PICKING UP THE PIECES
Obama urges vote solution
US President Barack Obama on Sunday urged the rival candidates in Afghanistan’s disputed election to come to an agreement on a national unity government to end the crisis over the vote. Both presidential candidates claim to have won the June 14 election, triggering a political stalemate and rising ethnic tension as NATO combat troops withdraw after 13 years of fighting the Taliban. In telephone calls with both candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, Obama “emphasized the importance of concluding a deal on the national unity government as soon as possible in the interest of shoring up international support for Afghanistan and preserving Afghan stability,” the White House said.
PHILIPPINES
Turtle poaching trial delayed
A pre-trial hearing for nine Chinese fishermen charged with poaching sea turtles at a disputed South China Sea shoal has been postponed again because of problems finding a qualified interpreter, court and diplomatic officials said yesterday. The Chinese were arrested in May and authorities seized their boat that was allegedly filled with more than 500 endangered giant turtles at the Half Moon Shoal (Banyue Shoal, 半月暗沙) in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims. The fishermen have pleaded not guilty to charges of violating two provisions of the fisheries code, including illegally harvesting 555 endangered turtles, before a special environmental court in western Palawan Province, which lies closest to Half Moon Shoal. Two other Chinese arrested in May were found to be minors and deported. Judge Ambrosio de Luna postponed the pre-trial hearing until an interpreter from Manila arrives, his clerk-of-court Hazel Mae Alaska said.
UNITED STATES
Gay marriage laws in court
For the first time since it declared California’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional, the US federal appeals court in San Francisco is readying to hear arguments over same-sex weddings in a political and legal climate vastly different from when it overturned Proposition 8 in 2012. State and US federal court judges have been striking down bans in more than a dozen states at a rapid rate since a landmark US Supreme Court ruling last year. Washington, DC, and 19 states now allow gay marriages. Now, three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — all appointed by Democrats and one who wrote the opinion overturning Proposition 8 — were to hear arguments yesterday on gay marriage bans in Idaho, Nevada and Hawaii. “It seemed like such an uphill battle when I started,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “I really couldn’t imagine then that we would be where we are now.”
NICARAGUA
Meteorite misses everyone
The government says a loud boom heard overnight on Saturday by residents of the capital was made by a small meteorite that left a crater in a wooded area near the city’s airport. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said on Sunday that a committee formed by the government to study the event confirmed that it was a “relatively small” meteorite that “appears to have come off an asteroid that was passing close to Earth.” Murillo said Nicaragua would ask international experts to help local scientists in determining what happened. The crater left by the meteorite had a radius of 12m and a depth of 5m, Humberto Saballos of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies said. He said it is still not clear whether the meteorite disintegrated or was buried.
UNITED STATES
Simone Battle found dead
Girl group singer Simone Battle was found dead in her West Hollywood home, authorities said on Saturday. Battle, 25, gained notoriety through performances on the television show X Factor. Her five-member band, G.R.L. — originally a reboot of the Pussycat Dolls — had been signed by mega-hitmaker Dr Luke. Battle was found at home on Friday, according to Los Angeles County Coroner’s Department Lieutenant David Smith. No further details were released. An autopsy was expected on Sunday. In a written statement, G.R.L.’s record companies RCA and Kemosabe called Battle an exceptional young talent and human being.
UNITED STATES
Bruce Morton dies at 83
Veteran CBS newsman Bruce Morton, 83, died on Friday from complications of cancer, his daughter, Sarah Morton, said. Morton, who later worked at CNN, gained a reputation as a solid reporter of expansive breadth and expertise, with special gifts as a writer. He covered most of the major news events of the era, including the Vietnam War, the space program, racial unrest, the assassinations of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F. Kennedy, and the Watergate scandal. He won six Emmy Awards for his work at CBS News, including one for his coverage of the trial of US Army Lieutenant William Calley for crimes related to the massacre at My Lai in Vietnam. He also won a Peabody Award in 1976 for his “incisive writing” on The CBS Morning News and shared a Polk Award for CBS’ coverage of the protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
‘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