IRAN
US reporter faces trial
The Washington Post’s correspondent in Iran — imprisoned since July for unspecified reasons — has been formally charged and is to be tried in a Revolutionary Court, the nation’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said on Wednesday. It did not describe the charges or say when the trial was to begin. The announcement essentially confirmed what the family of the correspondent, Jason Rezaian, a US citizen of Iranian descent from California, had said more than a month ago. The official news agency quoted Tehran’s chief prosecutor as saying that Rezaian “has been charged and his case has been forwarded to the Revolutionary Court,” which typically handles security or religious cases.
UNITED STATES
Shakeup hits Secret Service
The US Secret Service’s interim director has demoted four of the agency’s senior executives as part of a management shakeup after a series of scandals, the agency said on Wednesday. The decision was made in response to a recent US Department of Homeland Security report that outlined the Secret Service’s shortcomings, Interim Director Joseph Clancy said. He said he also based the personnel moves on his own assessments since he took over the agency in October last year. Some of the executives are expected to remain at the Secret Service, an agency official said, adding that all are eligible for retirement. They were identified as Paul Morrissey, the assistant director for the Office of Investigations; Dale Pupillo, the assistant director for protective operations; Mark Copanazzi, the assistant director for technology; and Jane Murphy, the assistant director for government and public affairs.
UNITED STATES
Murdoch stirs ‘tweetstorm’
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday sought to backtrack from a Twitter storm stemming from his comments about Muslims following last week’s Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. Murdoch drew fire for tweeting on Friday last week: “Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible.” Criticism was led by Los Angeles-based comic Aziz Ansari, who wrote: “Are you responsible for the evil shit all Christians do or just the insane amount of evil you yourself contribute to?” Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling weighed in, tweeting: “I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I’ll auto-excommunicate.”
RUSSIA
Killer ex-officer gets life
A retired Russian policeman was jailed for life on Wednesday for raping and murdering 22 women between 1994 and 2000. Mikhail Popkov — a police officer at the time of most of the murders — raped and stabbed the women late at night in the Siberian city of Angarsk after offering to give them lifts in his police car, investigators said. “Investigators managed to gather evidence implicating Popkov in 22 murders and two attempted murders of women,” the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement after his sentencing. His victims included a teacher and a shop assistant, Russian media outlets reported. Popkov described himself as a “cleaner,” purging the city of prostitutes, Rossiya 1 television reported. “By calling himself a cleaner, he was trying to justify himself,” prosecutor Olga Muzykova told Rossiya 1. “He was an ordinary serial killer.” Popkov is to serve his sentence in a prison colony for former law enforcement officers.
SPAIN
Catalonia sets Sept. 27 vote
Catalonia will hold an election for its regional parliament on Sept. 27, a vote the main parties want to use as a proxy for a referendum on independence opposed by Madrid. The date, announced at a news conference by the head of the northeastern regional government Artur Mas on Wednesday, is a few months before the nation’s general election and reignites the deeply divisive issue of Catalonia’s status within or without Spain. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has taken a hard line on secessionist ambitions in the region, which accounts for one fifth of the nation’s economic output. The vote will not include a joint list of candidates from the two main parties in favor of independence — Mas’ Convergencia (Convergence) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (the Republican Left of Catalonia). “We will run with different [candidate] lists, but with a common national road map,” Mas said.
INDIA
Writer quits after protests
An acclaimed Tamil-language novelist from the south has announced he is quitting following protests by right-wing Hindu and caste groups over his book. The decision by Perumal Murugan has caused public outrage, with many viewing it as a blow to freedom of expression. The novelist posted on Facebook: “Writer Perumal Murugan is dead. He will continue to live as a teacher.” Hindu nationalist groups have held street protests in the town where he lives following his 2010 novel about a childless couple and the woman’s attempt to have a child following a local tradition of consensual sex with a stranger. He said he was recalling all his books and promised to compensate publishers and booksellers for any losses.
SOUTH KOREA
Ban on Japan reporter stays
A Japanese journalist on trial for allegedly defaming South Korean President Park Geun-hye yesterday said that a ban on his leaving the country had been extended by another three months. The case has strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo, which condemned the extension as a “grave humanitarian issue” and said it would issue a formal protest. “I was told by my lawyers that the ban on my leaving the country had been renewed for three more months,” Tatsuya Kato said. The travel ban on the former Seoul bureau chief of Japan’s conservative Sankei Shimbun has been in force since August last year. Kato is charged with criminal libel punishable by up to seven years in jail. The charge stems from an August article he wrote about Park’s whereabouts on the day the Sewol ferry sank in April last year with the loss of about 300 lives. His next hearing is scheduled for Monday.
CHINA
Pilgrimage probe launched
Authorities are investigating 32 officials from Xinjiang for graft linked to pilgrimages by Muslims to Mecca, the English-language China Daily said yesterday. China’s Uighur Muslims can usually only make pilgrimages to Mecca on government-organized trips. The China Daily said 14,000 such pilgrimages were organized last year, though some of the people who went to Mecca were “unqualified.” It did not explain what that meant. The officials included Kizilsu’s former director of pilgrimage affairs, the head of the public security bureau and the mayor of the its most populous city, Artux. Human rights groups say Uighurs trying to go abroad are fleeing persecution under harsh government policies and they criticize China for restricting the issuance of passports and curtailing Uighurs’ foreign travel which some say fuels graft.
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
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