipeline.
ITALY
Berlusconi files an appeal
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi filed an appeal on Thursday against his conviction for paying for sex with a minor and abuse of office over former teenage nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, legal sources said on Thursday. Berlusconi was sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from holding public office after being found guilty of paying for sex with El Mahroug, better known as “Ruby the Heartstealer,” when she was a minor. He was also found guilty of abusing his powers as prime minister to have her released from police custody over separate theft allegations.
GERMANY
Critics slam new Pets Deli
The nation’s first restaurant for dogs and cats opened in Berlin over the holidays, drawing charges the luxury eatery for furry friends is “decadent.” “Does Berlin really need a gourmet restaurant for dogs?” asked the top-selling Bild daily. Pets Deli offers its tasty treats for domestic animals in the upscale neighborhood of Grunewald, with meals priced from about US$4. They are sold to go in plastic trays or can be consumed on-site in metal bowls set before homey wooden logs, while their owners have a coffee. “A store this decadent gives the impression that we do more for animals than for children,” said Wolfgang Buescher, of the Ark charity, which works with disadvantaged minors.
UNITED STATES
Fire damages consulate
A fire set intentionally at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, officials said. The fire was ignited at the front of the building, leading to an arson investigation and calls from the Chinese government for better protection of diplomats in the US, the FBI said. “An incendiary device fueled by gas was detonated at the consulate,” FBI special agent David Johnson said at a press conference on Thursday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing