INDONESIA
Prisoner swap idea rejected
The government yesterday rejected the offer of a prisoner swap proposed by Canberra in an 11th-hour bid to save two Australian drug smugglers facing execution, saying it is determined to put to death those “who have poisoned our nation.” Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang, could be shot within days after being moved on Wednesday to the island where they are due to face a firing squad. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said she had spoken to her counterpart, Retno Marsudi, in what was reportedly “a very tense phone call.” Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said the offer from Australia was “not relevant” and the executions would go ahead.
SINGAPORE
Germans facing caning
A court yesterday sentenced two young German men to nine months in prison and three strokes of the cane for spray-painting a metro train in the city-state last year. Andreas von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, were sentenced after pleading guilty to vandalism and trespassing. Both asked for mercy before sentencing and called their acts a “stupid mistake.” They were sentenced to four months in jail for breaking into a suburban train depot in November last year and five months and three strokes of the cane for vandalizing a carriage with spray paint. Both men fled the country after the incident, but were caught in Malaysia en route to Australia and extradited.
CHINA
Zhang focuses on HK
National People’s Congress Standing Committee Chairman Zhang Dejiang (張德江), the nation’s third-ranked leader, wants greater attention paid to young people in Hong Kong after last year’s protests. He said last year’s “illegal acts” highlight an urgent need to focus on young people in the territory and possibly revive the idea of a patriotic curriculum. Zhang also called for “specific solutions” to recent protests against Chinese traders and visitors to Hong Kong, and warned against those with “ulterior motives,” according to reports of a closed-door session of the congress in Beijing on Wednesday.
CHINA
Prince wins praise
Britain’s Prince William yesterday won praise from Internet users after he visited an elephant reserve in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, and condemned illegal wildlife trafficking as “a vicious form of criminality.” He called for a crackdown on the illegal wildlife trade, which he said “erodes the rule of law, fuels conflict and may even fund terrorism.” Users of online social networks hailed the prince’s focus on conservation during his visit. “Thank you, royal family, for your concern for Xishuangbanna’s natural resources,” wrote one user of Sina Weibo. “He’s so loving,” another user wrote in response to a photograph of William feeding a carrot to a baby elephant. “It doesn’t matter whether he’s bald or not!”
INDIA
Prisoners get cable for Cup
Authorities at a prison in the city of Guwahati were busy yesterday installing cable television after a judge said they had to ensure inmates can watch the ongoing cricket World Cup. “Prisoners need recreation for a healthy mind,” Judge A. K. Goswami said on Wednesday as he ordered cable TV installed in the prison within five days. Seven prisoners had filed a petition before the city’s high court asking permission to watch the matches.
ARGENTINA
Prosecutors appeal decision
Prosecutors on Wednesday appealed a judge’s decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Fernandez for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a deadly 1994 bombing. Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously after accusing Fernandez of shielding Iranians suspected of ordering the bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center. Lead prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita argued in his 35-page appeal that Judge Daniel Rafecas was overly hasty in his decision on Thursday last week to throw out the case. The government on Wednesday took out advertisements in several local newspapers accusing Nisman of trying to destabilize it. “With the case [against Fernandez] dismissed, we must ask ourselves what objectives Nisman is pursuing,” the advertisement said.
ARGENTINA
Heavy rain triggers floods
More heavy rain on Wednesday triggered thousands of evacuations and flooding across five provinces, with at least one person dead and another missing. A 78-year-old man was crushed to death when the roof of his house collapsed in the northern province of Santiago del Estero, where 1,000 people were evacuated, the local civil defense office said. In central Cordoba Province, where intense rain caused nine deaths last month, about 2,000 people were evacuated and a 46-year-old man was missing after being swept away while crossing a canal on horseback. The heavy rains, which have lasted several days, also hit San Luis and Catamarca provinces.
LIBYA
‘Force majeure’ declared
The government has declared force majeure on 11 of its oil fields due to the deteriorating security situation after several oil installations and ports were targeted by attacks, state-run National Oil Corp said in a statement on its Web site on Wednesday. The nation is caught up in a conflict between two rival governments, and several of its oil ports and oil fields have been hit in battles or taken over by Muslim militants profiting from the chaos as the UN tries to broker a peace deal. The oil assets covered by the force majeure include Mabrouk and Bahi, which security officials said were overrun by Muslim militants earlier this week after security forces guarding the installations were forced to retreat. Both of those oil operations were empty after staff were evacuated earlier. Mabrouk, which produced about 40,000 barrels per day before it closed, was assaulted last month by Muslim militants claiming loyalty to the Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — an attack that killed at least 12 people.
BRAZIL
‘Feminicide’ recognized
Lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill recognizing “feminicide,” or the killing of a woman because of her gender, in a nation where 50,000 women lost their lives through violence over the past decade, according to government figures. The new law covers cases of women killed because of their gender following domestic violence or gender-based violent discrimination. It also stipulates that feminicide is an aggravated form of homicide and foresees a jail term of 12 to 30 years for perpetrators. If the victim is pregnant, killed in front of children or other family members, or if the victim is aged less than 14 or more than 60, the sentence is increased by one-third. President Dilma Rousseff still has to ratify the bill.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in