CHINA
More incinerator protests
Residents of a town in Guangdong Province who oppose a planned trash incinerator have protested for a second weekend and the local government has promised not to proceed without public approval. A statement by police in Boluo County said people “illegally gathered’” on Saturday to protest. It gave no details but a local resident, who would give only his surname, Huang, said he had heard from witnesses that several hundred people were involved. Authorities face resistance by residents of areas nationwide over plans to build chemical facilities, trash incinerators and other facilities seen by residents as causing pollution. In Boluo County, about 3,000 to 4,000 people took part in protests last weekend. The county’s Chinese Communist Party branch promised in a statement it would not proceed with the construction without the approval of the public.
CHINA
Scores of fugitives return
The Ministry of Public Security says 88 fugitives wanted for graft, fraud and other economic offenses have been extradited or returned on their own from the US, Canada and other countries. The ministry yesterday said that one fugitive had spent 14 years in Canada and was accused of embezzling 60 million yuan (US$10 million). A ministry statement said another was arrested in Thailand and others “were persuaded’’ to return from the US, Belgium and other countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) administration is in the midst of the latest in a series of crackdowns which date back two decades against chronic and pervasive official corruption. Last month, authorities launched a campaign dubbed “Fox Hunt 2014” to track down official corruption suspects who the authorities say have fled abroad.
PAKISTAN
NDMA evacuates 50,000
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) says rescuers with boats and helicopters have evacuated about 50,000 people from the country’s south after raging floods inundated more villages there. In a statement, the agency said on Saturday that two dozen people were killed in the past 24 hours in the eastern Punjab Province, raising the death toll from rains and flooding to 346. It said floodwater wreaked havoc in Punjab Province and was now passing through remote areas in the southern Sindh Province. It said so far no deaths have been reported in Sindh Province. Floods have also killed 200 people in India-controlled Kashmir since Sept. 3 when monsoon rains triggered flash floods in the Himalayan region.
NEPAL
Former king has heart attack
Doctors say former king Gyanendra Shah has suffered a heart attack and has been hospitalized. Bharat Rawat at the Norvic Hospital in Kathmandu said Gyanendra was brought to the hospital on Saturday night. He was recovering in the intensive care unit and was out of danger. Hundreds of his supporters crowded the hospital yesterday. Gyanedra was the last king to rule the nation before the Constitution Assembly abolished the centuries-old monarchy and turned the country into a republic. He was crowned as king in 2001 after the killing of his elder brother in palace massacre, but remained mostly unpopular. Mass demonstrations forced him to give up his authoritarian rule.
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
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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