AUSTRALIA
Canberra raises graft claim
Canberra yesterday urged Indonesia to ensure the trials of two men sentenced to death on drugs charges were corruption free before their executions go ahead. “Bali Nine” drug traffickers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan could face the firing squad within days, along with several other foreigners and an Indonesian prisoner. Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop spoke to her Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, on Sunday evening, while Prime Minister Tony Abbott has written to President Joko Widodo to again plead for the executions to be halted. Bishop said the men should not be shot while legal questions remain. Fairfax Media yesterday published allegations of corruption by the judges who sentenced the pair in 2006, claiming they asked for more than 1 billion rupiah (US$77,000 at current exchange rates) to give them a prison term of less than 20 years.
CHINA
Senior PLA officers probed
The Ministry of National Defense has confirmed that three more senior People’s Liberation Army officers are under investigation for suspected corruption. In a statement issued late on Sunday, the ministry named the three as Zhan Guoqiao (占國橋), former head of logistics in the Lanzhou military region, Dong Mingxiang (董明祥), former head of logistics in the Beijing military region, and Zhan Jun (占俊), former deputy military commander in Hubei Province. The two Zhans are suspected of “serious breaches of discipline,” while Dong is suspected of breaking the law, the statement said. All three had their cases handed over to military prosecutors last month, the statement said.
HONG KONG
Eight detained after protest
Eight people were arrested about midnight on Sunday after scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators during a pro-democracy protest. Television footage showed clashes in the Mong Kok district as police officers wielded batons and used pepper spray to disperse dozens of protesters who were trying to block traffic on a major road. Five of those arrested were accused of assaulting officers, a police spokesman said. “One tried to snatch away an officer’s baton, and used his leg to attack the officer,” the spokesman said. “Another refused to go back to the pedestrian walkway from the road and stopped police from making arrests.”
THAILAND
Huge ivory haul seized
More than 3 tonnes of elephant ivory have been found at Bangkok’s main port stashed in a container shipped from Kenya, customs said yesterday, the second big haul of tusks from Africa in less than a week. About 511 pieces of ivory were found on Saturday in a container “marked as tea leaves transported from Mombasa, Kenya, and on to Laos,” customs said. Scores of whole tusks were among the pieces seized. Laos “is increasingly being used as a major transit point for such large volumes of illicit ivory and other wildlife products,” Chris Shepherd of conservation group TRAFFIC said.
TOGO
Poll turnout down
Only about half of the eligible voters turned out for the presidential election on Saturday, officials said on Sunday, boosting the chances of President Faure Gnassingbe winning a third term. Only 53 to 55 percent of the estimated 3.5 million voters took part, the Independent National Electoral Commission said. The commission has five days to announce the outcome.
BURUNDI
Political protests continue
Police officers yesterday fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters in the capital, Bujumbura, in the second day of demonstrations against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office, a witness told reporters. Officers also broke up a march of about 1,000 young people who they said were trying to reach the center of Bujumbura. Observers said that at least five people were killed in protests on Sunday, a day after Nkurunziza said he would seek another five-year term. Opponents say the move violates the constitution, which sets a two-term limit.
FRANCE
Al-Assad uncle probed
An uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is under investigation about his 90 million euro (US$97.5 million) fortune, reportedly amassed despite his being kicked out of Syria “with nothing” 30 years ago, officials said. Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, has spent more than 30 years moving between homes in Paris, London and Marbella, Spain, since he was forced into exile for trying to seize power. His family’s assets, outlined last year in a Customs report, are valued at about 90 million euros — much of it held through a web of businesses based in Luxembourg. The inventory includes a stud farm near Paris. The probe was triggered by activist group Sherpa, which said the fortune was stolen during his time in the Syrian regime. Relatives say the wealth is the result of gifts from wealthy Saudi supporters, including former Saudi Arabian king Abdullah.
ISRAEL
Strike targets‘terrorists’
The military on Sunday said it launched a strike on the border with Syria after spotting militants carrying a bomb in the Golan Heights, it said. The military said it carried out the strike after troops saw “a group of armed terrorists” approach the border with an explosive intended to target troops. It said that aircraft “targeted the squad, preventing the attack.” It did not offer a casualty figure for the strike. Iranian news channel Press TV later reported that four people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Golan Heights. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the alleged attack launched from inside Syria.
CYPRUS
Moderate wins runoff
A leftist moderate promising to press for a domestic peace deal swept to victory in a Turkish Cypriot presidential runoff on Sunday. Mustafa Akinci won 60.3 percent of the votes, according to figures provided by the election commission. His rival was President Dervis Eroglu, a conservative elected five years ago. Akinci, 67, has said that he would work with fresh urgency to find a peace deal for the island, split after a short-lived coup led to a 1974 Turkish invasion.
UNITED STATES
Ransom policy may change
US officials are expected to stop prosecuting families of hostages who communicate with kidnappers abroad, raise funds or pay ransoms, ABC news said on Sunday. A National Counterterrorism Center advisory group is expected to recommend the shift in policy, the report said. The group interviewed families of hostages, including the parents of journalist James Foley, who was killed by Islamic State fighters. “There will be absolutely zero chance of any family member of an American held hostage overseas ever facing jail themselves, or even the threat of prosecution, for trying to free their loved ones,” a senior official said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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