UNITED STATES
Obama lawsuit dismissed
A federal judge handed a victory to President Barack Obama late on Tuesday, throwing out a lawsuit over controversial actions he took last month shielding millions of undocumented migrants from deportation. The suit brought by Joseph Arpaio, the conservative sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, challenging the constitutionality of the president’s actions, was dismissed by Judge Beryl Howell. “The plaintiff’s case raises important questions regarding the impact of illegal immigration on this nation, but the questions amount to generalized grievances, which are not proper for the judiciary to address,” Howell’s ruling in the case read.
UNITED STATES
FDA lifts gay blood ban
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday said it would move to ease a lifetime ban on blood donations from homosexual men, allowing them to give after a year of abstaining from sexual activity. The FDA said it made decision after reviewing scientific evidence in recent years regarding its blood donor policy for homosexual males. The agency said it would recommend the policy change next year and that it would be subject to public feedback before it is finalized. A growing number of medical and legal experts have argued that the existing restrictions are outdated and that sophisticated tests for human immunodeficiency virus exist that can make blood donation by gay men a much safer practice.
UNITED STATES
Representative pleads guilty
A representative pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion on Tuesday, the latest stain for a lawmaker dogged by controversy, but who won re-election last month despite an indictment on criminal charges. House of Representatives Republican Michael Grimm, a former FBI agent who represents parts of New York’s Staten Island and Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return that underreported wages and sales in 2009. Grimm faces up to 36 months in a federal prison. A judge set sentencing for June 8. The charge is linked to his conduct while owner of a Manhattan health food restaurant before he became a member of the House of Representatives in early 2011.
UNITED STATES
Florida numbers surpass NY
Florida has surpassed New York in population to become the third-most populous state in the union. Figures released Tuesday by the Census Bureau show that Florida has at least 19.9 million residents. The number is likely higher because the census uses the population as of July 1 to create its estimate. New York had 19.7 million residents. Florida added almost 300,000 new residents from last year to this year, or a little more than 800 new residents a day. By contrast, New York grew by only 51,000 over that time period.
HAITI
Quake victim’s idea realized
The parents of a young woman killed in the Haiti earthquake nearly five years ago have made good on her last wish. Nineteen-year-old Britney Gengel texted her parents just a few hours before she was buried alive in the quake. It said: “I want to move here and start an orphanage.” So her parents started a nonprofit called Be Like Brit and opened an orphanage in a town in Haiti. It houses 33 boys and 33 girls — one of each for the number of days she lay in the ruins of her hotel after the quake hit on Jan. 12, 2010. It costs about US$75,000 a month to run the orphanage. It is paid for by donations and volunteer mission trips.
CHINA
City probes AIDS threats
A city in Henan Province is investigating reports that workers tasked with demolishing homes for a new development are threatening to infect residents with AIDS if they do not move out, state media reported yesterday. Forced demolitions are a frequent cause of unrest and anger in China, with local governments and developers often accused of using thugs to carry out demolition orders and of not paying proper compensation. Pictures of the “AIDS demolition team” have recently surfaced on Chinese social media, with residents claiming to have been harassed this month to move out of their homes, which are slated for demolition and development. The government of Nanyang confirmed the team’s existence, but said that they were not hired by the local government, Xinhua news agency said.
PAKISTAN
EU mission slams hangings
The EU mission in Islamabad yesterday condemned the government’s decision to restart executions in the wake of the country’s bloodiest-ever terror attack. Authorities have hanged six prisoners since announcing last week that a six-year moratorium on the death penalty was being lifted in terror cases. The decision came amid public outrage over a Taliban massacre at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, which killed 150 people, including 134 children. The EU mission said in a statement it stood by the country in its grief, but remained opposed to capital punishment in all circumstances. “We believe that the death penalty is not an effective tool in the fight against terrorism,” it said.
CHINA
Dual-track pensions to stop
The government will abolish a dual-track pension system that favors government employees and discriminates against others to create a fairer retirement-savings system. Under existing rules, about 37 million employees with government agencies, communist organs and public institutions do not have to contribute anything to their pension savings, with the government paying pensions of about 90 percent of their pre-retirement salaries. Those employed by private businesses must contribute 8 percent of their salary to pension accounts, on top of 20 percent of their wages that is paid by employers to a pooled pension fund. On average, private retirees end up with 40 percent of their working pay. As the system has increasingly become a source of resentment among the public, Vice Premier Ma Kai (馬凱) yesterday said that the State Council and the Politburo have agreed to implement a “unified” pension system, and public employees will have to contribute to their own pension accounts, Xinhua news agency reported.
CHINA
Xmas lights risky: watchdog
Christmas lights may bring more risk than festive cheer, the nation’s quality control watchdog said yesterday. A test of 40 batches of Christmas lights found more than 80 percent were a shock hazard and more than one-third did not comply with fire-safety rules, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement. Christmas is growing in popularity, especially in metropolitan areas where young people go out to celebrate, give gifts and decorate their homes. The country is also a big exporter of Christmas lights and decorations, selling them all around the world. The watchdog said consumers should carefully check that products were heat and fire-resistant and labeled properly by the manufacturer before making a purchase.
‘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