AFGHANISTAN
Partial results suggest runoff
Former minister of foreign affairs Abdullah Abdullah’s lead increased slightly in the partial results for the presidential election released on Sunday, but he and rival Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former finance minister and World Bank official, still seem to be heading for a runoff next month. The winner will replace President Hamid Karzai and will oversee a tumultuous period as the US and NATO are expected to withdraw most of their troops from the country by the end of the year. The latest numbers show Abdullah with 44 percent of the votes tallied so far and Ahmadzai with 33.2 percent. Both Abdullah and Ahmadzai have promised a fresh start with the West amid deteriorating ties and vowed to move ahead with a security pact with the US that Karzai has refused to sign. The partial results represent about half of the estimated 7 million ballots cast in the April 5 poll, with the final count due by May 14.
CHINA
Online porn purge continues
The government has shut down 110 Web sites carrying pornography, canceled more than 3,300 “obscene” accounts on social media sites and deleted 200,000 items deemed pornographic since January in a renewed effort to clean up the Internet, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. The “Cleaning the Web 2014” campaign was launched in response to the spread of online pornography despite repeated bans, according to a circular issued by the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications. Pornography is illegal in the country, but some critics fear the crackdown on material deemed obscene is the government’s latest attempt to tighten its grip on the Web and will be used in broader censorship. The campaign is set to last until November.
JAPAN
Scientist invents digital eyes
For those who cannot be bothered to show what they are thinking, scientist Hirotaka Osawa has the answer: “AgencyGlass,” a pair of digital eyes that can express delight, anger or even feign boredom. “I wanted to build a system that is capable of carrying out social behaviors for humans,” Osawa told reporters. Just as robots can reduce the burden of physical labor, the AgencyGlass — which looks like two small TV screens set in glasses frames — aims to cut down its user’s emotional demands by carrying out their eye movements for them. The two screens are connected to motion sensors and an external camera, showing a pair of eyeballs that can appear to be making eye contact while the wearer is looking away. The wearer has to choose their emotion in advance and switch to that mode before putting the glasses on. Osawa, of Tsukuba University, said possible applications include for flight attendants dealing with irritating passengers. “As the service sector grows and becomes more sophisticated, it becomes increasingly important that we behave by showing understanding to others,” he said. “That requires us to behave differently from our true feelings.” Such “emotional labor” can lead some to develop emotional illnesses, Osawa said, adding that his technology could help them.
MALAYSIA
Man dies after bus falls 10m
A bus plunged into a ravine in Pahang State, killing a British man and injuring 40 others, mostly foreigners, police said yesterday. The bus bound for Singapore fell into the 10m-deep ravine on Sunday, district police chief Yahaya Othman said. A British man, 32, died of head injuries at the scene, he said. The other 37 passengers were hospitalized, along with two Malaysian drivers and a tour guide.
UNITES STATES
Car slams into church
A car on Sunday slammed into a packed Florida church, just as its annual Easter concert was about to begin, barreling through its brick outer wall and several rows of pews and injuring about 20 people, authorities said. The car struck the Second Haitian Baptist Church when about 200 people were inside, Fort Myers police Lieutenant Victor Medico said. When officers arrived, church members were using car jacks to lift the vehicle off from people who were trapped beneath the vehicle, the (Fort Myers) News-Press reported. “Everybody was sitting and the service started and then, bing, the car came in,” said Jean Corjeles, who was in the church when the crash happened. Medico said the driver, a young Haitian woman, told investigators she was looking for a parking spot when the car malfunctioned and it drove “straight into the building,” adding that she said the car’s brakes malfunctioned. Lee Memorial health System spokeswoman Mary Biggs said 18 people were taken to Lee County hospitals, including four trauma patients. One of those four was later discharged.
CUBA
Chinese minister visits
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) was in Havana on Sunday, the first stop on a tour of four Latin American countries. The purpose of the visit was to pave the way for a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) later this year. China is Cuba’s No. 2 economic partner after Venezuela. Beijing is also a critical source of financing for the Americas’ only communist-run nation, which is cash-strapped and cannot get financing from most lenders. Wang met with President Raul Castro in what official media described as a “brotherly exchange that underscored how excellent their bilateral ties are, and that they will continue to improve with an eye toward greater development.” The top Chinese diplomat was due to head to Caracas on Sunday on his second regional stop.
FINLAND
Parachutists die in crash
Officials said eight people died when a small plane carrying parachutists crashed to the ground and caught fire. Detective Superintendent Petri Kangas said three people survived the accident on Sunday after they parachuted from the aircraft above Jamijarvi airfield, about 70km east of Pori. Kangas said investigators did not know the cause of the accident, but that “apparently some parts fell off the plane before it crashed.” Police said the eight victims were found in the badly burned aircraft, a Comp Air 8 kit aircraft, popular among parachutists. Police said all 11 people on board were accounted for and that the three survivors were being treated for minor injuries.
UNITES STATES
Whedon bypasses industry
Joss Whedon is releasing a film he wrote and produced as a US$5 digital download, bypassing the normal channels of independent film distribution. In a video announcement on Sunday following the premiere of the supernatural romance In Your Eyes at the Tribeca Film Festival, Whedon said the film will be released immediately online via Vimeo On Demand and InYourEyesMovie.com. The film stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David. The release will be the second film release for Whedon’s “micro studio” Bellwether Productions, following last year’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. He is now working on the Avengers sequel Age of Ultron, to be released next year.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in