CHINA
HK poll a ‘farce’: paper
A state-run newspaper yesterday slammed Hong Kong’s unofficial referendum on democratic reform — which has drawn more than 700,000 votes — as an “illegal farce” that could prompt tighter control from Beijing. The Global Times daily accused the referendum organizers of being politically influenced by the West, adding that “overseas supporters have overestimated the effect of an illegal farce... Neither China’s central government nor the Hong Kong government will admit the results of the poll.”
AUSTRALIA
Carbon tax repeal reintroduced
Prime Minister Tony Abbott reintroduced legislation to the federal parliament yesterday that would repeal a carbon tax that the nation’s worst greenhouse gas polluters have to pay. The opposition center-left Labor Party and minor Greens party used their Senate majority in March to block the bills that would remove the A$24.15 (US$22.79) tax per tonne of carbon dioxide that was introduced by a Labor government in July 2012. However, with new senators to take their seats on July 7, the bills are expected to be passed by a narrow margin.
AUSTRALIA
Singer fired for anti-gay post
Leading soprano Tamar Iveri yesterday had her contract torn up by Opera Australia for “unconscionable” anti-gay comments posted on her Facebook page that sparked a storm of protest. The Georgian referred to homosexuals as “fecal masses” in reacting to a gay pride march in Tblisi. “I was quite proud of the fact how Georgian society spat at the parade ... please, stop vigorous attempts to bring West’s ‘fecal masses’ in the mentality of the people by means of propaganda,” said the post, which was later taken down. The comments, made 18 months ago, sparked a backlash in Australia, culminating as Iveri was due to perform the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello from July 5 at the Sydney Opera House. Many people threatened to boycott the company or cancel their subscriptions if they continued to employ her.
MAURITANIA
Abdel Aziz re-elected
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has been re-elected with an overwhelming 81.89 percent of the vote, preliminary results showed, after his main rivals boycotted a process they rejected as a sham. The former general, who seized power in the northwest African nation in an August 2008 coup, campaigned strongly on his success in fighting armed groups linked to al-Qaeda at home and in neighboring Sahel nations. Preliminary results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Sunday indicated that Abdel Aziz was firmly ahead of anti-slavery candidate Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, who obtained just 8.67 percent of Saturday’s ballot.
SOUTH KOREA
Japanese envoy summoned
The government summoned Japan’s envoy yesterday to protest against Tokyo’s review of a landmark 1993 apology to women, many Korean, forced to work as wartime sex slaves in Japanese military brothels, urging it to stop trying to whitewash history. First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong told Japanese Ambassador Bessho Koro that Tokyo was trying to undermine its own apology when the history behind the issue of “comfort women” was recognized internationally. “Japan must understand that the more the [Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe government tires to undermine the Kono statement, the more its credibility and international reputation will suffer,” Cho said.
UNITED STATES
Anthrax row intensifies
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reassigned the director of the bioterror lab behind the potential anthrax exposure of dozens of scientists and staff, sources said, as the anthrax controversy intensified. Michael Farrell, head of the Bioterror Rapid Response and Advanced Technology Laboratory, has been reassigned as the agency investigates the incident, two CDC scientists who are not authorized to speak with press said. The possible exposure has forced as many as 84 employees at the agency’s Atlanta campus to get a vaccine or take powerful antibiotics with known side effects to ward off potentially anthrax disease.
UNITED STATES
Missile test successful
The military intercepted a target over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday in a test of the nation’s Ballistic Missile Defense System. A long-range interceptor blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast, minutes after an intermediate-range ballistic missile was launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the Missile Defense Agency said in a statement. Sailors aboard the USS Hopper destroyer detected and tracked the missile, and the interceptor struck the target warhead.
Bosnia
Ferdinand’s death marked
Thousands of cyclists swarmed through Sarajevo on Sunday in a “Race for Peace” to mark 100 years since Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in the city sparked World War I. The throng, including 140 professional racers, rode from predominantly Bosnian-Serb eastern Sarajevo to the center of the city, which has been administered separately by Muslim-Croats since the end of Bosnia’s devastating 1992 to 1995 war. It was the ceremonial opening leg of the Sarajevo Grand Prix, sponsored by the Tour de France, aiming to promote peace in a city that has so often been the center of conflict.
UNITED STATES
Bergdahl out of center
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier freed in a swap with the Afghan Taliban, has been released from a Texas medical center and is now in outpatient care, the army said on Sunday. Bergdahl spent nearly five years in captivity at the hands of Taliban-linked Haqqani insurgents after he went missing from his post in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. He was released on May 31 as part of a controversial swap with the Taliban and had been receiving treatment and counseling at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, since his return to the country on June 13.
UNITED Kingdom
No trust funds from Sting
Pop icon Sting says his children will not be getting trust funds from his vast fortune, assuming there is any money left in it. The 16-time Grammy Award winner and former frontman of The Police, told the Mail on Sunday that the vast wealth would be “albatrosses” around the necks of his six children. The singer-songwriter who grew up in a shipbuilding community in northeast England says he told the kids: “There won’t be much money left because we are spending it: People make assumptions, that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but they have not been given a lot.” Sting’s wealth was estimated at £180 million (US$306 million) by the Sunday Times Rich List.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of