UNITED STATES
Thai detentions ‘troubling’
The US Department of State said that it is deeply troubled by the Thai junta’s detention of critics after an opposition activist was reportedly held over a letter addressed to a US diplomat. Thai media outlets reported that former Thai senator Ruengkrai Leekitwattana, a member of the Pheu Thai Party, has been held at an army camp since Tuesday last week. He reportedly sent an open letter to US embassy Charge d’Affaires Patrick Murphy that was critical of Thailand’s military government, which installed after a coup in May last year. The department said that it had heard of the reports. It called for Thai authorities to stop summoning and detaining political figures, academics, journalists, online commentators and peaceful protesters. It urged the immediate release of those held. Thailand is the oldest US ally in Asia, but relations have been strained by the coup.
JAPAN
Lower voting age likely
The legislature is expected to lower the voting age from 20 to 18, a report said yesterday, in the first such change to the law in seven decades. Six ruling and opposition parties have agreed to submit the necessary legislation later this month, with the Diet due to approve the change by early May, the Asahi Shimbun said. If approved, the proposed change would add about 2.4 million new voters to the electorate, granting them the right to participate in elections as soon as the summer of 2016, when a vote for the Diet’s upper house is to be held.
SOUTH AFRICA
Blackouts continue
The national power utility extended electricity blackouts for a fifth day yesterday after generating units tripped because of technical faults. Eskom SOC Holdings Ltd removed 2,000 megawatts from the grid at 8am; the load-shedding, as it is known locally, was to continue until 10pm, the Johannesburg-based company said in an e-mailed statement. “The power system remains severely constrained and will remain so for the rest of this weekend,” it said. The scheduled blackouts have caused traffic congestion and forced business to shut doors at peak times. South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy, is at a high risk of rolling blackouts almost daily until April as Eskom attempts to undertake maintenance that was postponed in previous years, chief executive officer Tshediso Matona said on Jan. 15. Eskom said late on Friday that efforts to restart one of its 930MW units at its Koeberg nuclear power station north of Cape Town failed when a turbine tripped.
MEXICO
Festival protests deaths
A popular literary festival is abandoning its venue in the state of Veracruz this year due to protest over the killings of journalists. Hay Festival organizers said in a public letter to the state tourism secretary that the October event is to be held online instead. Friday’s announcement comes in response to a call by hundreds of writers, intellectuals and journalists for the festival not to be held in Veracruz. Many hold authorities responsible for recent killings and disappearances of reporters in a state that is among the nation’s most affected by organized crime. The latest slaying was of Moises Sanchez, an activist and journalist in the town of Medellin de Bravo. Sanchez was allegedly kidnapped by armed men in early January; his decapitated body was found three weeks later in a ravine.
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
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