CHINA
Jailed activist released
Activist Xu Wanping (許萬平), who has spent a total of 20 years in detention, has been freed from prison, New York-based campaign group Human Rights in China and US-funded Radio Free Asia said yesterday. Xu, a former factory worker and member of the outlawed Chinese Democracy Party, was released this week from Yuzhou jail in Chongqing. He was sentenced in 2005 to 12 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” He told the radio station yesterday that he had been freed after authorities granted him a three-year reduction. However, he will be deprived of his political rights for four years.
PHILIPPINES
Clash with rebels kills 15
At least 15 people were killed when security forces and Islamist militants exchanged mortar fire for three hours on Tuesday on Sulu, marine Brigadier-General Martin Pinto said yesterday. He said a soldier was killed and 19 others were wounded as sporadic fighting continued early yesterday in Patikul. Pinto said about 300 Abu Sayyaf rebels launched an offensive to retake their base in Patikul after soldiers captured it on Monday.
CHINA
Zhou protege expelled
A top provincial official reportedly linked to former Chinese Communist Party leader Zhou Yongkang (周永康) has been expelled from the party, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said late on Tuesday. Li Chuncheng (李春城) was described as “morally degenerate” in a statement released by the commission, which also said he was expelled from his “official position.” Li was mayor of Chengdu when Zhou was party boss of Sichuan Province from 1999 to 2002. State media reported in 2012 that Li had been dismissed as Sichuan’s deputy party secretary for “serious violations of discipline.”
YEMEN
Soldiers killed in clashes
Suspected al-Qaeda militants killed 18 soldiers in separate ambushes on Tuesday as the army launched a ground offensive against their remaining strongholds in the south, medical and security sources said. Twelve militants were killed when the ambush in Shabwa Province sparked a firefight, tribal sources said. Ten soldiers were also wounded and 15 captured, medics and an officer said.
CAMBODIA
Asylum deal mulled
Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Ouch Borith has said the country has tentatively agreed to accept asylum seekers who had been seeking to settle in Australia in a potential deal criticized by refugee advocates. He told reporters on Tuesday there was an agreement in principle with Canberra to take the asylum seekers, who are being held in camps in Nauru. However, Phnom Penh had not yet approved the deal, he said. Ouch Barith told reporters that Phnom Penh would act out of humanitarian concerns and that a deal did not hinge on how much money it might be paid.
UAE
Scorpions’ drummer jailed
The drummer for German rock band Scorpions has been in jail for almost a month after being arrested for “insulting” Islam and offensive behavior at Dubai’s international airport, media reported yesterday. James Kottak, a US citizen, was detained on April 3 while in transit to Bahrain, where he was to perform, according to the reports. He was sentenced on Tuesday to one month in jail by an Emirati court and based on time served would soon be released.
MEXICO
Alleged thieves killed
Mexico City officials said on Tuesday that an unidentified man disarmed a thief trying to rob passengers aboard a bus, then shot him and another thief to death before fleeing. The Mexico City prosecutors’ office said the bodies of two men were found at the scene of the shooting on Monday, as were two pistols — one of them a toy. The office quoted witnesses as saying the two men had started robbing passengers at gunpoint when one bus rider wrestled a gun away from one thief, shot him and then killed the accomplice. The other thief may have been holding the toy pistol. No arrests have been made in the shootings.
SPAIN
Suit filed over statue award
The government is being taken to court over a minister’s decision to give the country’s top policing award to a statue of the Virgin Mary. Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernandez Diaz singled out an icon of the Virgin Mary in Malaga to receive the gold medal of police merit — which is normally reserved for police who have died in terrorist attacks. Announcing the award in February, Diaz lauded the Virgin and her congregation for “maintaining a close collaboration with police, particularly during the acts celebrated in Holy Week, and for sharing police values such as dedication, caring, solidarity and sacrifice.” Jose Maria Benito, from the police union, told the online daily El Boletin: “Give the Virgin whatever you like, take her some flowers ... but don’t give her a police medal.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Chopper used in rescue
A 68-year-old woman had to be rescued by helicopter on Tuesday after she fell and became trapped on one of the towers of historic Wells Cathedral. A Royal Air Force chopper winched the woman 45m to safety after she became trapped in a gap between two walls in the bell tower. She was freed after three hours and taken to hospital suffering from hip, arm and leg injuries.
UNITED STATES
FedEx shooting wounds six
A FedEx employee wearing ammunition draped across his chest “like Rambo” opened fire on Tuesday at a package-sorting center outside Atlanta, Georgia, wounding six people before apparently committing suicide, police and witnesses said. In addition to a shotgun, the gunman also had an undisclosed number of Molotov cocktails, but he did not use them, police said. Three of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition. The suspect, identified by police as 19-year-old Geddy Kramer of Acworth, was found dead inside. He worked as a package handler at the facility, police Sergeant Dana Pierce said. The company offered no details about the attack, saying only that it was “focused on the needs of our team members and cooperating with the law enforcement investigation of this tragedy.”
CANADA
Whale of a concern
The 60 tonne carcass of a blue whale rotting along the shoreline of a Newfoundland town has triggered concerns that it could burst. Trout River town cleark Emily Butler on Tuesday said the 26m blue whale is beached next to a community boardwalk and is emitting a powerful stench that is spreading through the town of 600 people. She said many people in the town fear that the methane gas caused by decomposition could cause the whale to burst. However, a Canadian Fisheries Department research scientist has downplayed the risk, saying the whale is unlikely to burst until someone tries to cut a hole in it or walk on it.
‘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