CHINA
War games to start today
The country has set up alternative flight routes to minimize delays related to military exercises along its southeastern coast that start today, the Ministry of Defense said. The exercises are part of regularly scheduled drills aiming to improve the military’s ability to operate under simulated war conditions, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. It gave no details about where exactly the drills would take place, but said officers had been dispatched to regional airports to facilitate the shifting of civilian flights to alternative routes to reduce the impact on travelers. It said the military designated corridors of protected air space to reduce disruptions.
PHILIPPINES
Islamic militants kill 16
Sixteen people, including children, were killed when Islamic militants opened fire on two vehicles in a remote southern town yesterday, the military said. Abu Sayyaf gunmen opened fire on the vehicles in Talipao town before dawn in what appeared to be an ambush related to a clan feud, local marine commander Brigadier General Martin Pinto said. A number of policemen were riding aboard the two vehicles.
JAPAN
PM heads for Trinidad
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left Mexico on Sunday having struck a series of energy deals and headed for Trinidad and Tobago, his next stop on a tour of Latin America. The leader and his wife received a red-carpet sendoff flanked by soldiers at the presidential hangar, and were bid farewell by Trinidadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Antonio Meade, according to a statement. Abe’s nine-day tour of the region will also take him to Colombia, Chile and Brazil.
THAILAND
Girls killed, seven wounded
A 12-year-old girl was killed and seven people, including two other girls, were wounded in a roadside bomb attack near an army base in the insurgency-plagued south, police said yesterday. Suspected insurgents detonated an improvised radio-controlled bomb near an army base in Pattani Province’s Sai Buri district, as a group of soldiers were finishing their guard duty at a mosque and returning to the base on Sunday night, police Colonel Panya Karawanan said. He said the explosion killed the 12-year-old and wounded two soldiers and five civilians, including a seven-year-old girl and her one-year-old sister. The attack came at the end of Ramadan, in which a spurt of attacks has occurred. More than 5,000 people have been killed since an Islamic insurgency erupted in 2004.
AUSTRALIA
Koala survives ride under car
Timberwolf the koala was lucky to be alive yesterday after surviving a terrifying 88km ride down a busy freeway clinging to the bottom of a car. The four-year-old male, who survived with nothing more than a torn nail, was struck by the vehicle near Maryborough in Queensland State on Friday. The Australia Zoo wildlife hospital said it latched onto the bottom of the car as it sped away, with the family inside not knowing they had a marsupial on board. It was only when they stopped in Gympie after a high-speed freeway drive that they noticed it, and called the hospital for help. The maximum speed on the freeway is 110kph. Australia Zoo vet Claude Lacasse said it was amazing the koala, named Timberwolf by the rescuers who brought him in, was in such great health. Timberwolf was given pain killers for the torn nail and is recovering in a tree at the zoo north of Brisbane as vets work out exactly where he grabbed hold of the car so they can return him to the wild.
NIGERIA
Kano cancels festivities
The northern city of Kano on Sunday canceled celebrations to mark the end of the Ramadan after two bomb attacks blamed on the militant group Boko Haram. At least five people were killed and eight were injured in a bomb attack on the Saint Charles Catholic Church in a mainly Christian area of the city, police said. The attack came shortly after the end of mass at the church, police spokesman Frank Mba. He said police suspect an improvised explosive device was thrown from across the road. Meanwhile, a woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside a university after police prevented her from carrying out an attack, injuring five officers, Mba said. “A female suicide bomber was isolated as she was walking toward the gate of the university,” he said, adding that she had hidden the bomb under her “long black hijab.”
MEXICO
Cops arrested for crime ties
More than 30 police officers have been arrested for alleged organized crime ties and possible involvement in the killing of fellow cops, authorities said on Sunday. Those detained include a former top public safety official from the town of Tarimbaro, an ex-commander of the same unit and 18 more active duty agents, a public safety source in Michoacan said. Authorities are investigating whether those taken into custody were involved in the recent murders of three senior officials in Tarimbaro’s public safety unit, the source added. A second operation netted 12 police officers in Charapan, authorities said. The suspects were transferred to the state capital, Morelia, where they were scheduled to appear before a judge. Michoacan, on the nation’s Pacific coast, is a key drug trafficking area for US-bound narcotics.
ARUBA
Venezuelan diplomat freed
The government has released a former Venezuelan general who was detained on US drug charges when he arrived to serve as his country’s consul, sending him home on Sunday night. Officials had previously said that Hugo Carvajal did not have immunity from arrest because he had yet to be accredited by the Netherlands, which manages the foreign affairs of its former colony. However, in a hastily called news conference the justice minister said Carvajal was being let go because Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans decided Carvajal did have immunity, but also declared him persona non grata.
SPAIN
Seville bans outdoor noise
City councilors on Friday passed a raft of regulations looking to silence the noisy city, banning activities ranging from domino games on the outdoor terraces of bars and cafes to singing in the street. “It’s a balance between the right of residents to get a little rest and the development of economic activities,” City Councilor Maximiliano Vilchez told reporters. Residents have been urging the city to crack down on noise for years. The rules focus on the city’s hundreds of bars and cafes, where patrons regularly crowd outside. Anyone having an “excessively loud” conversation on the street now faces fines, as do bar owners who set up televisions on their terraces or who serve patrons who are standing up outside. Drivers are also targeted. Playing loud music while driving, having a car alarm that goes off for more than three minutes or revving car engines unnecessarily are all prohibited. However, karaoke bars and nightclubs are still allowed next to homes, and religious processions, the city’s April Fair and parades are also exempt from the new rules.
‘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