CHINA
Cash offered for beard tips
Xinjiang authorities are offering cash to informants who report on neighbors with excessive facial hair, the Global Times has reported. Officials in Shaya County issued a notice offering rewards ranging from 50 yuan to more than 50,000 yuan (US$8 to US$8,000) for a wide array of information, including tips on those growing beards, the paper said on Thursday. Rewards also cover information on locals “conducting illegal religious activities,” the paper said. A Kashgar resident said that to enter government offices, banks or courts, women have to remove their veils and men must be clean-shaven.
CAMBODIA
No extradition for Russian
The Supreme Court yesterday that a prominent Russian property developer wanted in his homeland for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars cannot be extradited. Judge Kim Sothavy said that the law did not allow for the sending 41-year-old Sergei Polonsky back to Russia because the countries do not have an extradition treaty. The tycoon was charged in Russia in June last year with embezzling more than 5.7 billion rubles (US$175 million) from 80 investors. He was arrested in November last year, but released on bail in January.
CAMBODIA
Labor activists’ trial begins
Twenty-three activists and workers arrested during a deadly crackdown on a garment industry strike in January went on trial yesterday despite international appeals for their release. Rights groups say if convicted the defendants — most of whom have been detained for months without bail — could face up to five years’ imprisonment on charges that include committing intentional violence. Several hundred demonstrators gathered near the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as the trial began.
INDONESIA
Drunk triggers hijack alert
The pilot of a Virgin Australia plane flying from Brisbane to Bali yesterday reported a hijacking attempt after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit, an Indonesian official said. A Virgin Australia Airlines official said there had not been an attempt to hijack the aircraft, but a “flight emergency” after a 28-year-old male passenger who was drunk had banged on the door of the cockpit trying to get in. Crew members seized the passenger, who authorities identified as Australian Matt Christopher, and handcuffed him. Police arrested him shortly after the plane landed in Bali.
ITALY
Giant crucifix crushes man
A man was crushed to death on Wednesday by a giant crucifix honoring pope John Paul II that collapsed during a ceremony ahead of the late pope’s canonization tomorrow in Rome. The 30m high wooden cross toppled over during an event near the Alpine village of Cevo, killing Marco Gusmini, 21. Cevo’s mayor said further celebrations to mark the pope’s elevation to sainthood have been cancelled.
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema
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
‘DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY’: The melting of thousands of glaciers is a major threat to people in the landlocked region that already suffers from a water shortage Near a wooden hut high up in the Kyrgyz mountains, scientist Gulbara Omorova walked to a pile of gray rocks, reminiscing how the same spot was a glacier just a few years ago. At an altitude of 4,000m, the 35-year-old researcher is surrounded by the giant peaks of the towering Tian Shan range that also stretches into China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The area is home to thousands of glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate in Central Asia, already hard-hit by climate change. A glaciologist, Omarova is recording that process — worried about the future. She hiked six hours to get to
The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has hit a record high of more than 95,000, almost 90 percent of whom are women, government data showed yesterday. The figures further highlight the slow-burning demographic crisis gripping the world’s fourth-biggest economy as its population ages and shrinks. As of Sept. 1, Japan had 95,119 centenarians, up 2,980 year-on-year, with 83,958 of them women and 11,161 men, the Japanese Ministry of Health said in a statement. On Sunday, separate government data showed that the number of over-65s has hit a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3 percent of