TURKEY
Channel fined for condom bit
The Radio and Television Supreme Council has fined a private channel over a show where the characters discussed the merits of strawberry-flavored condoms, the Hurriyet daily reported over the weekend. The increasingly stringent watchdog fined the TV 2 channel 12,353 Turkish lira (US$5,320) for broadcasting a segment from French-produced sketch show Vous Les Femmes, which in Turkish is broadcast as Ah Biz Kadinlar. “There was a discussion on the topic of strawberry condoms. There should have been warning, given this was during the period when children are watching,” it said in a ruling quoted by Hurriyet’s Web site. The council has been accused of imposing moral censorship in recent months for a number of stern rulings.
CHINA
Xinjiang ‘mobsters’ killed
A group of “mobsters” tried to set off an explosive device in a business district in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, prompting police to shoot six of them dead, the local government said yesterday. Police in Shule County acted on a tip-off about “a suspicious person carrying an explosive device,” the Xinjiang Government said on its official news site. An axe-wielding individual tried to attack police officers and set off an explosive device, prompting the officers to shoot him, it said. The report added that police trying to dispose of an explosive device were attacked by five “thugs” who sought to detonate it, but did not make clear if this was a separate incident. Aside from the suspects there were no other casualties, the report said, but gave no details of the assailants. The incident comes two months after 15 people were killed when a group threw explosives into a crowded street of vendors.
TANZANIA
FGM targets return home
Hundreds of schoolgirls yesterday returned home after spending three months hiding in safe houses to escape genital mutilation (FGM), state TV said. FGM can range from hacking off the clitoris, to the removal of the entire genitalia. About 800 school girls fled to shelters run by charities and church organizations, which offer protection during the months FGM is traditionally carried out: from October to December. Some of the shelters are given police protection to ensure the girls remain safe. Minister of Labor and Employment Gaudensia Kabaka called on traditional leaders to use their influence to stop “this retrograde practice.” At a center run by a Protestant church, one of the girls said: “My mother supported me, she did not want me to be cut, but my father began to beat me so I decided to come here.” FGM was outlawed in 1998 and carries a punishment of up to 15 years in prison, but is still carried out regularly.
CHINA
Japanese minister draws fire
The Ministry of Defense yesterday criticized Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani for the first time, saying it is “firmly opposed” to his comments that Beijing has repeatedly engaged in “dangerous actions” in the East China Sea. Nakatani last week accused the nation of violating Japan’s territorial waters, saying Beijing had locked fire-control radar on Japanese ships, set up an air defense identification zone and “flown its fighter jets abnormally close” to Japanese aircraft. The ministry hit back on its Web site, saying its military activities in the sea and air were “completely legitimate.” “The leader of Japan’s defense department ignores the facts and keeps on rehashing the same tune, playing up the ‘China military threat,’” it said.
‘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