TURKMENISTAN
Gold-leaf leader unveiled
The government has unveiled a 21m tall gold-leafed statue of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov seated upon a horse mounted on a towering pile of marble. Officials say the statue in the capital, Ashgabat, was built in response to public demand. The nation is dotted with gold-leaf statues to Berdimuhamedov’s predecessor, but this is the first such monument to him.
CHINA
Prison tours for officials
Top Hubei Province officials have been sent on prison tours visiting inmates, including former colleagues, as a warning against corruption, the China Daily reported yesterday. More than 70 officials and their spouses spent a day in prison this month, the newspaper said. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said such prison visits have been organized nationwide, the paper said.
CHINA
‘Strike hard’ success cited
A “strike hard” campaign launched in Xinjiang and beyond a year ago has seen 181 gangs “destroyed,” authorities said yesterday. Scores of people have been sentenced to death as part of the drive, while hundreds have been jailed or detained on terror-related offences. “As of April 30 this year, 181 violent terror gangs have been destroyed, with 96.2 percent being thwarted at the planning phase,” Xinjiang’s government-run Tianshan news site reported, adding that 112 suspects surrendered to the police. Rights groups have said the crackdown is discriminatory.
AUSTRALIA
Backpacker’s rapist jailed
A man who repeatedly raped and degraded a Dutch tourist during a six-week ordeal in 2012, including carving a cross into her forehead, was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in jail. Alfio Anthony Granata, 47, pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including multiple rapes, threats to kill and intentionally causing serious injury. Victorian County Court Judge Frank Gucciardo said Granata’s behavior was “vile and repulsive” and had dehumanized his 21-year-old victim. The harrowing ordeal culminated in the tourist stabbing Granata as he slept and then trying to kill herself.
AUSTRALIA
Deportation order nullified
An autistic Filipino boy whose fight against deportation prompted tens of thousands to petition the government on his behalf will be allowed to stay, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said yesterday. Tyrone Sevilla and his mother Maria Sevilla, a registered nurse, have lived in Townsville for eight years, were denied continuing visas due to the probable cost of providing for Tyrone’s care. Dutton said he had overturned the decision.
ISRAEL
Olmert sentenced again
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert was yesterday sentenced to eight months in jail for accepting illegal payments from a US businessman, having previously been given a six-year term in a separate corruption case. A court in March that found that Olmert, while serving as industry and trade minister from 2003 to 2005, accepted cash-filled envelopes from the businessman. The court convicted him of fraud and breach of trust. Olmert’s lawyers said they would appeal the new conviction.
‘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