PHILIPPINES
Ten South Koreans arrested
Police have arrested 10 South Koreans — eight men and two women — suspected of operating an illegal online gambling site in a posh apartment in Taguig, Metro Manila, Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, head of the national police’s anti-cybercrime group, said yesterday. The raid followed a request from South Korean authorities for help in locating eight fugitives who allegedly fled Seoul and moved their illegal online gambling operation to Manila, Sosa said. He said two of the men arrested were among those wanted in Seoul.
MARSHALL ISLANDS
Castaway heading home
Salvadorean Jose Salvador Alvarenga was yesterday preparing for a faster and more comfortable journey home after 13 months adrift in a small fishing boat. Officials said Alvarenga would leave Majuro for Hawaii tomorrow, before traveling on to El Salvador or Mexico. Alvarenga was born in El Salvador, but had lived for years in Mexico, where he says he set off on a fishing trip in late 2012 before becoming lost and drifting about 12,500km in a small boat. He was found on an atoll on Thursday last week.
CAMBODIA
Buses return to Phnom Penh
People in Phnom Penh are traveling on buses for the first time in more than a decade, as authorities introduced a new public transportation system aimed at relieving traffic jams in the capital. City Hall launched a one-month pilot program yesterday, with 10 buses traveling a single route through the city center. Senior City Hall official Koeut Chhe said that if the program was successful, more buses and routes would be added. Phnom Penh had public buses for a brief period in 2001, but the service was canceled after two months due to lack of interest.
UNITED NATIONS
UN denounces Vatican
A human rights committee yesterday denounced the Vatican for adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children, and urged it to open its files on the pedophiles and the churchmen who concealed their crimes. The committee also severely criticized the Holy See for its attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and abortion and urged it to review its policies to ensure children’s rights and their access to health care. The committee issued its recommendations after subjecting the Holy See to a day-long interrogation last month on its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
UNITED STATES
Drone attack lull in Pakistan
The military has cut back sharply on drone strikes in Pakistan after the Islamabad government asked for restraint while it seeks peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The newspaper quoted an official as saying: “That’s what they asked for, and we didn’t tell them no.” The paper said there had been a lull in such attacks since December last year, the longest break since 2011. It said President Barack Obama’s administration had indicated it would continue carrying out strikes on senior al-Qaeda officials if they were to become available or to thwart any immediate threat to Americans. The paper said the current pause came after a strike in November last year that killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud
SOUTH AFRICA
Trapped miners rescued
Emergency workers yesterday rescued eight miners trapped underground on Tuesday by a fire and rock-fall at Harmony Gold’s Doornkop mine near Johannesburg, but nine other workers remained unaccounted for. The eight had managed to flee to a refuge bay at a depth of 1,700m that was equipped with a telephone and other survival items. “Efforts continue to establish the whereabouts of a further nine employees who are currently unaccounted for,” the company said in a statement.
SOUTH AFRICA
Protesters burn buildings
Police say protesters demanding lower electricity prices have burned down several buildings east of Pretoria, a day after dozens of people were arrested in another violent protest in the area. The South African Press Association quotes police as saying the demonstrators set a clinic, a hall and a house on fire yesterday in the Bronkhorstspruit district. There were no reported injuries. Municipal officials have said residents are protesting because they are unable to buy pre-paid electricity under a system that recently crashed.
TURKEY
New Internet law debated
Parliament was scheduled to begin debate yesterday on new Internet legislation the government says will shield the young from dangerous material, but which critics say is a further erosion of personal freedom in the aspiring EU member. The new measures would allow authorities to keep a record of someone’s Internet activity for up to two years, including Google searches and interactions on social networks such as Facebook. Critics say the Telecommunications Communications Presidency would be able to request and collect communications and traffic data from hosting and service providers, without a court order or a justified reason. The head of the agency would also be able to block any Web site deemed to have infringed someone’s privacy or be discriminatory or insulting.
FRANCE
Thief’s kiss leaves DNA
A jewel thief who sealed his crime with a kiss was caught after detectives analyzed the DNA on his victim’s cheek. The robber and an accomplice had tied up, gagged and threatened the owner of a Paris jewelry store after following her home. They then poured what they said was gasoline over her head and told her they would set it alight if she did not give them the codes for the shop alarm. When one of the robbers returned from clearing out the shop of jewels, the pair released the 56-year-old woman. It was then that the 20-year-old thief made his mistake. “The crook gave the victim a kiss on the cheek,” a police source told Le Parisien newspaper. A few months later, detectives said they discovered that the DNA matched a man who was by then being held on suspicion of other crimes.
NETHERLANDS
Journalist flees Egypt
A Dutch journalist has fled Egypt after it emerged she was one of 20 journalists accused last week of “fabricating news” and being party to an alleged terrorist plot. Rena Netjes, Cairo correspondent for the Parool newspaper and BNR radio, is among four foreigners and 16 Egyptians facing charges of spreading false news while allegedly working for TV network al-Jazeera. Netjes was not initially thought to be involved in the case because her name was misspelled on the charge-sheet, and because she has never worked for al-Jazeera. Following an intervention from Dutch officials, Netjes was allowed to leave Egypt on Monday.
UNITED STATES
Probe into navy trainers
In a new twist to a widening tale of ethical lapses in the military, the navy is investigating cheating allegations against about one-fifth of its trainers at a school for naval nuclear power reactor operators. It is the second exam-cheating scandal to hit the military this year. The navy said its implicated sailors are accused of having cheated on written tests they must pass to be certified as instructors at a nuclear propulsion school at Charleston, South Carolina.
COLOMBIA
Spies target talks: Santos
President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday said that enemies of his government’s efforts to make peace with leftist rebels may have been behind reported spying by members of an elite army cyberunit on the digital communications of government negotiators. “This is totally unacceptable,” Santos told reporters, saying he had ordered a full investigation. Hours later, two army generals were suspended from their posts. The country’s leading news magazine reported that the cyberspies had for more than a year collected e-mails and text messages from Santos’ negotiators at Havana peace talks.
UNITED KINGDOM
Prince plays in living room
When Prince came to London a few years ago, he played more than 20 nights at the vast O2 arena. This time, he played a suburban living room to a dozen people. The enigmatic star flew into London on Tuesday to promote his forthcoming album Plectrum Electrum, recorded with all-female trio 3RDEYEGIRL. His first stop was the East London home of British soul singer Lianne La Havas. In her living room, the band played two acoustic tracks of what Prince called their “funky rock ‘n’ roll,” including the newly released single PretzelBodyLogic. Later, Prince and the band also performed in an unannounced late-night set at the Electric Ballroom, a venue in Camden, London.
‘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