JAPAN
Minister to visit Russia
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida is to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss bilateral relations, frayed recently by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to a disputed island claimed by both countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Kishida will meet Lavrov in Moscow tomorrow to discuss a range of issues, including the four disputed Pacific islands, which have strained ties between the two sides since the end of World War II. The nation lodged a protest last month over Medvedev’s visit to Iturup, one of the islands known in Russia as the Southern Kuriles and referred to as the Northern Territories in Japan. Russia seized them in the last days of World War II and the dispute has kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty since. Kishida’s visit could lay the groundwork for a return visit this year by Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as discussed by the leaders late last year.
UNITED STATES
Canine brings rescuers
A wayward dog stuck for days at the bottom of a concrete cistern in a ravine in Washington State was rescued after a canine companion made frequent trips to find human help when it was not lying next to the well, an animal shelter said on Friday. Phoebe, the trapped basset hound, and Tillie, a setter mix, were found together earlier this week on Vashon Island, in the Puget Sound southwest of Seattle, after being reported missing on Sept. 8, Vashon Island Pet Protectors said.
UNITED STATES
Court sides with visiting dog
A New York housing court judge ruled that an itinerant Pomeranian had the law on its side in a case over a dog that was dropped off at a Bronx apartment in the morning, snuggled there with a 17-year-old girl who had depression and a spine condition, and then returned at night to its owner’s home in New Jersey. There was no evidence that the dog had stayed overnight in the Bronx, therefore the Gonzalez family had not violated their lease, the court said, settling a dispute over whether the girl’s family was harboring an illegal canine tenant or welcoming a lawful daytime visitor. In a city where dogs are judged at co-op board interviews and photographed for rental applications, it is little surprise that the question generated considerable friction between the Gonzalez family and the landlord of their building, who prohibited tenants from keeping dogs full time. “It cannot be said that tenants harbored the dog at the premises other than for her visits on periodic occasions,” judge Javier Vargas wrote in dismissing the case, saying the landlord could not prove that Cookie constituted a “nuisance” or annoyed other tenants.
GUATEMALA
Activist slain after ruling
Authorities say a social activist has been slain in a remote, rural town in the nation’s north. Prosecutors’ spokeswoman Julia Barreda confirms the death of 28-year-old Rigoberto Lima Choc. She said the investigation is ongoing and there are no suspects yet. Lima Choc was killed during the day on Friday near a civil courthouse in Sayaxche, Peten department. A day earlier, a court ordered the temporary closure of a company that grows palm trees for oil production. The ruling came in response to a complaint by Lima Choc over the contamination of a local river known as the Rio de la Pasion. Rights advocate Claudia Samayoa suggested that Lima Choc’s killing might be related to the dispute.
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